Byrd Spent Career ‘Unabashedly’ on Working Families’ Side

by Mike Hall, Jun 28, 2010

Sen. Byrd plays a few tunes at the Huntington (W.Va.) Publishing Co. in 1977. L-R Dave Holbrook, Huntington Advertiser staffers Charlie Bowen and Dave Peyton, Byrd.

Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), 92, who died this morning after serving more than 58 years in Congress, “was unabashedly and unapologetically on the side of working families,” says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.

“As Majority Leader, he helped lead the fight against the Republican filibuster of labor law reform in the 1970s. He tirelessly fought for health and safety laws that protected workers, opposed job- killing trade deals and when it came to standing up to the coal companies, a miner never had a stronger ally.”

Byrd was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1952 and won the first of his nine Senate terms in 1958.

Mine Workers (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts says Byrd’s strong championing of the 1969 Coal Mine Safety and Health Act that created the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) convinced President Nixon not to veto the bill.

In the 40 years prior to its passage, 32,000 miners lost their lives on the job. In the 40 years since, that number stands at slightly more than 3,200. One could argue that thanks to Sen. Byrd’s efforts, 29,000 lives were saved.

Byrd also was a leading voice on the fight against black lung and worked closely with Trumka when he was UMWA president. Says Trumka:

I will always cherish the memories of the long hours we spent together working to protect benefits for victims of black lung and passing landmark legislation guaranteeing the health benefits for retired coal miners, like so many in my own family.

More recently, says Roberts, Byrd “pushed for answers in the Aracoma and Sago disasters.”

And just last month, he grilled Massey [Energy] CEO Don Blankenship during a Senate hearing he led into the Upper Big Branch mine disaster.

Trumka says, “While it is with great sadness we mourn his death,”

it is with great joy we remember his life and his work. His legacy will live on in the annals of American history that he cherished so dearly.

Byrd alsowas renowned for being a darn fine Appalachian fiddle player. He played at the Grand Ole Opry and even recorded an album of fiddle tunes in 1978.

When I was working for the Huntington (W.Va.) Herald-Dispatch in the late 1970s, Byrd stopped by to speak to the editorial board. Afterward he came through the newsroom, rounded up Charlie Bowen, the guitar-playing city editor for the afternoon Huntington Advertiser, columnist and autoharpist Dave Peyton and a few other musical journalists for an impromptu jam session in the lunchroom.

It was quite a sight, the majority leader of the U.S. Senate getting down with a bunch of scruffy scribes. I can verify he was a darn fine fiddle player.

At Firedoglake, Christy Hardin Smith has a remembrance of Byrd, including videos from the Grand Ole Opry and other appearances.

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