Cape Breton's Magazine

cally able to do it. And then you needed twice as much good strong food, eh?-- extraordinary food, full of vitamins and all the rest of it--for you to be able to do that work. But then, when you didn't have to do that work--when the machine did it--then you could live like a man going to the office. You didn't need nearly as much food. You could go to bed at 1 o'clock in the morning after a dance, and get up the same as anybody else and go to work, and you didn't have to worry about it. The machine was doing the work, see. It's psychological.... (But you say the men themselves preferred the contract situation.) Well, you see, coal miners--they didn't like change. They were going to kill me when I got rid of that. See? That was a kind of a bit of a dictatorship job on my part. We got rid of that for their own good. I was watching. They were burnt out at 50--men burnt out-- worked out--pumped out. They were just finished, eh?--50 years old, going around with a hump in their back, staggering all over the place. And I looked at that, you know. I said, "They can go to hell. If I can change that, I'm going to change it." So I changed it. So now, if you tried to get them to go back to the contract work, they'd kill you! Bill ''m laughs. They're not going back to that! You couldn't find a shovel down there now--you don't even need any mucking behind the machine or anything like that--nobody--none of that--nothing. It just cleans up, sweeps up all the coal, does all the work, and the jacks come over, and you keep pro? tecting your roof as you go. And it's continuous mining in the true sense of the word, because you just cut down (along the coal face), move over, cut up again--you get six or seven cuts in the one shift. Just keep going, up and down and up and down. And safe. Safe. Now you've got mechanization. And now you've got the men--they're all running around with a gut on them like that, see! Everybody is fat and plump! Laughs. And all the young fellows now want to go work JJ' Tu8tfi' nnnado July 17,18 & 19,1997 World Trade & Convention Centre and the Halifax IVIetro Centre Tickets will be available in June at participating Sobeys Stores, or at the door. July 17: Opening Dance • $10.00/person July 18: All attractions • $10.00/person July 19: All attractions • $10.00/person (AT THE DOOR: $11.00 EACH) Nova Scotia "'[liji' Senior Citizens' '?W Secretariat ? II R CANADA airNova Mark your calendar and plan to attend! Thursday, July 18: OPENING DANCE! 8:oop.iui. to midnight The 'iSD il)DP)(sl i?[!ilGn)''' of Joe Skowronski and his ORCHESTRA x"- Seminars ""' '''eniors'Art V'rts/Craft's/Hobbies' ( Seni( ' ,Remarkal Art and Photo Galleries Senior Performers Remarkable Senior Awards For your enjoyment, our Headline Perfomers. Wayne Rostad of CBC's On the Road Again • 'Alexander j3 Brothers • Scotland's International Entertainers For more information: Seniors' EXPO at (902) 424-7957 or Toil Free 1-800-670-0065 PHARMACEUTICAL .MANUFAaURERS ASSOClATIOiN OF CANADA Reseanhen md developers of onjjwD/ brand luime mediciim ybbey/ THECHRONICIE-HERALD The Mail-Star ]VIee>ical SOCIEXY