Considering its current definition (see below) and the wish to be politically correct, I wonder whether the word has come to acquire any racist overtone.
What is a coal miner hewer-Ask.com. Coal miner hewer is a person who hews or cuts the coal from its natural situation. The hewer is the actual coal-digger removing it from the coal face.
Coal (from the Old English term col, which has meant mineral of fossilized carbon since the 13th century) is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams.