This Friday, April 1st, 2022 marks one year since about 1,000 miners went on strike – the longest strike in Alabama’s history.

The Alabama coal miners have received support from some US politicians and donations to their strike fund from several US labor unions.

A rally is held by them calling for better pay and conditions.

They walked off the job accusing company Warrior Met Coal of bad faith over a new union contract.

In the previous contract settled in 2016, miners accepted several concessions, including a $6-an-hour pay cut and reductions in health insurance and other benefits as the mines switched employers in the wake of a bankruptcy.

The employer has kept mining with strikebreakers/replacement/scab workers.

For many of the striking miners, the battle runs deep, with many having generations of miners in their families.

The strike, the first in four decades, has fiercely divided the small community; while some picket, others are still going to work.

Aljazeera.