Archive for January 2009
Coal gets a shot in the arm.
According to the WV Gazette,
Coal supporters have managed to tuck more than $4.6 billion in money for the industry into a Senate version of the economic stimulus package.
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved the legislation with several coal projects pushed by Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va.
The Senate funding is nearly double the $2.6 billion included in a current House version of the legislation, meant to help boost the sagging economy across the country.
Ohio rally hits Chamber of Commerce union-busting forum
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — The Chamber of Commerce here got much more turnout for the anti-union seminar at the local country club than they expected, or wanted, for that matter.
The Ross County Chamber had issued a call for a Jan. 23 seminar on “Stopping the Employee Free Choice Act/Standing Up to Big Labor.” They expected a turnout of business types to plot strategy to oppose the proposed labor law reform that would strengthen worker’s right to organize. What they got was a big turnout, but of unionists and union supporters.
UAW, Chrysler Eliminate Jobs Bank
DETROIT – The United Auto Workers union has eliminated its jobs bank for Chrysler workers.
After weeks of speculation, union officials told their members the doors to the controversial job bank will be closing on Monday, Jan. 26.
Consol’s top coal-to-gasoline executive retires
CHARLESTON, W.Va.–The Consol Energy executive who headed the company’s effort to build a coal-to-gasoline plant in Marshall County has retired but Consol’s interest in the project “remains undiminished,” said company spokesman Thomas Hoffman.
Paul Spurgeon retired effective last week. “It doesn’t mean anything for the project,” Hoffman said. “We are still interested in pursuing some sort of a conversion project in the Ohio Valley.”
ExxonMobil sells Monterey coal mine – Will new owners keep the Union?
CARLINVILLE — The Monterey coal mine near Carlinville has been sold.
ExxonMobil spokeswoman Margaret Ross said in an e-mail Monday the company sold the mine to Macoupin Energy LLC. Macoupin Energy is part of the Cline Group, which also owns Hillsboro Energy and has mines elsewhere in Illinois and West Virginia.
Spokesmen for the Cline Group did not return phone calls seeking comment. Ross said questions should be directed to the new owner.
UMWA marks 119th birthday
United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President Cecil E.
Roberts issued the following statement today:
“On January 25, 1890, 119 years ago yesterday, hundreds of incredibly brave coal miners from around the country gathered in Columbus, Oh., and voted to establish the United Mine Workers of America. They were of different racial and ethnic backgrounds and spoke different languages, yet all were united by one common purpose: To throw off the yoke of servitude and oppression that defined life for a coal miner–no matter his race or national origin.
Alabama attorney general’s intervention in Benjamin, Massey recusal outrageous, UMWA says
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JANUARY 23, 2009
CONTACT: Phil Smith
703-208-7241
Alabama attorney general’s intervention in Benjamin, Massey recusal outrageous, UMWA says
United Mine Workers of America International President Cecil E. Roberts issued the following statement today:
“The intervention of Alabama Attorney General Troy King (R) into the appeal of the Harman Mining v. Massey Energy case before the U.S.
Supreme Court is an outrageous intrusion into the case and makes one wonder just what Mr. King is trying to do.
“Prior to his election to the West Virginia Supreme Court, Brent Benjamin was an unknown lawyer. He received virtually all of his campaign funding from the head of a powerful corporation– Massey Energy–and was the beneficiary of even more millions spent ‘independently’ on his behalf by that very same person. Once on the court, Benjamin was in a position to vote on matters that directly affected the financial well-being of his campaign benefactor and the corporation he runs. And vote he did, on more than one occasion, including the Harman decision.
“What is it about that sequence of events that Mr. King wants to protect?
“No state justice or judge, sitting on any court in any state, should be able to rule on a case that impacts a major contributor to that judge’s election campaign. That should be the law of the land, whether it be West Virginia, Alabama or anywhere else. In arguing to allow such a seamy practice to continue, Mr. King is in essence arguing to allow the appearance of impropriety to seep into the judicial system of every state in the country where judges are elected.
