Don’t mess with a coal miner’s wife

Union miners at Warrior Met Coal in Brookwood, Alabama, have now been on strike for four long months, facing economic hardship, social stigma, and even physical assault on the picket line. But the miners have not been alone—it takes a village to win a strike. While the powerful executives and managers of the Wall Street hedge funds that power Warrior Met continue to hope that the strike will fizzle out, an even more powerful network of spouses, families, retirees, and community members with the UMWA Auxiliary have been doing everything they can to hold the line. In the latest installment of “Battleground Brookwood,“ labor journalist and TRNN contributor Kim Kelly travels to West Blocton, a small town near the Warrior Met mines, to talk with five women from the UMWA Auxiliary about the joys and struggles of being married to a coal miner, and about their tireless efforts to organize strike support and carry on the fighting spirit of coal mining families before them. Help us continue produc