A FEW GOOD MEN AND WOMEN: EMPLOYING VETERANS AND NONCAREER MILITARY PERSONNEL

摘要

One of the biggest components of increased production is the labor workforce. To obtain increased production coal producers either have to get more from the existing workforce or hire additional workers. As many are painfully aware, it's not as easy as it used to be to get good, experienced miners, technicians, and electricians. The baby boomers are starting to retire, Eastern coal reserves are rapidly depleting, and family mining traditions are ending with more sons and daughters choosing different vocations. Often, at any given operation, the new hires are mostly red (or green) hats with no mining experience. While they can be hard workers, it takes time to get the experience necessary to operate efficiently. Mining coal is a much more complicated task and the equipment is much more sophisticated today. Maintaining and operating this equipment requires significant technical training-training which many new hires likely do not have. This adds to the cost of production as the mine operator must spend considerable amounts of time and expense ensuring that they receive the proper training.