Anglican Leaders Appeal for Justice on Behalf of Striking Coal Miners
Episcopal News Service. November 4, 1993 [93194]
Leaders of the Anglican Communion are encouraging coal miners in the United States to persevere amid the difficulties of a lengthy strike, and warned coal operators against the use of replacement workers.
On October 25, Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning and Bishop Robert Estill of the Diocese of North Carolina met at the Virginia Theological Seminary with the Richard Trumka, president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), to express support for striking mine workers.
"Our vocation demands that religious leaders be sensitive to the voices of the powerless and those in need," Browning said following the meeting. "We in the American religious community are concerned about the future of the union miners and their families who face unemployment as their mines close and want the church in Britain to understand their plight." Carey asked Trumka to send greetings to the striking miners.
Since last April, the UMWA has waged a strike against Hanson PLC, a London-based multinational corporation whose wholly owned subsidiary, Peabody Holding Company, is the largest private producer of coal in the United States and the world. More than 4,000 miners are on strike at Hanson/Peabody mines.
Shortly after the strike began, Browning joined with more than 600 religious leaders from across the United States -- including 93 Episcopal bishops -- who signed a statement calling for justice in the coal fields. The leaders urged negotiators to seek a fair and just contract settlement by member companies of the Bituminous Coal Operators Association (BCOA) and the UMWA.
Since that time, more than 18,000 miners have been on strike. On October 14, Browning joined religious leaders in an appeal to the coal operators to honor their "social contract with the miners, their families and communities" and "that union miners should be eligible for jobs in new mines opened by their companies."
In addition Browning and other religious leaders have warned the coal operators that "the use of replacement workers by the coal operators is immoral and a corruption of basic human relationships."
Following the meeting of church leaders and Trumka, Browning wrote Lord James Hanson of Hanson PLC in London, urging him to "invest in the lives of these coal field communities... Your forward thinking and commitment to the future of these coal field communities in the United States could bring a contract settlement which would do much to uplift so many people while assuring increased profits, production and respect for your company," Browning said. "The failure to arrive at a fair contract is causing deep and unnecessary pain."