The energy startup SPARKZ said this week it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the nation’s largest coal miners’ union on a labor-management agreement for its planned electric battery factory in West Virginia. The company and the United Mine Workers of America will partner to recruit and train dislocated miners to be the factory’s first production workers. In March, the company said it would start construction this year on the plant that will employ at least 350 workers. SPARKZ is in the final stages of site selection, and will be announcing customer partnerships in the coming months. Its first markets will likely be in material-handling vehicles like forklifts, agricultural equipment and energy storage.