In Second Coal Rush, New Mind-Set in the Mines

The shift effectively broke the union. Mines closed or went bankrupt across the Midwest and northern Appalachia, where the union was dominant, and opened throughout the nonunion West.

Court rulings hastened the union's decline. Gateway, for example, was for decades a union mine doing business as Zeigler 11. But its previous owner won the right in bankruptcy court to shed its union contracts in 2004. Peabody bought the mine out of bankruptcy, changed its name and reopened it in 2005 under a nonunion subsidiary, Black Beauty Coal Co.

Eighty percent of Peabody's miners were unionized in the 1980s. With its operations now mostly in the West, chief executive Gregory Boyce reported this year to shareholders that 85 percent of Peabody's coal comes from "union-free operations."

'I Just Want the Cash Now'

Coal's rebound here is a direct result of soaring U.S. demand for electricity, half of which currently comes from coal. The Bush administration is promoting coal as a "freedom fuel" -- in contrast to foreign oil -- and utilities are on a coal binge, with 154 new coal-fired plants on the drawing board. New plants must have scrubbers that remove sulfur before it reaches the atmosphere, so high-sulfur coal is back in the game. Meanwhile, coal states and the industry are investing heavily in technologies to convert coal into liquid fuel to power cars and jet planes.

The Illinois Office of Coal Development forecasts 3,000 new mining jobs statewide in the next three years, and another 2,000 as older miners retire, but that is just a shadow of the roughly 20,000 coal mining jobs that were here before the crash. And other high-paying production jobs are vanishing; a nearby Maytag plant with 942 workers is closing next month.

Younger workers interviewed throughout the area said they felt they had little leverage to complain about long hours or difficult working conditions because so many people were waiting in line for jobs that pay well. Gateway had 1,300 applicants for its 200 jobs, according to operations manager Thomas A. Benner.

Aaron Wright, 37, a son and nephew of union miners, said he would happily work without a union if he could get a coal-mining job.

"I'm tired of making $8 to $9 an hour, not enough to support myself, not enough to support my kids," Wright said. "I just want the cash now."

Middle-aged union supporters say younger workers are naive to think they won't face supervisors who underestimate danger or play favorites in assigning work, or try to deny their rights if they are injured or lay them off without explanation. They say they've seen all this and more.

But Vic Svec, Peabody's senior vice president for communications, said the company works hard to show workers they don't need a union. Peabody pegs its wage scale to match or exceed the UMWA's, he said. It also provides a 401(k) with a generous company match, and pays bonuses at mines that meet productivity and safety targets. Vandom said he gets a $700 to $800 bonus about every three months.

"Our strategy is to have the best possible relationship with employees," Svec said. "We don't feel it benefits our employees or our operations to have third parties involved."

Thinking Long Term

With so many miners nearing retirement age, Peabody also has a major financial interest in keeping the union at bay: Retired miners have much higher than average medical costs, according to a union study.