“What happened in the Harmon case is a travesty, and every person in West Virginia knows it. In addition, the American Bar Association, the League of Women Voters and many major American corporations filed briefs in this case supporting Harman’s appeal. In the words of one of those briefs, ‘There is the need to signal that…judicial decisions cannot be bought and sold.’ That is what happened in this case, and there is no way to put an end to it other than by Supreme Court action.
“Mr. King may believe it’s OK for judges to be bought and paid for, but no one other than the ones doing the buying would agree with him. A reversal of the Harmon decision by the Supreme Court is needed to relieve the concerns of ordinary citizens in West Virginia and elsewhere that justice can be for sale to the highest bidder.”
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A poignant point for an outgoing administration « Vox Nova
Courtesy of James David Baker:
“When an American president leaves office with the Constitution more or less intact, and without a lot of dead American boys scattered around the planet, we out to give him a medal.”
-Charlotte Observer, July 11, 1985
Teacher unions to ask Legislature for another pay raise
CHARLESTON, W.Va.–The state’s teacher unions plan an aggressive push on lawmakers this session for better pay and more reasonable health care costs.
But officials with the West Virginia Education Association and West Virginia’s chapter of the American Federation of Teachers admit they’ll be facing a tough audience, especially when some lawmakers have already said they’ll be pinching pennies when preparing a budget.
Teachers at 2 Charter Schools Plan to Join Union, Despite Notion of Incompatibility
The United Federation of Teachers announced on Tuesday that it had organized teachers at two respected New York City charter schools, making inroads in a movement that has long sold itself as an alternative that is not hamstrung by union contracts and work rules.
Union officials said the teachers’ decision was an important step because the schools are part of the Knowledge Is Power Program, known as KIPP, which has 66 schools in 19 states and the District of Columbia and plays an influential role in national education debates. Advocates for charter schools — which are publicly funded but independently operated — expressed concern that unionization could undermine the schools’ effectiveness.
Coercion has no place in votes to form unions
A recent article characterized the debate surrounding legislation that would make it easier to form unions in the workplace as a question of survival — a business’s need to control operating costs vs. a union’s fight to stave off dwindling membership. While the reporting and facts were straightforward and accurate, the piece missed what is perhaps the most significant element of the “card check” controversy: the consequences of this bill on democracy and workers’ rights.
I have been to the Mountaintop – MLK, Jr, Union man
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered this speech in support of the striking sanitation workers at Mason Temple in Memphis, TN on April 3, 1968 — the day before he was assassinated. License to reproduce this speech granted by Intellectual Properties Management, 1579-F Monroe Drive, Suite 235, Atlanta, Georgia 30324, as manager for the King Estate. Write to IPM re: copyright permission for use of words and images of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Rahall bill would regulate coal-ash ponds like other waste dams
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Coal-ash impoundments like the one that broke three weeks ago in Tennessee would have to meet design, construction and inspection standards similar to those currently in place for other coal industry waste dams, under legislation proposed Wednesday by House Natural Resources Chairman Nick J. Rahall.
In introducing his bill, the West Virginia Democrat recalled the Farmington and Buffalo Creek disasters, and reminded fellow lawmakers “every single federal law regulating coal was penned in blood.”
Aracoma widows oppose Massey plea deal
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Widows of two Massey Energy coal miners killed in a January 2006 fire said Wednesday they oppose a plea deal that prohibits prosecutors from taking the case higher up the Massey corporate structure.
Delorice Bragg and Freda Hatfield urged U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver to reject Massey subsidiary Aracoma Coal Co.’s 10-count plea bargain and $2.5 million criminal fine.
Solis Avoids Disputes Over Union Issues at Confirmation Hearing
Senate Republicans spent much of a hearing attempting to draw President-elect Barack Obama’s choice for labor secretary, Rep. Hilda Solis, into a fight over union issues. But Solis provided little ammunition.
At the end of a relatively brief confirmation hearing on Friday in which Solis repeatedly refused to voice her opinions on hotly contested issues such as organizing rights, the Californian’s nomination appeared intact.
Republicans are concerned that Solis, a strong supporter of unions in her eight years in the House as a representative from Southern California, will bring a pro-union bias to the Labor Department.
Work to resume at Riverdale steel plant
RIVERDALE, Ill. | ArcelorMittal’s currently idled Riverdale finishing plant will resume steel operations in two weeks.
