"You load 16 tons and whadda you get...."

Growing up rural southern Indiana I was around many folk who had migrated to the area from the coal country of eastern Kentucky and West Virginia. They were like most people from anywhere in that they wanted an honest day's pay for an honest day's work. They did, however, seem to have a hardedged distrust of anyone they didn't know. Over time some of them opened up and spoke of their fathers' and grandfathers' lives in the coal mines.

"Keep 'em barefoot and pregnant.." was the corporate mantra. School was tolerated until the male child got big enough to go down in the mine, at which point he no longer needed book learnin'. The company store had on hand anything a miner could possibly need for his family and it was cheap to boot! In exchange he got to work long hours in dangerous conditions for subsistent wages. Hospitals were nonexistent, doctors were few and far between and sick pay wasn't even a consideration. If an individual dared to go out of the immediate area to obtain better pay he was immediately dismissed and his family evicted from their corporate- owned home.

Time passed, labor unions came to be and for a time conditions improved.
Wages increased,length of the workday decreased, safety conditions were created and monitored and benefits for healthcare, education, and retirement were negotiated through contracts. Production increased, schools as well as hospitals were built and miners had spare change to spend at the company store. All was well.

But, as with all things, nothing lasts forever. Inevitably corporate greed found fertile ground in front office union greed. "We are in dire straits and we must find a way to cut expenses if we're gonna keep the mine open. We are looking for alternatives to laying people off.." was now the company song. The union's response right on que was to increase dues and agree to cut benefits so their members could remain employed. Ironicaly, neither the corporate nor union executives experienced a reduction in either pay or benefits.

Spring forward to 2005. Does any of this sound familiar with current news articles about megacorps like GM and others? Or- better yet- the latest antics of Wal-Mart? Maybe it's just me, but I am sorely distressed by the fact that in only 52 years I've lived long enough to see history repeated itself! Do we ever learn from it or is it just an exercise we go thru generation after generation?

To be fair, I must say that the responsibilty for this dilemna does not fall on corporate shoulders alone. We the working class have allowed this to occur as much by our inaction as by megacorps' action. We have the opportunity to get an education, the freedom to speak, and the power to vote. It behooves us to do so not only for ourselves but for our future generations. If we fail to use these rights and freedoms wisely, we deserve the Wal-Marts of this world to pay us low wages with no benefits while giving us a discount card to buy from what? Oh yeah, the company store.

Sadly, our children do not deserve this fate. We, like our fathers before us promised them a better mousetrap! Are we going to deliver??