William Penn Life, 1973 (8. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)
1973-07-01 / 3. szám
Lou Antal gears up for ‘hardest fight’ Excerpts from an article by Staff writer Tony Klimko of “Valley News Dispatch”. We are more than pleased to bring this most interesting article on Mr. Louis Antal, a member of Branch 296, Springdale, Pa., who at one time served as President of the Branch and is still active in Branch affairs and attends many meetings even though his time is so occupied with his manysided duties in District 5. IPe sincerely congratulate Lou and wish him success in attaining all the noble goals he has set as President of District 5 UM1F. LOUIS ANTAL hasn’t changed: He’s still looking for a fight. He should have been savoring the sweet taste of victory as he was officially sworn in as president of Distrcit 5 of the United Mine Workers (UMW). It was a costly victory, one that took a lot of hard work, heartbreak, time and some blood. In the course of his 10-year battle against UMW President W. A. (Tony) Boyle. Antal had been threatened with physical force, loss of his job and legal reprisals. He had seen some of his friends drop out of the fight because of fear and he had seen others go over to opponents. For these reasons and many more, Antal should have been celebrating yesterday, but instead he said quietly, “Now is the time we have to start looking toward the future. This is going to be the hardest fight of them all.” It will consist of bringing together the warring factions in the UMW and will also consist of improving the conditions of all coal miners, both active and pensioned. For his immediate, short-range goals, Antal has set a priority on studying the safety situation and practices that exist in the mines and to discover methods of improving them. “We want to look over the air, ventilation, dust, wiater and roofing conditions of every mine in the district. We also want to see what we can do about the noise level in the mines.” Antal explains, “It has been shown that because of noise conditions in the mines, most miners lose 20 per cent or more of their hearing within a few years.” There are 13,500 miners, both active and pensioned, in District 5, which stretches from Weirton, W.V. across ten Pennsylvania counties. It is one of the most powerful and largest groups of coal miners in the U.S. but Antal feels that more union organizing must be done for the district to remain strong. “We have to organize the non-union mines and the strip mines. We have to make our union strong again.” Another priority item on Antal’s agenda is a study of the district office force, to see if, “we can live within our budget because of the austerity program which the national headquarters has initiated..” As part of this austerity program, the salary of the District 5 president has been cut from about $25,000 a year to about $18,000 and the per diem and mileage expenses for the president and other top district officials has been eliminated. When Antal drove into downtown Pittsburgh to officially take over the reins as district president, he was driving the same economy car he was driving for the past few years with 100,000 miles showing on the odometer. Along with his fighting spirit and his lack of desire for material things, Antal has kept his concern for his fellow miners. When he was sworn in, the ceremonies were attended by miners who worked and fought along side Antal in his efforts to turn the union back to its members. They were tough men with work scarred hands who looked ill at ease in their coats and ties, but they had come because one of their own hand finally broken the barriers that for so long had separated the rank and file from the leadership of the UMW. Antal said, “I’m going to try to set up my schedule so that I spend three days a week in the office and two in the field talking to the men in the mines. I don’t want to lose touch with the men. I want to know what they’re thinking and what their problems are.” “I am going to try to get all my men to go into the mines so we can see the conditions and understand the problems. I am proud of the men I am working with now and I feel that while we may lack some administrative experience we have been in coal mining all our lives and we have the familiarity and background to know what we are doing.” Part of his concern with the welfare of his men is reflected in Antal’s determination to, “get more security for the miner in retirement as well as improving the benefits for miners, especially the disabled miners. These men have been lost and neglected over the years by the past administration.” Most major companies and unions have credit unions, but not the UMW, a condition Antal wants to change. “Wc also plan to increase benefits to coal miners’ widows and to increase our pension benefits. Right now, the average coal miner gets $150 a month pension and in the hard core regions he only gets $30 a month. When you compare this to the $500 a month pension that the automakers get, you can see how much ground we have to make up, especially when you consider that the UMW led the original fight for pensions,” Antal said. LOUIS ANTAL . . . Arnold man ready . . . He added, “To show you the inequity of our present pension plan, while the coal miners only get $150 a month, the girls that work in the UMW office cannot get less than $300 a month pension. We have to get justice in this.” Antal is also planning to support Hodse Bill 587 which would take the Bureau of Mines and Minerals from under the control of the State Department of Environmental Resources. “We are not opposed to ecology, in fact we support it strongly. But we feel that since the Bureau of Mines and Minerals must inspect the safety conditions in the mines, it should be staffed by people who have had experience in the mines and the Department of Enviromental Resources does not have this experience,” Antal said. In the victory of anti-Boyle forces of the UMW, Antal sees hope for members of all labor unions. He says, “It’s the beginning of a new era, the dawn of a new day and people with new thoughts are in positions of leadership. Eventually we might grow stale, so it will be up to the rank and file to keep us on our toes.” “But with our victory we have paved the way for all unions to have re-elections and have given hope to all those who haven’t had the opportunity to win a union election before.” Antal points out that many of the UMW cases against the union have become landmark decisions. He himself was the first man ever to win in 1966. Since then his victory has been cited as a precedent by lawyers appealing other cases. During World War II, Antal served as an infantry sergeant in Europe where he was awarded medals because he fought hard and did great things. For the past 10 years he has still been fighting hard and doing great things, but instead of medals they have given him a tougher job and bigger fight and he is ready to take it. 15