“ArcelorMittal Riverdale employees are returning to ready the facility as we prepare to resume operations on Jan. 26 in order to meet the demand for the facility’s unique product mix,” said ArcelorMittal spokeswoman Katie Patterson.
Of ArcelorMittal’s Riverdale plant’s 244 workers, 54 have been on voluntary layoff for more than a month, and another 135 have been on involuntary layoff, said Gary Bender, president of United Steelworkers Local 9481, which represents the finishing mill’s workers. The other 55 workers have remained on the job or are in training.
UAW members no fans of Sen. Corker
In the homes of many a United Auto Worker, U.S. Sen. Bob Corker from Tennessee is a household name — and not in a good way.
“He’s a sell-out,” said Bill Bagwell, a second-generation auto worker who drives a forklift for General Motors Corp.
Unions revamp campaign for card-check bill
Organized-labor leaders announced Tuesday a campaign to spend millions to press lawmakers to pass legislation that would make it easier for unions to organize, promising a contentious fight with business associations.
American Rights at Work, a worker advocacy group, said it had made a $3 million ad buy to begin Thursday, to lobby for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. The ads will run nationwide for the next two weeks and feature workers imploring lawmakers to pass the bill in order to improve their economic situation.
W.Va. coal miner starts pro-industry campaign
West Virginia miners who believe environmentalists are giving the industry a bum rap are planning a campaign to emphasize the importance of coal to the nation’s economy and security.
Citizens for Coal is the brainchild of Roger Horton, a truck driver at St. Louis-based Patriot Coal Corp.’s Guyan mine, a Logan County mountaintop removal site that’s been targeted by environmentalists. Horton envisions Citizens for Coal as a way for miners to educate lawmakers and the public about the industry and counter criticism from environmentalists.
Saving Jobs: Steelworker jobs defended by WV Government
Governor Joe Manchin, Senator Jay Rockefellar, representatives from Senator Robert C. Byrd’s office, and U.S. Representative Shelley Moore Capito met with the leaders of Century Aluminum, the International Steelworkers Union, Appalachian Power, and the city of Ravenswood Saturday.
After health scare, Steelworkers Union leader renews push to rebuild manufacturing
It was February when Leo Gerard finally had to come to a stop for a while.
Mr. Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers, thought he had the flu, but he still got on a plane for a trip to Colombia to talk to government officials about the violence against union organizers there.
He made it onto the plane but then got off because he was just too sick. A few hours later he was having heart surgery. Instead of the flu, he had a blood clot in his heart. He has since realized that if he had stayed on that plane, he might not have gotten off alive.
Jospeh Mairs, martyr for miners
The years 1913 and 1914 were black days for Ladysmith and a good part of Vancouver Island. The bloodiest mine strike ever started in Cumberland and spread all the way to our Extension Mines.
Unions had tried to form for years, but the Dunsmuir operation and others held out. Ladysmith was built because Dunsmuir did not want his miners living near the mines. It was a form of control. Ladysmith was definitely his company town.
Cecil Roberts – Mining in a perfect world (2007)
In 2007, the world watched as courageous men and women in Utah attempted to dig out hoped for survivors out of a pit of despair created by a scab coal boss. This editorial was written soon after the tragedy unfolded by the President of the United Mine Workers of America, Cecil Roberts.
In a perfect world, employers would sufficiently value their workers that they would do everything they can to ensure their safety.
My friends, we know all too well that this is not a perfect world.
Employee Free Choice Act bill gets renewed push
With President-elect Barack Obama set to join what could be a more labor-friendly Congress, union leaders and businesses are gearing up for another partisan fight over a bill that would make it easier to form unions in the workplace.
Citizens for Coal Hope to Spread Message of Supporting Industry
After brooding, stewing, some begging and prodding, Roger Horton decided to do something.
“What happened was for the longest time we’d been hearing here in the coalfields that there are two sides,” Horton said, “those of the environmentalists and those of the coal industry.
“We’d continue to one day work and the next day fight to continue to work, and for that reason we decided to establish a grassroots organization that would allow the citizens who have a stake in this … to have a venue to express their concerns and also to express the way that they live and how they depend upon the coal industry to help them live.”
