Face Boss

The Memoir of a Western Kentucky Coal Miner

Michael D. Guillerman

• Publisher: University of Tennessee Press
• Year: 2009
• eBook ISBN: 9781572339002
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

Face Boss tells a story that few people have heard: what it is really like to labor inside the dark and dangerous world of a vast underground coal mine. With unflinching honesty, as well as considerable humor and insight, Michael Guillerman recalls his nearly eighteen years of working as both a union miner and a salaried section foreman-or “face boss”-at the Peabody Coal Company's Camp No. 2 mine in Union County, Kentucky.

Guillerman undertook this memoir because of the many misconceptions about coal mining that were evidenced most recently in the media coverage of the 2006 Sago Mine disaster. Shedding some much-needed light on this little-understood topic, Face Boss is riveting, authentic, and often raw. Guillerman describes in stark detail the risks, dangers, and uncertainties of coal mining: the wildcat and contract strikes, layoffs, shutdowns, mine fires, methane ignitions, squeezes, and injuries. But he also discusses the good times that emerged despite perilous working conditions: the camaraderie and immense sense of accomplishment that came with mining hundreds of tons of coal every day. Along the way, Guillerman spices his narrative with numerous anecdotes from his many years on the job and discusses race relations within mining culture and the expanding role of women in the industry.

While the book contributes significantly to the general knowledge of contemporary mining, Face Boss is also a tribute to those men and women who toil anonymously beneath the rolling hills of western Kentucky and the other coal-rich regions of the United States. More than just the story of one man's life and career, it is a stirring testament to the ingenuity, courage, and perseverance of the American coal miner.

 

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1. Coal in Union County
• 2. My First Impressions of Coal Mining
• 3. Millions of Tons of Coal
• 4. Mine Construction
• 5. Becoming a UMWA Coal Miner
• 6. Working Underground
• 7. Inside a Conventional Mining Unit
• 8. Coal Preparation on a Conventional Mining Unit
• 9. Loading Coal, Roof Bolting, and the Introduction of the Continuous Miner
• 10. Underground Beltlines: Conveying Coal to the Stockpile
• 11. The United Mine Workers of America
• 12. The Coal Boom and My First Assigned Unit
• 13. The “Wild West”
• 14. My First Bossing Assignment: Hard Times
• 15. No. 5 Unit: Good Times
• 16. Women in the Mines
• 17. Race Relations
• 18. Camp No. 2 Anecdotes
• 19. Labor Conflicts and Instability
• 20. Acid Rain Legislation and Mine Layoffs
• 21. Coal Dust Surveys and Violations
• 22. The Big Mine Fire of 1984 and the Push to Reopen the North
• 23. The TVA and the Alleged Camp Complex Improprieties of 1984
• 24. A New Superintendent and a Methane Ignition
• 25. The 1985 Camp Complex Shutdown and Reopening
• 26. A New Beginning
• 27. Super Units, Heart Problems, and an Inundation on No. 3 Unit
• 28. Squeezes on No. 3 and No. 5 Units
• 29. No. 2 Unit—My Last
• Epilogue
• Glossary of Mining Terms and Slang
• Appendix A. Camp No. 2 Personnel
• Appendix B. MSHA Commentary on Camp No. 2 Mine Fire of 1984
• Appendix C. Newspaper Articles on Alleged Irregularities at Camp Complex
• Appendix D. Report on October 1985 Methane Ignition
• Appendix E. Report on March 1990 Inundation Accident
• Notes
• Index