ENERGY

Coal Strike Ends: The United Mine Workers union ended its month-old strike after reaching agreement with the nation’s largest coal operators on the terms of a 60-day contract extension. The agreement will extend the expired 1988 contract until May 3, the UMW said. The union went on strike against Peabody Holding Co. subsidiaries Feb. 2 after the two sides bogged down over the union’s demand for information on the operators’ corporate structure. The UMW said it was seeking an end to the practice it calls “double breasting,” in which operators already organized by the union set up non-union subsidiaries and transfer coal reserves and sales contracts to the non-union sector.