On this day, December 6, 1907, 362 workers were killed in the Monongah mining disaster.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_6

• 1907 – A coal mine explosion at Monongah, West Virginia, kills 362 workers.

Tue Dec 6, 2022: On this day, December 6, 1907, 362 workers were killed in the Monongah mining disaster.

[doc03]

1. I live in the Appalachian coal country, where there are lots of retired coal miners.

Every retired coal miner I know has a bad back, knee replacements, most get black lung benefits. I know some that had a family member killed in the mine. When we got out of high school if we didn't go to college most of us went in the mine or a steel mill.
My dad worked in a steel mill and he helped me get hired in the mill. I worked there one-week short of 40 years. I had an injury myself and have a permanent partial disability. Just about every steelworker I know had some sort of injury. I don't know the official count, but I think more than 30 people were killed over the years. Knowing what I know now I wouldn't want my children working in either place no matter what they were paid.

[appalachiablue]

2. Those were very hard times filled with dangerous jobs

and the exploitation of miners and workers in many occupations. The struggle for labor rights and protections was long and hard but workers saw progress with the NLRB, thanks to Roosevelt.

In many miners' homes there were portraits on the walls of FDR and John L. Lewis, the head of the UMW, the United Mine Workers.