Steve Smith from the AFL-CIO Media Affairs Department sends us the following update on the AFL-CIO Executive Council meeting in San Diego, where leaders of the nation’s union movement are convening for their annual winter session.

In the past 12 months, 42 American coal miners were killed at work. That’s 42 families who have lost a father, husband, brother or son. The Sago Mine disaster and other recent tragedies have forced Congress to take a closer look at the issue. And it’s clearer than ever that the government is failing our nation’s coal miners.

Union leaders demanded stronger safety measures to protect members with the AFL-CIO Executive Council passing a resolution today calling on Congress to enact and President Bush to sign legislation that requires additional safety measures for miners and improved enforcement at the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). The resolution also calls on Congress to restore funding for coal enforcement to at least 2001 levels to ensure proper oversight of the nation’s mines.

The resolution reads, in part:

Protecting the lives and health of the nation’s coal miners should be a priority for the nation. More than 50 percent of the country’s electric power comes from coal. And in the face of high oil prices and with a focus on energy independence, coal production, and the number of coalminers is increasing. This increase should not have to come at the costs of miners’ lives.

Speaking at a press conference in conjunction with the council meeting today, Mine Workers (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts said if the Sago miners had been able to communicate with people on the outside, they could have been guided out of the mine. Roberts also said the current MSHA administration weakened federal rules on flammable belts and ventilation, and this change adversely affected the most recent explosion in Maryland.

Roberts, who will testify in Washington, D.C., tomorrow at a Senate committee oversight hearing on MSHA, notes that the shoddy enforcement of mine safety regulations is placing miners in harm’s way—and needs to be addressed immediately.

The fact is that few in government have been paying close attention to what’s going on when it comes to mine health and safety ever since the last time the Act was amended in 1977. And that’s led us to the situation we find ourselves in today—where the agency develops rules and regulations that are contrary to the law as passed by Congress, where MSHA does not aggressively enforce the law and its own rules, and where what rules that are enforced are not backed up with sufficient levels of fines or means to ensure compliance.

Unfortunately for our nation’s coal miners, President Bush doesn’t seem to be getting the message. His nomination of Richard Stickler to head MSHA virtually ensures there won’t be meaningful reform within the organization anytime soon.

Stickler’s nomination shows the Bush administration’s priorities are protecting the interests of industry executives, not miners.

In 1969, Congress determined that the industry was incapable of policing itself when it came to safety, so it passed the Mine Health and Safety Act, which established MSHA. But in 2001, the Bush administration decided that it was apparently OK to put industry executives in charge at MSHA with the appointment of David Lauriski as head of the agency. Now, they’re looking to continue that trend by appointing Richard Stickler, another career company manager and executive, to head the agency. America’s coal miners do not need the foxes guarding the henhouse. They need someone looking out for their interests, and their interests alone.

UMWA and the AFL-CIO aren’t waiting for the Bush administration to act. Hundreds of miners throughout the nation have approached UMWA about forming a union at their mine. The Mine Workers have launched a massive nationwide organizing campaign at Peabody Energy, the largest coal company in the world, so that miners will have the opportunity to work as safely as possible while earning the kind of guaranteed wages, benefits and retiree benefits that comes with a UMWA contract. And the campaign is drawing widespread support. Today, Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.) offered his support and encouragement for Peabody workers in their struggle to organize.Carnahan said in a statement: