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Crandall Canyon Mine Owner Murray: Nuts Over Talking Squirrel |
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If you’ve been following the news about the six Utah coal miners trapped nearly a week ago in the collapse at the Crandall Canyon Mine near Huntington, you’ve seen Robert Murray.
The CEO of Murray Energy, the parent company of Utah American, which runs the nonunion mine, has found the camera’s spotlight, seemingly whenever it’s been shining at the disaster site. Murray also has used the spotlight to:
- Deny reports that a type of mining called retreat mining, which many safety experts warn adds danger to an already dangerous underground workplace, was being used at the Utah mine. But federal safety officials confirm retreat mining has been used at Crandall Creek.
- Dispute scientists who say that seismographic readings at the time of the collapse came from the magnitude of the collapse, not an earthquake that caused the collapse.
- Attack reporters and accuse them of posing questions provided by the Mine Workers (UMWA).
- Rant against the UMWA and its leaders, saying the union wants to organize his workforce and “wants to damage Murray Energy, Utah American and the U.S. coal industry for their own motives.”
It’s not the first time Murray has drawn down on the UMWA. The relationship between Murray and the UMWA goes back to1988 when Murray purchased an Ohio coal mine that came with a 300-strong UMWA-represented workforce.
A 2001 UMW Journal cover story—“Promises Made, Promises Broken; Exposing the Real Robert Murray”—chronicles the relationship between the union and an increasing volatile and hostile Murray. It was a relationship that began somewhat cordially and ended up in court and before the National Labor Relations Board.
The rocky relationship began with a talking squirrel:
Ask most of the miners working at the Maple Creek or Powhatan No. 6 mines to tell you owner/operator Robert Murray’s squirrel story, and you’re in for a treat.
The way Murray tells it, he had just been let go in 1987 as CEO of North American Coal Company and was feeling extremely down about the whole situation. At home one day, Murray was sitting on his back porch, contemplating his future, when he was approached by a squirrel. Murray says the squirrel hopped up next to him, looked him square in the eye and said: “Bob Murray, you should be operating your very own mines.” Unfortunately for UMWA miners, this seemingly intelligent rodent wasn’t too keen on fairness, so it neglected to add the words “and make sure you treat your workers the way you would want to be treated.”
Click here for the full story, and here, here, here and here for follow up stories in the Journal.
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OSHA/MSHA protect corporations not workers and are ready to parrot whatever ludicrous excuses are give for worker deaths i.e. this mining accident caused by an “earthquake” , Sago was caused by “lightening”.
Six years have passed since my brother, Gary Puleio, a cement truck driver was killed at Meadville Redi-Mix Concrete on 8/15/2001 after falling from a concrete tower. OSHA accepted the implausible excuse offered by Redi-Mix that Gary just “wandered up there on his own” at the end of the driving shift rather than, as a new employee, being assigned the dangerous task of cleaning the tower without any safety equipment. Meadville Redi-Mix had been cited for numerous serious violations only months before Gary was killed. For Gary’s death, Redi-Mix paid a $6000 fine for REPEAT violations and accepted no wrongdoing.
Full access to Gary’s case records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was denied. The appeal to obtain full access and to review the “substantive” issues of the case was stalled for months. Finally, no further action could be taken anyway as OSHA requires that any citations or penalties must be issued within 6 months of an “alleged violation” as the neglectful killing of worker is called. Corporations routinely negotiate with OSHA to have fines reduced and violations downgraded through a process called abatement while workers have no such access.
As I remember my brother today, I recall the terrible unjust circumstances surrounding his death, the inadequacies of the regulatory system designed to protect corporations not workers, the lack of accountability of corporations and the unbalanced scales of justice.
Capital is reckless of the health or length of life of the laborer, unless under compulsion from society”—Karl Marx
Details of Gary’s case and the OSHA “investigation” are at http://garypuleio.blogspot.com.
Thanks to blogger Mick Arran for writing about Gary at
http://puleiotower.blogspot.com
The short video made by 1 investigator carrying a portable camera was all that was deemed necessary after Gary was killed is posted at http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=15508585
Videos also posted to:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=ED1FC267A0C0A4B0
Donna Puleio Spadaro
http://workingclassmatters.blogspot.com
[…] by Jack Stephens on August 11th, 2007 Mike Hall blogs about Robert Murray, the CEO of Murray Energy, which owns the mine of the six trapped (or possibly […]
[…] Hall blogs about Robert Murray, the CEO of Murray Energy, which owns the mine of the six trapped (or possibly […]
The Crandall Canyon Mine crisis and the company’s CEO Robert “Bob” Murray have riveted media viewers across the county on the fait of six miners trapped underground.
Much has been said regarding Mr. Murray’s handling of press relations during this crisis and perhaps when our hearts heal from this tragedy Crandall Canyon will become a case study for PR students to learn how to better plan for and handle crisis communications.
We all are hopeful this mine tragedy turns out well for the trapped miners and their families. For corporate leaders in the boardroom seeking to better prepare for crisis communications, perhaps some tips would be helpful.
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=1610117&comments=true
dpuleio said,
“”"Full access to Gary’s case records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was denied. The appeal to obtain full access and to review the “substantive” issues of the case was stalled for months. Finally, no further action could be taken anyway as OSHA requires that any citations or penalties must be issued within 6 months of an “alleged violation” as the neglectful killing of worker is called. Corporations routinely negotiate with OSHA to have fines reduced and violations downgraded through a process called abatement while workers have no such access. “”"
Thank you for sighting that information. It is sad but true that ever scince the Reagan Reactionary Era, the strength of OSHA has been weakened and under Bush even the pathetic standards that still exist under current OSHA regulations are not enforced.
The American people have a right to know what OSHA regulations were violated. Abatment implies correction of a safety problem. These were un-holy “non”abatment deals were struck.
We as concerned Americans and Unionists should demand that the Corporate executives who allowed these OSHA violations to continue un abated be tried as criminals.