Union Reign On Kentucky Coal Comes To An End

For the first time in about a century, there are no working union coal miners in Kentucky. The state's few remaining union coal miners were laid off New Years Eve when Patriot Coal's Highland Mine in Western Kentucky shut down.

From the Here & Now Contributors Network, Erica Peterson of WFPL reports that the union is struggling to appeal to younger coal miners, but others feel organized labor still has a role to play.

• Read more on this story via WFPL

Reporter

• Erica Peterson, environment reporter and a managing editor at WFPL in Louisville, Ky. She tweets @ericampeterson.

Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.