Three of the trapped miners are Mexicans

[spinbaby]

I noticed in this yahoo article that three of the trapped miners are Mexican citizens.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070807/ap_on_re_us/utah_mine_collapse


The mine's CEO and owner is one Robert E. Murray, known here in the east for his zeal in trying to bust the UMWA:

http://www.umwa.org/journal/VOL112NO5/aroundourunion.shtml

http://www.umwa.org/journal/VOL112NO4/july1.shtml


The UMWA has been fighting coal companies trying to bring in cheap Mexican labor.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/entertainment/658878/illegals_in_mines_spark_disagreement/index.html

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20060219/ai_n16143707

[havocmom]

1. .

:popcorn:

[malaise]

2. Kick n/t

[jgraz]

3. O'Reilly: Mexican immigrants are responsible for DOUBLING the number of trapped miners in Utah!

Tonight, on The Factor.

[flying rabbit]

18. ..

:spray:

[Maestro]

4. Just speculating, and all six could have volunteered under

their own volition but Mexican laborers have a much higher rate of work accidents because many companies just simply consider them expendable since many are undocumented. It would explain why these three were doing a risky type of mining operation. I don't know. I am just highly skeptical when I see these sorts of things. I hope I am wrong.

[spinbaby]

5. Cheap and expendable

I'm thinking this mine operator was using the cheapest labor possible to extract the most possible profit out of this mine using the most dangerous mining methods.

[kestrel91316]

13. Gee, ya think?

[Maestro]

17. Unfortunately, I think you are right.

:-(

[Tanuki]

7. Non-English speaking workers have a higher accident rate in construction, too,

possibly due to communication probelms. I would assume these mineworkers were hired for the same reason so many Mexican workers have been in recent years...to exploit their desperation and thereby drive down prevailing U.S. wages and undercut unions.

[TahitiNut]

6. Well, everyone knows that mining is a job Americans won't do.

:popcorn:

(... except for my grandfather who was blackballed for organizing for the UMW.)

[Wilber_Stool]

8. I've been watching him today

on infotainment and he's really hot about denying any responsibility from the owners. It was the first thing he said in the interview. "You have to know who to go to to get the truth and it is me." or some such shit.

I think I've lost the ability to proof read.

[XOKCowboy]

11. When he spoke of the United Mine Workers...

he spit the words out like poison. Add his union-busting attitude to the 300 or so safety violations and he was covering his ass big time in the presser. I wonder how many people came away from watching that fiasco thinking "well this guy's obviously got the trapped miners interest foremost in his mind" and how many people came away shaking their heads in disbelief like most here?

[Justitia]

9. I knew there'd be a union buster behind this story, there always is.

You'd think people would start to make the connection between consequences of accidents and exploitation of labor.

[Tesha]

10. And the style of mining was "retreat mining", the most dangerous.

http://www.umwa.org/mining/ugmine.shtml

> When mining advances to the end of a panel or the property line,
> retreat mining begins. In retreat mining, the workers mine as much
> coal as possible from the remaining pillars until the roof falls in.
> When retreat mining is completed, the mined area is abandoned.



Per NPR, retreat mining is three times as hazardous as
conventional underground coal mining.

Tesha

[XOKCowboy]

12. Oh he went nuts when asked about "retreat mining"...

Then again he was nuts from the beginning. :)

[OzarkDem]

16. Illegal aliens would be the only ones

willing to risk their lives in such a highly dangerous type of mining operation.

These mines should be shut down, extra profits aren't worth risking peoples lives unnecessarily.

[JVS]

14. Lou Dobbs: Illegals are sneaking into America's mines!

[Lex]

15. . . . and stealing America's crappy dangerous jobs!

nt

[Efilroft Sul]

19. More on Murray

His political contributions, all Republican.
http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.asp?strID=C00410985&Cycle=2006


And this gem, from 2002:
WASHINGTON - Millionaire coal magnate Bob Murray knew the name to drop in September 2002, when Mine Safety Health Administration inspectors confronted him about safety problems at his mines: Sen. Mitch McConnell.

Murray, a large man with a fierce temper, is a huge donor to Republican senators. McConnell, R-Ky., rose through the ranks by raising money for those senators. And McConnell is married to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, whose agency oversees MSHA.

Shouting at a table full of MSHA officials at their district office in Morgantown, W.Va., Murray said: "Mitch McConnell calls me one of the five finest men in America, and the last I checked, he was sleeping with your boss," according to notes of the meeting. "They," Murray added, pointing at two MSHA men, "are gone."

Murray, in a recent interview, denied that he referred to McConnell "sleeping with" Chao.

But nobody disputes that district manager Tim Thompson, at one end of Murray's jabbing finger and the man whose notes recorded the meeting, was transferred to another region, away from Murray's mines. He appealed the transfer for three years until he grudgingly took retirement in January. Labor Department officials refuse to discuss his transfer.
http://www.kentucky.com/233/story/11062.html

[shain from kane]

20. So, don't cry for me, Argentina?