Coal Negotiations Begin
'file United Mine Workers union served notice on a booming coal industry yestet-day that it wants some energy-crisis profits turned back to .\Vorkcrs in the form of safer working conditions, more fringe beneifts, and wages that keep up with inflation.</br></br>Union President A mol d Miller laid out thuse proposals to the Bituminous Coal Operators Association on the opening day of the first major labor negotiations in the energy industry since tlu* Arab oil boycott last winter.</br></br>! MillerÛªs telephone-book sized package of eon wad proposals contained no specify* wage increase figures, but .what the union wants will almost certainly fly in the face of President FordÛªs repeated calls for restraint and sacrifice.</br></br>The I'MW claims its 120.000 active workers los. buying power under a contract that boosted wages a little over 19 per cent over the last three years.</br></br>Last month the Agriculture Department predicted retail food prices would rise 15 nor cent this year, and the Commerce Department said prices as a whole were up at an annual rate of 9.6 ocr cent for April. May and June.