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 →

A history of violations at Upper Big Branch mine 

By Dennis B. Roddy and Vivian Nereim, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

by Randy Shannon

In a cynical political maneuver to outflank the Republican oil driller lobby, President Obama has approved offshore drilling for most of the south Atlantic coast. The oil industry claims that drilling is environmentally safe and will help wean the U.S. from foreign oil. Both claims are false. The recoverable reserves from the Atlantic coast would provide only a few days of US oil consumption.

The safety of offshore drilling is a matter of chance regardless of the cautions observed by the workers. The website below documents drilling disasters that have spilled millions of gallons of oil offshore. The offshore Atlantic current flows north, so any accident endangers the entire north Atlantic coast.

http://www.oilrigdisasters.co.uk/

The following page displays the list of rig incidents and details.

Continue reading Offshore Drilling Disasters →

PA-Gov: Hoeffel Blasts Misguided Corbett Anti-Health Suit

Below is the text of a Press Release from the Hoeffel campaign on the issue of Corbett.  It sums up a lot of how I feel, and I think a lot of Pennsylvanians feel, about Corbett’s crusade to help insurance companies at the

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Joe Hoeffel today castigated Attorney General and Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett for “acting against the best interests of Pennsylvanians” by joining fellow right-wing attorneys general in a lawsuit against the new federal health care law.

At a press conference in the rotunda of the State Capitol, Hoeffel said that Corbett “is acting in collusion with a bloc of right-wing state attorneys general to advance an extremist agenda.”

Hoeffel went on to say that this is the fourth time Corbett has joined with his fellow conservative attorneys general to oppose legislation that would protect Pennsylvanians.  Passing out a fact sheet detailing his charges, Hoeffel pointed out that on at least three other occasions Corbett has joined with the same 10 AGs to twice oppose protecting the safety of their citizens, protecting consumer rights, and, now, opposing critically needed health care reforms.

Continue reading Joe Hoeffel Demands Tom Corbett withdraw lawsuit against healthcare reform →

(This post submitted by Mike Sabat, USW member from Raccoon Township.)

Just hours after Congress passed health insurance reform, Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett joined a lawsuit to block it. He joined 10 other Republican attorneys general who are pledging to take it to the Supreme Court if necessary.

Tom Corbett is using our tax dollars to sue the United States in an effort to block health care reforms that offer huge benefits to the people of our state. Who is he representing?

We know Corbett isn’t representing the hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians with pre-existing conditions who will be guaranteed coverage, or the 151,000 small businesses who will receive tax credits and other assistance to help them afford coverage, or the 2.2 million people who will receive improved Medicare benefits, or the 10.7 million residents with health insurance who are now protected from arbitrary premium hikes and insurance cancellations if they get sick.

Does Tom Corbett represent you?

Continue reading Tell Corbett to Drop the Lawsuit against Healthcare →

BEAVER-LAWRENCE CENTRAL LABOR COUNCIL HUMAN RIGHTS BANQUET

FEATURING WILLIAM LUCY

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE BY BOBBY SHORT

APRIL 10th – 6:00 SOCIAL HOUR 7:00 MEAL

AT THE FEZ IN ALIQUIPPA

PDA TABLE $30 PER PERSON

TO JOIN US CALL TINA SHANNON 724-843-0545

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WHY I WANT TO HEAR WHAT WILLIAM LUCY HAS TO SAY

BY TINA B SHANNON

 March 26, 2010

Although I’ve never met him, I’m looking forward to hearing William Lucy speak. Learning about him enabled me to imagine a world where justice triumphs.

       When the Beaver-Lawrence County Labor Council announced that he was going to be the keynote speaker at the upcoming human rights banquet, I didn’t know who he was. But I thought this would be a good opportunity to gather people together to support our friends in labor.

       I heard that he was a labor leader who had worked with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis. But I wasn’t really excited about William Lucy speaking in Beaver County until I did some research.

       William Lucy left college before he received his degree. He became an assistant materials and research engineer for Costa County California. There he found his life’s work, but it wasn’t in the materials and research department. William Lucy joined AFSCME, the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees. Soon he was working for the union.

       A year later, in 1968, the Memphis sanitation workers went on strike against terrible working conditions and shamefully low wages. The union sent him to Memphis to work on the campaign. This is the campaign that developed the slogan “I am a man”.

Continue reading WHY I WANT TO HEAR WHAT WILLIAM LUCY HAS TO SAY →

This video posted at request of Beaver Falls resident Steve Kislock