Perhaps the most striking characteristic of America's 184,000 coal miners is their intense loyalty to one another and their union. Some people explain that loyalty as an aboveground extension of the close teamwork that the miners must practice in dangerous subterranean mines; others say it is a result of facing common enemies—the coal companies and the Federal Government. Whatever the reason, when one union local walks off the job, others usually follow in sympathy.
Last week that was certainly the case. A wildcat strike that started at a Cedar Coal Co. mine...
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