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The collapse of coal: pandemic accelerates Appalachia job losses

JacksinPA

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The collapse of coal: pandemic accelerates Appalachia job losses | US news | The Guardian

The collapse of coal: pandemic accelerates Appalachia job losses

More than 6,000 coalminers lost their jobs in March and April as the industry suffers biggest decline in 60 years


For Appalachia coalminer William Muncy, the loss of his job means more than just the sudden lack of money – even though that is keenly felt in a region where mining jobs have kept whole towns alive for generations.

“Coal was the backbone of our community, but now we’re forced to move on to find a different profession,” said Muncy, a miner at Redhawk Mining’s Spurlock Complex in Floyd county, Kentucky.

‘I’ve already got infected lungs’: for sick coal miners Covid-19 is a death sentence

Workers at the Redhawk mine were initially furloughed for three weeks beginning in late March, then returned to work on 20 April with reduced pay, before being laid off permanently on 11 May. During furlough, Muncy lost his 31-year-old wife to breast cancer, and is now out of work with two children to support.

Like many in coal country, Muncy has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Over 6,000 coalmining jobs were lost in March and April 2020. There are now more job losses and mine closures in the coal industry than at any time since Dwight Eisenhower was president 60 years ago, and despite Donald Trump’s fervent promises to revive the coal sector.
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It's going to be a very different country when this blows itself ot. But I'll bet that Trump doesn't carry WV with all his job promises.
 
I was reading something the other day. It's not uncommon for a coal miner to make over $100,000 a year in 2019.

Automation is shrinking the amount of men who work in the mines. Where a couple of hundred would work in a mine, maybe a dozen or two work there today.
 
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