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.

Continue reading UMWA: Jail for Massey CEO and Tea Party moneybags Donald Blankenship →

Healthcare not Warfare vs. TeaParty

by Randy Shannon

The Peace Links weekly vigil at the County Courthouse to Bring the Troops Home Now and for Healthcare not Warfare has stood at 1:00 pm every Saturday for six years. The need to convert war spending to social spending for jobs and healthcare is more critical than ever. The need to support the unemployed and the hungry, to protect our workers on the job, to provide healthcare to all is now critical to more people than ever.

The tea party is calling for another hate and lies rally at 1:00 pm on Saturday April 24th on the steps of the Beaver County Courthouse. Its their right to be there, even though their message borders hate speech and is filled with lies and distortions.

The wealthy elite has funded the tea party movement and used their media pawns to build it. An outstanding example of a tea party moneybags is Don Blankenship, the President of Massey Coal, a mining company that kills workers as a cost of doing business. Those who fund this so-called movement use it  to oppose workers’ safety, to oppose state and local government services, to support war, and to incite race hatred. The tea party followers include John Birch Society and Ku Klux Klan members. This movement is as much a threat to civil society as Massey Coal is a threat to miners who work in their criminally neglected mines.

Peace Links and Progressive Democrats will stand our vigil across the street at 1:00 pm at the Courthouse. Our theme will be “Everyone In. Nobody Out.” If you supported change in 2008, you can defend the small gains we have made and help to create an environment where future gains are possible by joining us this  Saturday.

by Randy Shannon

The Pennsylvania 4th Congressional District Chapter of PDA unamimously endorsed Joe Hoeffel for Governor. In a letter mailed to its members, Chapter Chairwoman Tina Shannon asked that members and friends work together for a Hoeffel victory.

Hoeffel is the only candidate in either party that is not owned by the wealthy elites in Pennsylvania. A Hoeffel victory will break the corrupt stranglehold of corporate money in Pennsylvania politics and set the state on a path of growth, justice, and equality for working people.

Hoeffel is the only progressive candidate running for any statewide office this year. He campaigned for President Obama in 2008. He deserves the undivided support of Pennsylvanians who want to continue to work for real change.

The PDA endorsement letter is on the following page.

Continue reading Progressive Democrats endorse Joe Hoeffel for Governor in Democratic primary →

Pres. Obama’s Statement on Mine Disaster

April 15, 2010

Good morning, everybody.

On April 5th, the United States suffered the worst mine disaster in more than a generation. Twenty-nine lives were lost. Families have been devastated. Communities have been upended. And during this painful time, all of us are mourning with the people of Montcoal and Whitesville and Naoma and the Coal River Valley. The people of West Virginia are in our prayers.

But we owe them more than prayers. We owe them action. We owe them accountability. We owe them an assurance that when they go to work every day, when they enter that dark mine, they are not alone. They ought to know that behind them there is a company that’s doing what it takes to protect them, and a government that is looking out for their safety.

Continue reading Obama: Justice Department will be involved in investigation of murders by Massey Coal Co. →

Where We Are Now on Health Reform

 
Dr. Quentin Young
The Huffington Post
March 30, 2010

With the passage of the Democrats’ health bill, Congress and President Obama have created a new (and not so new) legislative framework for health care finance in the United States. Now that we’ve officially entered the post-legislative period, it’s worth noting how we got to where we are.

The for-profit insurers and their health industry allies sunk their claws into the legislative process early and hung on to the very end. The new bill largely reflects their handiwork. Stock prices for virtually all the leading private insurers remain high and have been trending upward. Investors are also bullish on the promising prospects for the drug companies and for-profit hospitals in the wake of the bill’s passage.

The attacks on the Democrats’ bill from the right-wing Republicans and their proto-fascist allies, including many so-called tea-baggers, were fierce, sometimes absurd and frequently despicable. The racist and homophobic assaults on supporters of the bill set a disturbing, new low for contemporary U.S. politics.

Politically, it can be argued that Obama and his administration squeaked through a highly significant victory, made so by the shameful strategies of the Republicans and their allies. It’s a fact that a defeat for Obama engineered by these reactionary forces would have poisoned the climate of political discourse seriously. Nevertheless, the bill is full of pitfalls that harbinger ill for the American public as patients. Continue reading Where We Are Now on Health Reform →

Chicago Teamsters Local 705 Endorses HR 676

Teamsters Local 705 of Chicago has endorsed HR 676, the national single payer health care legislation introduced by Congressman John Conyers.  The local is among the largest representing over 15,000 members who work in the trucking, moving and shipping industries including United Parcel Services (UPS) in the Chicago area.

Continue reading Insurance reform is not Healthcare reform – Chicago Teamster endorse Medicare for All →

Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on The West Virginia Mine Accident
April 06, 2010

The thoughts and prayers of America’s workers are with the families of those lost today at Performance Coal Company’s Upper Big Branch mine. We pray for the safe rescue of those still missing and for the safety of the courageous mine rescue team members.
 
As a third-generation coal miner, I know too well the dangers these brave men and women face every day as they work to provide for their families.  Forty years after the passage of the Coal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1969, mine safety has improved, but mining remains a dangerous occupation. Unfortunately, it has taken tragedies and miners’ deaths to get safety improvements.
 
However, this incident isn’t just a matter of happenstance, but rather the inevitable result of a profit-driven system and reckless corporate conduct.  Many mining companies have given too little attention to safety over the years and too much to the bottom line.  Massey Mine, and its CEO, Don Blankenship, have been cited for over 450 safety violations in this mine. Massey paid over $1 million in fines in the past year alone – and has failed to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars more in fines that it is contesting. 

Continue reading AFL-CIO Pres. Trumka: mine disaster result of “profit driven system and reckless corporate conduct” →

UMWA statement on incident at Upper Big Branch mine
date: April 5, 2010

CONTACT:
Phil Smith
703-291-2430
571-345-8338 (cell)

TRIANGLE, VA – United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President Cecil E. Roberts issued the following statement today:

“The hearts and prayers of all UMWA members are with the families of those lost today at Performance Coal Company’s Upper Big Branch mine. We are also praying for the safe rescue of those still missing, and for the safety of the courageous mine rescue team members. They are putting their lives on the line, entering a highly dangerous mine to bring any survivors to safety.

“As a mine operated by a subsidiary of Massey Energy, the Upper Big Branch mine is a nonunion mine. Nevertheless, I have dispatched highly trained and skilled UMWA personnel to the immediate vicinity of the mine, and they stand ready to offer any assistance they can to the families and the rescuers at this terrible and anxious time. We are all brothers and sisters in the coalfields at times like this.

Continue reading UMWA sends rescue help to non-union miners at Massey Energy →