Congress could learn a great deal from union mining

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/13290

Submitted by Jesse Russell on April 9, 2010 - 4:20pm
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Lede: As Congress prepares to hold hearings on the West Virginia mining disaster, it can draw some safety lessons from union mines. Doug Cunningham reports.

By Doug Cunningham

Kenny Purdue, president of the West Virginia AFL-CIO , told the Public News Service union mines give workers a greater say in the safety of the mines. It’s done through union safety committees, something missing from the non-union mines where disastrous fatal accidents have happened in recent years.
: "There are opportunities within union mines to say, 'There's something wrong here,' and that's what these miners within Montcoal should have been able to say."??
Purdue wants the Mine Safety and Health Administration to rein in unsafe mines.
: “If there are penalties such as this - a hundred-some penalties since the first of the year - and they see these penalties in place and not being fixed, somebody has the power to say, 'This mine is going to be shut down until they're fixed.'"?