Early Outs For Miners

Early retirement from dangerous jobs is a key issue in a 5-day-old Spanish coal miners' strike, according to Basque website EiTB24.com. And despite tough competition against Spainsh coal from lower-wage countries, the miners seems to be winning:

"Unions, which have been blocking roads in mining areas since Thursday, had demanded a formula under which a worker's age is multiplied by a coefficient determined by how dangerous their particular job is....Through 2012, the period covered by the new accord, the government wanted the miners be at least 45 to retire. In the end the government abandoned its stance to accept the union plan."

http://www.eitb24.com/noticia_en.php?id=103240

Reuters has pix described as strikers rolling a tire onto a highway and throwing something at police.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/pictures/AGZ01D.htm

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/pictures/AGZ02D.htm