1. The coal miners were paid in script redeamable only at the company store. They had to buy all their mining supplies (picks, carbide, lights, etc) from the company store at inflated prices. The also developed black lung, which killed them.
2. This is why we have the United Mine Workers union.
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.
It was a commie plot then and it still is