How Do Things Change for Jim Walter Resources?

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Braxton: I had worked so hard for so many years to prove my knowledge and my ability to run a plant on my own. And then all of a sudden, they just let me go like I was nothing. A year later, as these companies tend to do, Jim Walter Resources reorganizes itself,. It's called Warrior Met Coal and it hires hundreds of miners back. This time he's hired into a union job. Braxton: "It was a proud moment for me"

For more than 500 days, coal miners in rural Alabama have been on strike. Around 900 workers walked off the job in April 2021, and they haven’t been back since.

As the strike drags on, the miners are discovering that neither political party is willing to fight for them.

For Braxton Wright, 39, a second-generation coal miner and, until recently, a Republican, the experience has altered his view of American politics.

Guest: Michael Corkery, a business reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading:

To make ends meet, some striking coal miners in Alabama have picked up work at an Amazon warehouse. It’s the same one where workers have tried to unionize.

For more information on today’s episode, visit

nytimes.com/thedaily

. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.