美国国家公共电台 NPR--Alabama coal miners begin their 20th month on strike

Alabama coal miners begin their 20th month on strike

Transcript¹

Hundreds of coal miners in Brookwood, Ala., reached a milestone² Thursday: They've spent 20 months on strike.

That's well past the six-week average for strikes, according to Bloomberg Law. The miners believe it's the longest strike in Alabama's history.

They have continued demanding their employer, Warrior³ Met Coal, restore the pay and benefits that were cut in 2016 as a cost-saving measure to keep the mines from shutting down.

Out of the 900 miners who started the strike a year and a half ago, 500 remain, according to United Mine Workers of America. And many of them say, despite missing their six-figure salaries, they're doing just fine. They stick with a classic union catchphrase — they'll last "one day longer" than the company.

Warrior Met has also remained resolute⁴. With negotiations⁵ stagnant⁶, the mines have kept operating and earning the company millions in profit.

Here's how the miners — and the company — have survived the strike.

Strikers lean on a support system, an understanding of history and anger

If there's one group of American workers used to labor⁷ battles, it's miners. Consider the literal gunfights in the West Virginia mountains a century ago, or the 50,000 coal miners striking across 11 states during the Pittston Coal Strike of 1989. Consider too that coal is a feast-or-famine industry, and miners know the importance of saving up.

"Every old coal miner tells you that you prepare for the next day because you don't know what to expect for that next day," said Antwon McGhee, a striking Alabama coal miner.

Of course, many miners' savings⁸ have dried up by now. That's where having a strike-seasoned union, like the United Mine Workers of America in this case, helps.

The union knows it has to take care of those most vulnerable, said Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of Labor Education Research at Cornell University — like supporting a young miner with a mortgage and a new baby, or an older miner with health issues and higher medical bills.

"They work as a community to do that," Bronfenbrenner said.

Every two weeks, the striking miners rally outside of a local union hall in Brookwood before shuffling⁹ inside to pick up $800 checks. Around the one-year mark, the United Mine Workers of America said it had given out $20 million to workers.

Union dues collected from miners across the country have been bolstered¹⁰ by donations from other unions and individuals. Together, they've built up a war chest that could enable the strikers to remain on the picket¹¹ line for years, according to one local union leader.

"Strike checks is how I'm making it," said Brian Kelly, Local 245 UMWA president. "There's no doubt about it."

Community stands behind the strikers, offering donations and jobs

Locals also are helping¹³ the miners out, whether by keeping the local food pantry stocked, providing backpacks for school or toys as Christmas approaches.

But perhaps the most helpful support has come in the form of side jobs. Thanks to the tight labor market, strikers have found work at nearby strip mines and a Mercedes plant. The money's usually nothing close to what they made before the strike, but combined with the strike checks, it's enough to cover at least some bills.

McGhee has taken on plumbing¹⁴ and home remodeling work for his friends and family. They could have hired professionals, he said, but wanted to make sure the check went to him. He said that matters more than the money.

"You can go out and make the money," McGhee said. "But without that morale¹⁵ and mental support you can't make it."

Beyond that, the miners are also fueled by old-fashioned anger — at the strikebreakers crossing the picket line and at Warrior Met's refusal to give them the pay and benefits they want.

"They're holding out on us on purpose and not giving us the contract we deserve," McGhee said of the company. "I think it's evil. Purely¹⁶ evil."

Warrior Met declined to comment for this story.

The anger has backfired at times. The National Labor Relations Board fined the union $13.3 million for damages, in part for violence on the picket line. The union challenged that amount, and the NLRB agreed to drop it to $435,000. During a recent rally, union president Cecil Roberts called for nonviolent civil disobedience.

Soaring steel costs have added to Warrior Met's bottom line during the strike

The goal of a strike is to put pressure on an employer by hurting them where it counts — their bottom line. Enough financial pain from work stoppages will lead a company to giving into worker demands, the idea goes.

But not when the company's enjoying record profits.

