Business Notes STRIKES

After smoldering in the coal fields of Virginia and West Virginia for two months, a strike by 1,500 miners against the Pittston Coal company flared last week into a fast-spreading wildcat walkout. More than 20,000 union miners struck in sympathy with the Pittston workers, shutting down mines in six states from Pennsylvania to Tennessee.

The Pittston miners worked without a contract for 14 months after the firm demanded cost-cutting changes in work rules and health and pension benefits. Last week United Mine Workers president Richard Trumka called upon other labor unions to support the strike. Speaking at a rally in Charleston, W. Va., attended by leaders of the airline-machinists and communications-workers unions, he said, "It's time that we stood up as a large family and fought back." But so far, it is mostly the miners who are aflame.