Last week, seven hours before 200,000 miners in Northern soft-coal mines were to go on strike, the United Mine Workers' astute old John L. Lewis won agreement on a contract from the Bituminous Coal Operators Association giving his miners 1) a $1.90 wage increase on their basic daily wage rate (now $16.35), 2) a 10¢-a-ton boost in producers' royalty payments (now 30¢ a ton) to the union's welfare treasury. Lewis will probably demand and receive similar concessions from the rest of the soft-coal industry, whose contracts expire Oct. 1.
...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
