Excerpted from The Daily News of Newburyport
Wed Mar 09, 2011, 03:30 AM EST
To the editor: I will never forget a TV program I watched years ago about how a union was formed in coal mining. The coal miners and their families were living in hovels, barely surviving on practically starvation wages. They worked long hours under very dangerous conditions, as there were no safety provisions outside of bringing a canary down the mine. When the miners finally rebelled and went on strike to form a union, the mine owners hired thugs to break the miners' limbs, kill them, burn their hovels down. That didn't work, so the mine owners imported what was known as scab workers. They labeled the miners as dirty reds and commies in an effort to turn people against them. That didn't work, so the mine owners said they would close down the mines and starve the miners and their families into submission. When that tactic failed, the mine owners finally gave in and a union was born...
