Was there an article that non-union workers led to safety issues at mine?

[TheGunslinger]

Re: that W. Va mine, I thought I read up here an article that the company bypassed the union somehow and hired non-union workers and that might have led to safety issues?



There's a son of a miner on NBC's Today Show complaining that the UMW needs to get union miners back in there. That there's no safety for miners.

[Clark2008]

1. No link, but one of their sons just said exactly that on NBC.

John Bennett, son of Jim Bennett, said it.

[XanaDUer]

2. A man named Bennett (son of victim) just let loose

on national TV about this!
I thought they were unionized?
PS-if anyone finds an article, could they please post it?

[sandnsea]

3. Wait a minute

I'm not sure what you're saying, but those miners were all old and experienced, from what I've heard. Not having a union in a mine means there's nobody to help you advocate for safer working conditions. You're on your own against the company. I don't think it has anything to do with the workers themselves.

[notadmblnd]

4. and when you're 59 yrs old... how do you refuse to do your job?

When you know you have no other? How do you walk away and refuse to go into dangerous situation when you have no backing and there is another unemployeed miner desperate enough to step into your shoes for the few bucks it pays? If these men had had union backing, they may never have been down in the mine when it was known that it was full of dangerous gasses.

[sandnsea]

5. That's exactly what I said

It isn't that non-union miners aren't safe. It's that they've got nobody to help them advocate when the mines are dangerous. The OP seemed to say that they were saying the accident happened because of unsafe miners. I'm saying it's the lack of a union to back them up to make the mines safe, not anything a miner did.

[ohio_liberal]

7. Right on

I'd bet my last dollar that some of those older guys were union workers at one time until their mines shut down and they had to go work for a non-union company. It's not the fault of the worker. You can't work in a mine for 30 years without knowing how to go about it.

[sandnsea]

19. Probably bought out

Funneled through a bunch of companies. Massey, Anker, Horizon, ICG. You know the story. Sell and sell and pressure the worker and sell and threaten to close up and the next thing you know you've got a nonunion industry that isn't answerable to anybody.

[LincolnMcGrath]

12. Both are true in situations.

[notadmblnd]

10. I wasn't calling you out... I was just adding to your post

nt

[sandnsea]

21. oops, sorry

I misunderstood.

[ProfessorGAC]

13. Well, Where The Heck Was OSHA or MSHA?

It's the LAW that nobody has to work in unsafe conditions, and OSHA and MSHA are there to assure that safe conditions are provided.

Another useless gov't agency? What, is Brownie running that agency too?
The Professor

[sandnsea]

14. Cut 25%

There's other posts about Bush cutting the mining inspectors by 25%.

[ProfessorGAC]

18. Well, That Explains A Lot

Of course, i can't say i'm surprised.
The Professor

[ohio_liberal]

15. Um yeah, that's the way it's supposed to be

Truth of it is that the company gets cited, pays a fine, goes about its business.

[ProfessorGAC]

17. Sorry, But That's Not True

OSHA has convicted hundreds of corporate officials for failing to change systems deemed unsafe after an audit. They've been doing it for 30 years.

Of course, they need to get a complaint and perhaps no miner dropped a dime. But, it is NOT just fines and then business as usual. If OSHA fines you once and in a follow-up audit things are improved, then real jail time is involved.
The Professor

[Roland99]

20. Oh,not meant to impugn the workers at all! Looking to the company...

in getting rid of the union it gave the company more power to cut corners and endanger the workers.


I reckon

[bpilgrim]

6. over 200 safety violations in 2005 for the nonUNION corp mine

peace

[spinbaby]

8. it's not just a matter of no union but also...

...a matter of a company that never should have been in mining to begin with. There are very safe non-union mines but they're run by companies that specialize in coal mining. This outfit wasn't a mining company but was an investment company that bought some small mines to capitalize on the high price of coal. A union would have helped to pull them into line. One also has to ask where the federal inspectors were.

[Bridget Burke]

9. If so, please find it.

This is not the fault of the dead miners. But, in a non-Union mine, complaints about safety fall on deaf ears.

[Roland99]

22. I bet this is it

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=44707


Rita Cosby interviewed someone (might have even been the same guy on the Today Show this morning)

[LincolnMcGrath]

11. Union = Safe Workplace and Safer Worker Traits

It is simply a fact.

Although I fully expect a few DUers to chime in and tell me different.

[benburch]

16. Not non-union workers! Non-union COMPANY lead to this. nt

[CornField]

23. Just heard a bit of discussion about this on the local NPR station

I believe it was Terry Gross and she asked the person she was interviewing if the safety issues at the mine had led to the accident. The person replied it was too early to tell and more would be discovered in the coming days.