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

This was easy to believe from the collective ailments of UMWA pensioners who gathered on a recent morning at the Knights of Columbus hall in Pinckneyville. Robert McCrary, 72, who retired from Arch Coal Inc. after 36 years, said he has black lung disease, and heart disease that has required multiple stents, a defibrillator and a pacemaker. He said he takes 16 prescription drugs.

Larry Bruns, 63, who retired from Peabody after more than 37 years, said he has had hip replacements, a hernia, carpal tunnel syndrome, arthritis, high blood pressure and an enlarged prostate -- "and I'm just a young pup."

With so few active union miners, many retirees say they worry the UMWA will have trouble defending their increasingly costly health care at the bargaining table. Retiree medical care is negotiated in each union contract.

"If they take the insurance away, they'll just need enough to bury me," said Rick Harrison, another Zeigler retiree, who has had three open-heart surgeries and is due for a fourth.

Back at Lola's Uptown Restaurant, Vincelette recalled that he had listened with an open mind when a UMWA organizer visited him recently. The organizer said union coal miners elect safety committees that have authority to shut a mine if they judge it unsafe. But Vincelette said he trusted Peabody to be vigilant about safety.

The organizer also said that with 20 years in a union mine, Vincelette would get retiree health insurance for life. But 20 years sounded like an eternity.

"The way everything's going -- wars and stuff like that -- it's hard to think long term," he said.

McReynolds, the retired UMWA miner with John L. Lewis's picture in his living room, listened from across the table in pained silence.

When the young miner left, McReynolds rose slowly from his chair and straightened his Mason's hat bearing a UMWA pensioners' emblem and a gold pick-and-shovel pin the union gave him. "That young man has no idea what he's talking about," he said.