[mewzilla]

It looks like the number of miners who belong to a union has dropped significantly over the years, but I don't know how much of that's due to fewer people being needed to do the mining.

And on a related note, from this recent link...

Daily Spotlight on UMWA

We got all of our local presidents to sign letters to the nearly 6,000 pensioners in Pennsylvania in support of Barack Obama. We are leafleting at every mine and non-mine organized unit and our members are taking part in phone banks and labor walks regularly....

Note to said pensioners: Why don't you all ask the members of the UAW how well voting 'Rat has worked out for them.

[bert]

......I don’t know how much of that’s due to fewer people being needed to do the mining.....I asked the guys in Kentuck about this. They said just look around.

What he meant was that fewer miners are required, but most importantly, mining requires fairly well educated miners. The complexity of the mining operations coupled with the intense technical regulatory compliance demands a quantum leap in educational requirements.