United Mine Workers strikers won concessions on health care and pension benefits and Pittston Coal Group got the ability to run its mines almost nonstop in a proposed settlement distributed to miners today. If approved by the UMW's rank-and-file in Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky, the settlement could resolve the union's bitter and sporadically violent 10{-month strike against the nation's largest coal exporter by next week. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the proposed contract from a source who insisted on anonymity. Since Pittston and the union negotiators reached agreement on New Year's Eve, they have kept contract details secret while both sides moved to dismiss lawsuits and fines stemming from the strike. UMW President Richard Trumka announced Thursday that union members would vote on the pact Monday, despite $64 million in fines pending in a Virginia state court for illegal strike activity. More than 2,000 union members packed into a building at the Russell County Fairgrounds this morning to receive copies of the 49-page contract, listen to pep talks by the union's top officers and receive a briefing on the terms. Trumka choked back tears as he congratulated the miners on what he said was a successful strike. ``I'm proud. I'm proud you did this,'' Trumka said as he raised the contract in the air to a round of applause. Some miners grumbled about terms in the contract but most gave it a favorable review. ``There's some good, some bad,'' said Jack Hale, a 48-year-old laid-off miner. ``We'll just have to weigh the good against the bad.'' The proposal in many respects mirrors health and pension benefits contained in the 1988 Bituminous Coal Operators Association contract, the industry's national labor contract. But it differs in two significant respects: Pittston won the ability to hire contract truck drivers and maintenance workers, as long as union miners are not laid off in the process. And the company would be able to run its mines around-the-clock and seven-days-a-week, except for Christmas and the Sunday day shift. Wages were not a major issue in the strike. But miners would receive a cumulative $1.20-an-hour raise at the end of three years. Top-scale hourly pay in selected positions would be $17.52. Pittston dropped out of the health-care plan negotiated between the union and the BCOA and spurred the strike by proposing payment of 80 percent of the covered medical expenses rather than 100 percent. The UMW won its demand to maintain 100 percent medical coverage for employees, pensioners and their families. The contract has a new health-cost containment provision in which Pittston issues $500 twice-a-year to each miner and pensioner under the age of 65 to cover their deductibles. After it dropped out of the BCOA, Pittston stopped contributing to the multi-employer retirement fund and promised to take care of its own retirees. It now has agreed to go back to the union pension fund. ``Pension benefits in the new contract are identical to those contained in the 1988 national agreement,'' according to a contract summary. The company wanted to be able to contract out work in five job categories but won the limited right in two areas: transportation of coal and repair and maintenance work. The company wanted to eliminate a provision that union contracts are not broken when a union mine changes hands or is conveyed from one subsidiary to another. But the settlement retains the successorship provision in the 1984 agreement and contains ``strengthened protection for UMWA members against internal company reorganization and shifting of coal lands,'' the contract said. Pittston's significant victory was its request to establish round-the-clock operations. During negotiations, the company dropped its original demand for a Sunday day shift, with four 10-hour shifts a week instead of five eight-hour shifts and the ability to call in workers for ``reasonable overtime'' with 12 hours notice, on a mandatory basis. The UMW wanted to stick with its traditional fixed five-day work week. The contract contains two ``flextime'' work schedules in addition to the regular work week. The flextime allows the company to work continuously. Pittston did not want to reinstate miners convicted of strike-related felonies. The UMW wanted all miners reinstated. A mention of the issue could not be found in the labor agreement.
