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Mine Workers President Roberts: Massey’s Blankenship Should Be Jailed
Mine Workers (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts says that Massey Energy Co.’s continued inaction on safety violations at its Upper Big Branch Mine, where 29 West Virginia coal miners died in an April 5 explosion, should send Massey CEO Donald Blankenship to jail.
In a speech at the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO convention yesterday, Roberts said, “If there is any justice in America,”
U.S. Marshals should go to where he lives, get him, handcuff him, put him in chains, take him to jail, set his fine at $40 million.
He told the delegates the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) inspectors had “shut this mine down over and over and over again.”
They brought the men outside, they brought them to a safe place. But as soon as they left the same thing happened again and again. They didn’t correct the violations.
In 2009, MSHA proposed nearly $1 million in fines for more than 450 safety violations at the nonunion mine. Just last month, MSHA cited the mine for 57 safety violations that included repeatedly failing to develop and follow the ventilation plan. Ventilation is vital to prevent the build-up of highly explosive methane gas, which is most likely the cause of the April blast.
Roberts said the Massey mine was cited several times for “failure to abate.”
What does that mean? They were told to do something by the United States government. They said here’s a violation you are being cited for. I’ll be back in five days and this better be corrected. This inspector came back over and over again and they didn’t correct the violations.
Some people, Roberts said, say mining is inherently dangerous and these things will happen and “there’s nothing we can do about it.”
They are damn sure wrong. We need good laws, we need those laws to be obeyed and we need those laws to be enforced and those who fail to obey those laws should be punished.
One of the miners killed, 25-year-old Josh Napper, was concerned about safety, especially ventilation problems at the Upper Big Branch Mine, his mother told CNN reporters after the blast. Roberts said he left a letter for his family before he went to the mine April 5. Napper “left it with his mother and fiancé and his baby fearing he was not going to survive working in this coal mine.”
There is something wrong with this picture. When young men go off to war, they write these kinds of letters, saying how much we love our mothers, our fathers, our wives and our kids. But in America, you’re not supposed to write that letter when you’re going off to work.
Click here for an audio file of Roberts’ speech, courtesy of “The Rick Smith Show.”
In a statement today, Rep George Miller (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee which will hold hearings on the Upper Big Branch disaster and Massey’s safety record said
Every miner who goes to work each day must be able to return home safely to their families at the end of their shift. And Congress has an obligation to ensure that remains the case.
Meanwhile, Art Levine at the Huffington Post explores coal field union-busting campaigns, especially Massey’s attacks on workers, and the relation between nonunion mines and disasters like the one at Upper Big Branch.
With the union weakened by closed mines and the rise of untrammeled union-busting, unsafe, deadly conditions were allowed to continue unchallenged at the growing percentage of non-union mines that put profits above safety.
In contrast, “what unions, particularly in a dangerous profession like mining, mean is that they give workers protection and the leverage of a working group with management to vocalize and bring forward concerns about safety without fear of retribution,” says Kimberly Freeman Brown, executive director of American Rights at Work. She adds, “In the absence of a union, in hard economic times, workers feel more vulnerable about losing their jobs and less confident about expressing their concerns about safety.”
UMWA Communications director Phil Smith tells Levine that while three out of 10 coal miners are UMWA members, only “about one in every 10 fatalities is a union miner.”
And he notes that the fatalities involving union miners generally involve individual accidents, not mine-wide disasters like fires and explosions that periodically shock the country and, it seems, are soon forgotten by the federal government’s generally lackluster regulators.
Miners at Upper Big Branch tried to organize three times with the UMWA, the last time in 2005, Roberts told MSNBC’s “The Ed Show” last week. But Blankenship launched a full-out attack:
This guy, making $30-some million in 2005, went inside the coal mine and sat down with every single worker and said: “If you vote for the union, you’re not going to have a job because I will close this mine down.”
Roberts said the first election was a “tie vote,” adding, “We lose on all ties. We had 65 percent to 70 percent of the workers signed cards and they wanted the union but they couldn’t get a union.”
In his 2008 book, Coal River, Michael Shnayerson looks at the Massey empire. He told ABC News that when it came to defeating the union, Blankenship “made it his own personal campaign.”
