Show still true one days work for one days pay if coal happened to be the only practical source of heat and energy currently high and rising labor costs would make little difference the public would have to keep on buying coal for lack of a substitute but that the case coal is sold in competition with other energy fuels such as oil and natural gas consumers particularly the big industrial users naturally buy that which is the cheapest coals labor costs are far higher that those in the industries dus tries with it competes the result hasteen has been a loss of markets and the threatened loss of more here is a hard fact which the coal miners might think about even if their leaders disregard it A high wage scale or any other employed benefit is meaningless unless jobs continue to exist the policy of the united mine workers has been to demand more and more money for less and less productive work the actual working day in the migues now is only about six and one halt half hours and on top of that the industry has been plagued with senseless unjustified strikes and shutdowns which have cost both miners and operators huge sums |