If the mines are shut down, where are the jobs? If the EPA makes coal mining uneconomical, where are the employers?
Are you saying that the mines will continue to operate and employ just as many as in the pre-war-on-coal era?
We are a union state here in WI, too. Yet, the surface rock, sand and metallic ore mines get shut down and the jobs disappear, union or no union.
How does it matter that a union purports to guarantee a living wage when the employer cannot produce and therefore doesn’t need to employ anyone, at any wage?
Mining is dangerous, especially sub-surface mining. It has become technical. I would think that trained miners simply would not even apply for a job like that if it didn’t pay adequately and provide for safety concerns, union or no.
I agree.. IF the mines are shut down. They are not. Obama simply pledged to bankrupt any new coal producers. I am confident the existing producers are reaping the benefits of decreased competition. I am simply saying, here in WV there are many many Obama 2012 bumper stickers right next to miner stickers. I work with miners and their families. They are not becoming Conservatives. They are wishing they had another candidate than Obama.. and now they have Romney. I am grateful for the folks in Wisconsin who put their principles above their paycheck.. I wish it would happen here, but it seems less likely.