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Songs and Stories of Struggle: Music and Verse as Ethical Discourse

The Greenwich, Connecticut headquarters of the Pittston Company is far from the southwest Virginia coal miners it employs both in miles and in attitude, from the point of view of organized labor. Citing a need to revamp Pittston's financial structure in the late 1980s, management decided to reduce costs by cutting a number of miners' benefits, including lifetime health care pensions. Since coal miners enter the occupation recognizing its high risk of black lung disease and other mine related ailments, health care benefits have been part of labor contracts for decades.

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