A miner is a person whose work or commerce is to extract ore or minerals from the earth. Mining is one of the most hazardous trades in the world. In some countries miners lack social guarantees and in case of injury may be left to cope without help. On June 21, 1935, the Convention No. 45 was adopted by the International Labor Organization, where the Article II establishes exclusion of women work in subversive mines: No female, whatever her age, shall be working on underground employment in any mine.The United Mine Workers of America is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners and coal technicians. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the United States and Canada. Although its main focus has always been on workers and their rights, the UMW of today also advocates for better roads, schools, and universal health care.

Miners were often dependent upon the corporation amass, a store that miners had to use because they were often paid only in company scrip, exchangeable at the store, which often emotional higher prices than other stores. Many miners homes were also owned by the mines. Although there were company towns that raised the price of all goods and made eviction a constant threat, these conditions were not the norm for all coal towns. But for the towns that did use the money to their benefit, removal family often faced adversity in living conditions.