One of the most surprising effects of the energy crisis was a 17-day-long strike that ended last week in the coal fields of West Virginia. At its height, it cost 25,000 miners their $50-a-day jobs. The United Mine Workers' welfare and retirement fund forfeited $190,000 a day in royalties. The nation lost a daily output of 250,000 tons of metallurgical coal, thus endangering the steel industry. The cause of all this loss and trouble: the gasoline shortage.
It all began on Feb. 21 when a miner finished his shift at Consolidation Coal Co.'s Maitland...
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