Warning to Wildcatters

The wildcat strike, a revolt against badly bollixed grievance procedures, spread swiftly. Within 16 days almost all 50,000 soft-coal miners in West Virginia walked off the job. The mine owners went to court, and Federal Judge Kenneth K. Hall slapped the United Mine Workers with a gigantic $500,000 fine, plus $100,000 a day for as long as the strike lasted. Last week, seven working days and $1.2 million later, most of the wildcatters went back to work.

In recent years, no-strike clauses that ban walkouts have been written into most labor contracts, including those covering the West Virginia mines. Trouble is, when some workers strike without authorization, union officials often shrug (some critics say wink) and claim they are not responsible. Judge Hall did not buy that approach. Rapping the U.M.W. for its "feeble" efforts to halt the walkout, Hall made the fine heavy to force quick action. U.M.W. President Arnold Miller and other union leaders responded by working feverishly to get the miners back on the job.

They had good reason. Only six weeks ago the Third Circuit Court of Appeals handed down an important precedent in the case of two Teamsters locals in Warren, Ohio, and Pittsburgh. The truckers had walked out in a bloody, five-week wildcat strike against Eazor Express Inc. over the dismissal of two employees. Eazor sued the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the locals, all of which had signed a no-strike agreement, and three judges of the Third Circuit unanimously held them all liable, even though they were not involved in starting the strike. The court's message was clear: when a contract contains a no-strike clause, a union must take every measure reasonably possible to pressure strikers back to work.

For their part, U.M.W. lawyers will now appeal the union's fine, which Hall reduced to $700,000 after the strike's end. Whatever the final outcome, Judge Hall's success in taming the wildcatters should help to cool the ardor of restive workers whose union contract happens to contain a no-strike clause.

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