Considering the 1920s were a time of significant labor and anti-labor violence, the direct threat of violence may be nonzero here.

But mining has always been miserable work, essentially. For much of history it was split between (low-paid) itinerant workers who needed the money when the farms weren’t in need of extra labor, and (okay-paid) professionals with specific skills. For reference, and please forgive my obsession from coming into play here, a free miner in the period of the Roman Empire could make as much as a soldier, and with similar short-term benefits besides. On the other hand, when labor was lacking, they would simply send criminals into the mines for the backbreaking labor… and six months as a mining slave was considered as good as a death sentence.

“You get stuffed in a tiny elevator now” may actually be less horrific than “You have to walk all the way down or be lowered by a rope; be careful not to fall and break your neck.”

It’s Italians that migrated to Belgium to work. Belgians didn’t want to work in dangerous mines and Italy had an extreme amount of unemployment. Belgium and Italy made an agreement that would benefit both. Cheap workers for Belgium and less unemployment plus easy coal for Italy.

Part of the deal for Italian workers that accepted the 5 year contract was at least 1 year of mandatory labor. Besides that it was for many Italians one of the only jobs available.

https://thehistoryinsider.com/photo-of-a-crude-elevator-crammed-with-miners/

Imagine ending a grueling shift in the mines. I would accept siting on a tiny elevator if it meant the queue was shorter

What “later in life”? They prolly died at the age of 40 from black lung.