A national strike over the issue of local strikes
Faces covered with grit and hearts filled with distrust toward both union and company leaders, the nation's 165,000 male and 800 female unionized coal miners walked off their jobs last weekend, 48 hours before the expiration Monday midnight of the United Mine Workers' contract with the coal companies. (With so little time remaining, few miners felt compelled to work beyond the shift ending at midnight Saturday, and the companies were not scheduling Monday production.) Thus began what will probably be a long stoppage, perhaps twice as long as the 32-day walkout in 1974,...