Amerikai Magyar Szó, 1973. július-december (27. évfolyam, 27-50. szám)
1973-12-13 / 48. szám
AMERIKAI MAGYAR SZÓ TIiiiixI.m. I)cc. I|<17.{ Vol.VI.No.99 *&*'**> Now York, Tuesday, December 4, 1973 Daily except Sun., Mon. and major holidays 10 CENTS By ART SHIELDS PITTSBURGH. Dec 3 — Fifteen hundred rank and file miners triumphantly opened the 46th constitutional convention of the United Mine Workers of America at the Hotel Hilton here today as union president Arnold Miller called for far-reaching reforms. Miller told cheering delegates and invited guests that for the first time in the union's history members will vote on any proposed new contract agreement. "If they don't vote for it. we won't sign it.” he said. "It is not enough to write the words ‘rank and file' on the banners at the foot of this hall. Those words must be etched into our constitution so deep they can never be erased. ” The delegates repeatedly interrupted Miller with cheers and prolonged applause as he described the challenges confronting the union now freed from the grip of the gangster dictatorship of former president W. A. “Tony” Boyle. Safety stressed Besides union democracy and constitutional reform. Miller stressed the fight to guarantee miners’ health and safety, the energy crisis, organizing the unorganized, the upcoming contr?ct talks and the need for working miners to run for political office Even as Miller spoke, word were the last great mine disaster occurred; members of the Black Lung Association and the Disabled Miners and Widows Association; retirees, and representatives from rank and file groups in other unions. Contract talks to open Miller said the 205,00&-member union would seek a substantial wage increase, a cost of living . provision, sick pay and increased company contributions to the welfare and retirement fund when it opens talks in January with the Bituminous Coal Operators Association (BCOA). “But any agreement we arrive at with the BCOA will be put to a vote of the rank and file,” Miller said. “That’s the only way to guarantee that the men who go into the pits and drive the dozers will work under a set of rules and benefits they help write.” Miller vowed that by next November when the current contract expires “every official in the union from top to bottom will have been popularly elected.” But, he added, the union can not fully be returned to the membership until the union headquarters is brought back to the coal fields from its present location in Washington. Miller attacked President Nixon’s appointment of 250 oil executives to the energy program as “a sure-fire formula for disaster.” “They’re the ones that got us into this mess in the first place.” he said. Hits corporate energy dictation The fuel crisis, he said, wilt never be solved “as long as we allow corporate interests to dictate the nation’s energy policies." He also warned that coal operators will try to exploit the energy crisis “as an excuse to take additional short cuts with our safety.” But the union, he promised, will now “enforce safety to the letter with no ifs and or buts. Coal miners in West Virginia and Kentucky and Pennsylvania are tired of dying so that men in the board rooms of New York, Boston and Pittsburgh can get rich.” The convention, scheduled to last 11 days, will be addressed by many prominent labor leaders. Leonard Woodcock, president of the United Auto Workers, will speak this afternoon. United Farmworkers president Cesar Chavez is to speak tomorrow and I.W. Abel, president of the United Steelworkers will speak Friday morning. The convention was opened today by Lou Antal, president of the union’s Western Pennsylvania district, who recently defeated a corrupt incumbent of the Boyle machine. Miller was preceded at the podium by Sen. Richard S. Schweicker (R-Pa) who lauded the union and, significantly, deleted all attacks on Soviet-Ameri- can trade contained in a press summary given to reporters. The deleted remarks called for “stringent economic and trace sanctions against the Soviet.” Excerpts of Miller’s 'State of the Union” address follow: “Less than one year ago I stood before a smaller group of United Mine Workers to take my oath of office.. .1 told them the United Mine Workers of America belongs to the rank and file. “A year ago that statement was a hope and a promise. Today as 1 look out on this proud assembly of coal miners I believe it is a reality. I see here coal miners who have different shades of skin and who speak with varied accents... I see the finest group of working men in the world, the United Mine Workers of America. “As your president I proudly say to every coal miner in this hall this is your union, the United Mine Workers of America belongs to the rank and file. I’m proud of the progress we have made, but to me our greatest achievement this past year was the return of democracy to our union... Test of unity seen “We face the challenge of our upcoming contract negotiations which hold out the prospect of important gains for our members but contract negotiations at which the operators will be testing our unity as never before. "We face an energy crisis which offers hope of more jobs and increased benefits but an energy crisis which some operators will try to exploit as an excuse to take additional short cuts with our safety. "We have the opportunity to organize the 50,000 non-union coal miners who produce over 100- million tons of coal each year but we face the challenge of powerful corporations which would like to see that share of non-union coal increase... ‘Two things are predictable in the 1974 negotiations. We are going to ask the operators to con- * tribute more for our welfare and the operators are going to turn , their pockets inside out and stare down at the floor and tell us they can't afford to. Don't you believe it. In the first place, most of us don’t work for the coal industry anymore. We work for giant corporations which own coal mines. We work for giant oil companies, power companies and steel companies. .. Our final collective bargaining goals will be determined by the delegates from this convention, but any agreement we arrive at , with the BCOA will be put to a ‘vote of the rank and file. If they don't vote for it. we won't sign it. .. While we deliberate at this convention these 11 days a miner will die in the coal mines and a half dozen others will be crippled In 73 years. 100.000 of us have been killed in the mines “We must elect our best and our toughest men to our safety committees. We have to find the means to put a safety committeeman on every shift and every mine so no group of miners will have to wait to correct a dangerous condition. “The United Mine Workers of America is going to enforce safety to the letter with no ands. ifs or buts. Coal miners in West Virginia and Kentucky and Pennsylvania are tired of dying so that men in the board rooms of New York. Boston and Pittsburgh can get rich.. . ‘Can run a Congress, too' “Some political coal miners have seen the light of day. . In West Virginia five years ago. when we fought for Black Lung legislation, we shut the mines down for nine weeks and went calling on the legislators and we got a Black Lung law out of that fight. And we learned a powerful lesson — that if coal miners organize and work as one we don't have to settle for politics as ususal in the coal fields. “Finally, miners are going to start running for public office themselves. We proved this year that coal miners can run an international union In years to come I think we ll prove that coal miners can help run a State legislature too or a Congress." A— MINE PARLEY KEYNOTE: RANK AND FILE POWER came from the Supreme Court that Bbyle, now under federal and state indictment on charges of in- , volvement in the murder of union insurgent Joseph A. Yablonski, would serve a five-year prison sentence and pay nearly $180,000 in fines for illegally spending union funds for political purposes. The high court refused to hear a Boyle appeal. The convention here contrasted sharply with those held under Boyle. Even the holding of the meeting so close to the coal fields was a distinct departure from the lavishly expensive affairs conducted in Miami or Denver under the previous leadership. Observers also noted that seating was arranged to provide easy access to a total of eight microphones and that the union leadership was proposing convention rules encouraging maximum debate. The arriving delegates are being greeted, appropriately enough, by a massive strike of the city’s bus and trolley drivers, who walked out in defiance of a court injunction issued yesterday. Many of the delegates are young miners attending their first convention. They include a large delegation of miners and their wives from Brookside in Harlan County, Kentucky, where the union is locked in a bitter strike against Duke Power Co. for recognition. A large photographic display on the Brookside strike greets all who enter the convention hall. Also present are honored guests including widows from the Man- nington area of West Virginia,