He began flying in every week in his helicopter. He gave pep talks. He took a whole bunch of [Upper Big Branch miners and their families] on trips to Dollywood, where they went to concerts. He went with them and bonded with them. New cars started turning up in their driveways.
He also said as soon as the union was gone, Blankenship shifted gears. Work hours increased from eight hours to 12 hours. Bonuses were cut. If miners got injured, their jobs were at risk.
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23 Comments
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In 1991, North Carolina wanted to lead the charge against government spending. They sent back money to the federal government that had been allocated for OHSA in their state.
Then, the president of Hamlet poultry processing plant chain the fire escape doors shut so his employees couldn’t sneak out and smoke cigarettes. The plant caught fire and people were burned to death. The owner went to jail for 20 years. Here is a link that tells part of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet_chicken_processing_plant_fire
If the owner of the Hamlet Plant can go to jail for 20 years, then Don Blankenship should go to jail for 20 years too.
Jeff
“This inspector came back over and over again”
Why did they allow the mine to keep operating? They should have shut it down until the violations were fixed.
The most important Law that needs to be repeal are the so called “RIGHT TO WORK LAWS”, in most states. That one Law has kept Unions from organizing which in turn would help save Lives, in Mines, Construction Sites, Production Plants, and a vast amount of American Workers would and could joint Unions.
The NONUNION Companies don’t care about people losing their Lives, their main concern is the “BOTTOM LINE”.
The Labor Movement is right where it started almost 100 years ago, thanks to George Bush and the Republican Party. We can’t let that happen again.
Last time I checked, this is still a first-world nation with first-world standards. Cecil’s right. This sucker should go to jail… maybe for the rest of his life!
Avoidable tragedies ARE crimes. It’s called “gross criminal negligence”. What we need is a change in corporate law so that the head of a corporation may be charged with criminal negligence, and not just the corporation.
Burn him.
Instead of taking the mine owner to jail who was just getting away with what the law allowed, the federal legislators who yielded to pressure from the mine lobby should be locked up. there the ones who watered down what startred out as a strong bill. the billion dollars spent after the previous disaster provided escape nooks for trapped miners but failed to spend much on prevention. like removing toxic gases before they exloded.. once the gases errpted, miners were unable to make it to the safe nooks. It was probablu less expensive to spend a lot on the safe nooks and much more expensive to remove the toxic gases
It’s the American way
where are our tough on crime politicians on this one?
Oh, they only care about crime by non-rich people!
He should go to jail for ‘reckless endangerment’ at least; and perhaps manslaughter. So should the legislators who allowed all the infractions to go unfixed. Who did he provide campaign funds to?
Blankenship is just an anti-labor, right wing pig! Along with maximum jail time the federal government should go after his personal assets and use them to benefit the miners, their families and communities.
All Massey coal mines should be shut down, nationalized and the revenues derived from the coal production should be used again to benefit the miners and their families.
Unbridled capitralism is brutal, inhumane and NOT in the best interest of the working class. This flagrant disregard for human life is just one indicator of this!
I agree, Blankenship should be held accountable. But the whole sad tragedy is a case in point of what the power of big corporations have done and continue to do to undermine the cause of unions and all American workers, and a pure case of misdirection in stirring up and financing the TeaParty movement focusing attention away from corporate culprits. I wrote about it here:
http://community.adn.com/adn/node/151147
If the mine wasn’t safe then why did the miners continue to show up for work? The Army trains Soldiers that safety is #1 and every Soldier can stop training if it is unsafe. Are miners lemmings or people that can make a life and death decision? If the state and federal bureaucrats fined them for safety violations then why didn’t they do their job and shut the mine down??? I guess they should go to jail also or at least be fired! Why aren’t they responsible? Whatever happened to personal responsibility? If the union is really worried about mine safety why weren’t they on site or supporting the miners while they walked off the job until the mine was safe. I guess those union dues are more important than mine safety just like the company profit is more important than mine safety.
Blakenship fought unionization tooth and nail for years. The mine is not a union mine.
Another rocket scientist strikes again! For someone whose handle is “UseCommonsense” you seem to have none. You are trying to blame the union for what happened on a non-union mine. Brilliant. Rush Limbaugh made the same assertions the other day and was ridiculed. Another case of apple doesn’t fall far from tree.
