The Harlan County, Ky., coal miners who drew national attention during a two-month blockade of a coal train to demand back wages from bankrupt coal operator Blackjewel ended their protest yesterday, the Louisville Courier Journal reported. They still haven't gotten paid: Negotiations between Blackjewel, creditors and the miners continue and will go to court-supervised mediation if no deal is reached by Oct. 1, said their attorney, Ned Pillersdorf. But Harlan County Judge-Executive Dan Mosley said that the remaining miners who were still protesting had found work and had to leave the tracks and its collection of tents, supplies and protest signs. At the request of the U.S. Department of Labor, a judge previously ordered the coal train worth more than $1 million to remain in place. But the attention created by the protest in one of America’s poorest and most coal-dependent counties had a far-reaching impact that extends well beyond the bounced paychecks that sparked it. It spotlighted Kentucky's failure to enforce coal payroll bond regulations, renewed attention to black lung disability trust fund shortfalls, drew an additional $3.7 million for Appalachian job retraining and underscored how workers often lose out as coal bankruptcies keep growing. The bankruptcy of the nation's sixth-largest coal producer came without warning, leaving 1,700 jobless in Wyoming, Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky, including more than a quarter of miners in Kentucky's Harlan County.
