Left-wing militant wins key British union post

Coal miners may be headed for a showdown with the British government over pay after a left-wing militant, Arthur Scargill, was overwhelmingly elected leader of Britain's 240,000 coal miners.

Mr. Scargill won 70 percent of the vote to become president of the National Union of Mineworkers.

His runaway victory as president of the union, one of the most powerful labor posts in Britain, may disquiet the ruling Conservative Party of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.