To help with your deficiency of understanding, may I suggest spending a couple of hours with an old movie?
It’s called “Fire Down Below,” and the story line is about environmental waste and damage, but I’m sure you can pretend it’s about mining safety. The head of the company in the movies sounds amazingly like the behavior of Blankenship in WV.
Just because you’re rich doesn’t mean you aren’t an S-O-B. And just because you aren’t rich doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have some decent protection from the rich S-O-Bs.
“If the mine wasn’t safe then why did the miners continue to show up for work?” Yeah, right. Suppose you were driving to work and a drunk driver smashed into your car and killed you. Shall we excuse the drunk driver and instead blame you for driving your car? After all, being in a car isn’t safe. Lots of people die on the road.
I agree 100% with Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts statement concerning Massey and CEO Donald Blankenship that “If there is any justice in America, U.S. Marshals should go to where he lives, get him, handcuff him, put him in chains, take him to jail, set his fine at $40 million.”
Also, where is U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd? He should have enough clout in the U.S. Senate to investigate Massey and have CEO Donald Blankenship testifying under oath before a hearing for the deaths, injuries and harm caused to mine workers and their families. Justice and harsh punishment must happen. Michael Zullo, Upper Eastside, Manhattan
Do you have to be a union miner to use common sense? If it isn’t safe to work in the mine don’t go in. Why is Blankenship the only one responsible? What about the state and federal regulators? Using socialist policies and seizing the mines won’t fix the problem. Look at the Obama policies and unemployment, debt and poor state the country is in and getting worse.
If it’s not a union mine, refusing to go in for safety reasons means losing your job.
Losing your job means not being able to feed your family.
Losing your job in an area like this means not getting another job.
Those of us who do not daily face this impossible choice should say a prayer of thanks–and then go on to fight to change the working conditions of those who do face what these miners did.
It easy to say “if it is not safe don’t go in”. These people like millions of others need a paycheck for themselves and their family. It is one of the ultimate sacrifices one can make to support their family, going to a job where you may not come home.
As for the gov’t officials shutting down the plant, maybe they did not have the authority and all they could do is fine Blankenship.
What should happen is an all out boycott of the Massey product and our elected officials to make work and labor laws stronger with harsher penanlties all the way up to automatic jail for the owners of the company in violation of laws that put people life in peril.
It is a shame that you could make a comment that the union does not care and it’s dues are more important. It’s the dues that help keep those union miners safe and I am sure they don’t mind paying thise dues either.
I think these miners’ families can do without your anti-Obama propoganda. There are 29 dead miners here. Have some respect.
He should be immediately charged with the appropriate crimes and then immediately prosecuted through Federal Courts. This guy’s negligence as a CEO of a major energy company should not be tolerated.
Yhis is a prime exampple of why this country needs the employee free choice act.It should also contain provisions that repeal taft-hartley.Taft hartley gave us the idiotic right to work laws
Ok, after all this talk about Massey, what is Labor going to do. We as labor sit on are hands and do not due anything until an terrible incident like this happens again and again. Why isn’t AFL CIO Pres. Trumka, Roberts and the union movement putting pressure on the government to change these rules of mining. Everyone is talking about Sec of Labor and MSHA, but nothing is being done. Health Care was vital to this country, so is mining. Lets put the pressure on the Government and change the rules of mining by the end of this year. IT IS TIME TO STAND UP FOR OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS who mine the coal for this country.
The AFL-CIO AND UMWA needs to go after this mine to organize, while the iron is hot. (labor has the money for politician, why not workers) If Massey put on a campaign against the union GO PUBLIC with what they are doing. Why is everyone afraid to put these companies out there that violate constitutional rights and labor sits by. NOW IS THE TIME TO SAVE THE LIFE’S OF BROTHERS AND SISTERS. DO NOT SIT ON YOUR HANDS ANY LONGER.
In Solidarity for all the brothers and sisters who have been lost.
Union members around the country are ready for action, we are tired of working our butts off to elect people who do nothing for us but hold the line, we want progress. Give us labor law reform and quit the B.S.