Warrior Met Coal reported nearly $100 million in net income between July and September — a significant jump from the same time last year. It estimated the strike had deflated¹⁷ its earnings¹⁸ by about $7 million during the same time – a dent¹² to the company's profits.

The metallurgical coal mined by the company isn't used for energy, but to make steel. Even though steel prices have been declining, which many miners believe will force Warrior Met to negotiate, they remain high.

"The economy has been in their favor," said Greg Freehling, a Michigan State University adjunct professor who used to be the director of labor relations for the aluminum¹⁹ maker²⁰ Arconic. "Anytime the company's in a position where they're making money...it gets a little bit easier to weather these sorts of things."

Warrior Met fills jobs with out-of-state workers and strike breakers

The high price of steel right now wouldn't mean much if Warrior Met couldn't find workers to extract that coal.

Some miners have crossed the picket line, simply because giving up a six-figure salary for more than a year-and-a-half is tough. And miners from West Virginia and Pennsylvania volunteering for the union said they've seen Warrior Met recruiting workers in their states, which have plenty of former coal miners thanks to the decline of coal jobs across the country.

Freehling said the fact the company has been able to operate for so long with its current workers is a bad sign for the union – and a clear sign that the stalemate will last well beyond 20 months.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。

3 warrior   

n.勇士，武士，斗士

参考例句：

• The young man is a bold warrior.这个年轻人是个很英勇的武士。
• A true warrior values glory and honor above life.一个真正的勇士珍视荣誉胜过生命。

4 resolute   

adj.坚决的，果敢的

参考例句：

• He was resolute in carrying out his plan.他坚决地实行他的计划。
• The Egyptians offered resolute resistance to the aggressors.埃及人对侵略者作出坚决的反抗。

5 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

6 stagnant   

adj.不流动的，停滞的，不景气的

参考例句：

• Due to low investment,industrial output has remained stagnant.由于投资少，工业生产一直停滞不前。
• Their national economy is stagnant.他们的国家经济停滞不前。

7 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

8 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

9 shuffling   

adj. 慢慢移动的, 滑移的 动词shuffle的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• Don't go shuffling along as if you were dead. 别像个死人似地拖着脚走。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Some one was shuffling by on the sidewalk. 外面的人行道上有人拖着脚走过。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

10 bolstered   

v.支持( bolster的过去式和过去分词 )；支撑；给予必要的支持；援助

参考例句：

• He bolstered his plea with new evidence. 他举出新的证据来支持他的抗辩。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The data must be bolstered by inferences and indirect estimates of varying degrees of reliability. 这些资料必须借助于推理及可靠程度不同的间接估计。 来自辞典例句

11 picket   

n.纠察队；警戒哨；v.设置纠察线；布置警卫

参考例句：

• They marched to the factory and formed a picket.他们向工厂前进,并组成了纠察队。
• Some of the union members did not want to picket.工会的一些会员不想担任罢工纠察员。

12 dent   

n.凹痕，凹坑；初步进展

参考例句：

• I don't know how it came about but I've got a dent in the rear of my car.我不知道是怎么回事，但我的汽车后部有了一个凹痕。
• That dent is not big enough to be worth hammering out.那个凹陷不大，用不着把它锤平。

13 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

14 plumbing   

n.水管装置；水暖工的工作；管道工程v.用铅锤测量（plumb的现在分词）；探究

参考例句：

• She spent her life plumbing the mysteries of the human psyche. 她毕生探索人类心灵的奥秘。
• They're going to have to put in new plumbing. 他们将需要安装新的水管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 morale   

n.道德准则，士气，斗志

参考例句：

• The morale of the enemy troops is sinking lower every day.敌军的士气日益低落。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

16 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

17 deflated   

adj. 灰心丧气的

参考例句：

• I was quite deflated by her lack of interest in my suggestions.他对我的建议兴趣不大，令我感到十分气馁。
• He was deflated by the news.这消息令他泄气。

18 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

19 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

20 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。