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1980-1989 would increase wages for the highest paid miners to $113.32 per day by 1984. The new contract restored the royalty on non- union coal and increased the payment from $1.90 to $2.23 per ton. The 45-day probationary period for red hats was elim- inated and the miners received $150 for returning to work. The October 1981 agreement was a 40- month deal instead of the usual three-year contract. The next expiration date was October 1, 1984. Before the ink is dry, speculation begins to focus on Richard Trumka of District 4 as potential candi- date to replace Church. Cecil Roberts, vice president of the United Mine Workers of America International (left) joins with Rev. Jessie Jackson (middle) and UMWA International President Richard Trumka during a rally supporting union miners striking the Pittson Coal Co. *Coal Age, June 1989 bargaining process in serious jeopardy. More than 160,000 UMWA miners are out of work. In a sense, the strike is timely. The domestic economy is easing into a slug- gish spell, with only modest gains expect- ed in U.S. industrial production. Steel production is edging up, but electrical power generation is receding. The strike continues into June and utilities, steel companies and manufacturers begin to feel the pinch. The strike ends after 72 days when the UMWA ratifies a new contract. Church regains some credibility. B.R. Brown sim- ply says the contract was good for the union. A $3.60 per hour increase for all miners over the course of the contract Trumka does replace Church. In 1984, B.R. Brown is again directing the BCOA and Trumka is imposing new order within the UMWA. During September 1984, the two sides were able to reach agreement on a 40-month contract without a strike—an event that had not happened in 20 years. The UMWA decides to selectively strike independent coal producers. A.T. Massey and National Mines Corp. are among some of the larger independents not cov- ered under the agreement the UMWA signed with the BCOA. The contract dis- pute between Massey and the UMWA con- 144 www.coalage.com 100th Anniversary Special Issue August 2012