This may have been why the United Mine Workers union was created, but since none of those things have been true for more than a century, it would seem the union has outlived its usefulness, and now exists only to perpetuate itself, promote communism, and line the pockets of union executives.
Happily RTW legislation has been introduced in Ohio recently and hopefully another marxist domino is fixin to fall.
I was mine manager of a two pit surface mine and related wash plant in the Midwest 1979-83. Each dragline (Manitowoc 4600) would produce 120-140,000 tons per year. We ran the draglines more or less continuously.
Cat 637 scrapers peeled off the top soil and first three feet of clay for stockpiling. This was an eyeball job for our operators. We were inspected by state and federal surface mine inspectors every three-four weeks and by MSHA every month or so.
The draglines each had a D-9 working nearby to knock down spoil piles and level the bench. The drags had 140 feet of boom with eight cu. yard buckets. The cuts were 90-100 feet wide. We had a 980 loader at the wash plant and an identical machine to load coal in the pit.
We had a Chicago Pneumatic blast hole drill on a off road truck chassis. Blast holes were 7 1/2 inches in diameter. Usually five or six 50 pound bags of ANFO in each hole.
Then we would proceed to move your mortgage !