Republicans Are Killing Life Saving Mine Regulations

 From The Valley Labor Report:

Start at around 1:07 to hear the report on he miners.

A seperate report from the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) included the following comments from Union President Cecil Roberts and some needed context:

“What does this rule do?”, said President Roberts. “It’s not overly complicated. More people will be alive 10 years from now if it wasn’t for what we’ve done fighting for this rule. All we have been fighting for decades now is to try and save people’s lives.”

“Young miners in their 30’s and 40’s are getting lung diseases that are being exacerbated by silica dust. What was thought to be a disease of the past is coming back with a vengeance because miners are cutting more rock than ever before. This is a critical step to keeping miners safe and healthy. Now, our focus shifts to holding mining operators accountable. The UMWA remains steadfast in our efforts to ensure strict adherence to the new legislation within the industry.“This is a critical step to keeping miners safe and healthy, not just day to day, but for their full lifetime. This is a good day for miners. Workers in other industries have long been protected from excessive exposure to silica dust, but miners were not, even though they work in an environment where silica dust is encountered daily. It was a travesty that the government had never taken steps to protect them, but now it finally has,” Roberts said.

MSHA’s final rule will improve the health and safety of U.S. miners significantly. The rule will result in an estimated total of 1,067 lifetime avoided deaths and 3,746 lifetime avoided cases of silica-related illnesses. The rule will take effect for coal mines in April, 2025 and for metal and nonmetal mines in April, 2026, in order to ensure operators have the tools to implement it correctly.

Read the entire article from the union here.

Photo from In These Times

Labor journalist Kim Kelly has a good article in In These Times under today's date under the headline 

"Republicans Just Handed Down a Death Sentence to the Nation's Coal Miners." She says

It’s clear that the Republican committee members are determined to slash and burn away whatever ​“excesses” they can find, and nowhere is that more apparent than in their disgusting betrayal of the coal miners their party loves so dearly to pretend to respect. Section 123 of the bill reads, ​“None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to administer, implement, or enforce the proposed rule entitled ​‘Lowering Miners’ Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica and Improving Respiratory Protection,’ published by the Department of Labor in the Federal Register on April 18, 2024.” The language is bloodless, but the intent is utterly vicious: These highly paid, pampered modern aristocrats sat back in their padded chairs and casually handed down a potential death sentence to 44,000 people.

That’s how many coal miners currently work in the U.S. as of June 2024. One in 5 of those miners — those who have spent more than 20 years underground — is suffering from coal miner’s pneumoconiosis, the dreadful degenerative lung disease known more colloquially as black lung. As I reported in my 2023 In These Times investigation, ​“The Young Miners Dying of ​‘An Old Man’s Disease,’ ” the biggest direct cause of that spike in cases is silica dust. Coal miners across Central Appalachia are being overexposed to the toxic substance as they work underground, and it has been wreaking havoc upon their lungs and lives. While Rep. Aderholt has been enjoying his cushy office on Capitol Hill, they’ve been breathing in death.

Please read that article here.

Another union victory: We have a new Silica Dust Exposure Rule!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

APRIL 16, 2024

United Mine Workers of America Hosts Department of Labor Silica Rule Kickoff Event

[TRIANGLE, VA] – The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) hosted a Department of Labor Silica Rule Kickoff Event to celebrate the finalization of the new Silica Dust Exposure Rule. The event aimed to raise awareness about the importance of the rule in protecting the health and safety of miners across the nation.

Speaking at the event were UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts, Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su, Assistant Secretary of the Mine Health and Safety Administration Chris Williamson, NIOSH Director of Respiratory Health Division David Weissman, President of the Black Lung Association Gary Harrison, as well as members of the United Mine Workers of America and United Steelworkers.

The new silica rule significantly reduces respirable crystalline silica exposures and improves the early detection of related diseases. It also includes updates to the respiratory protection standard, ensuring that miners are adequately protected from the harmful effects of silica dust.

“The UMWA has been advocating for this rule for many years, so we are glad that the Agency has created a rule to address the rise in silica-related lung diseases in our nation’s miners (both coal and metal non-metal),” said Roberts. “Young miners in their 30s and 40s are getting lung diseases that are being exacerbated by silica dust. What was thought to be a disease of the past is coming back with a vengeance because miners are cutting more rock than ever before.

“This is a critical step to keeping miners safe and healthy not just day to day, but for their full lifetime,” Roberts said. “Now, our focus shifts to holding mining companies accountable. Together with our labor partners, UMWA remains steadfast in our efforts to ensure strict adherence to the new legislation within the industry.”

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler Applauds Critical Protections for Mine Workers from Deadly Silica Exposure

“In a definitive step toward safeguarding the health and well-being of our nation’s miners, we applaud President Biden for issuing a final rule to protect coal and metal and non-metal miners….Today’s final rule is another victory in the century-long battle against silica in the workplace, which affects working people across industries….

“We extend our deepest appreciation to acting Labor Secretary Julie Su for her resolute leadership, recognizing the urgent need to provide mine workers with lifesaving protections.”

Read the full statement from AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler here.

Improving Health and Safety for Modern Miners a Priority for UMWA

United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President, Cecil E. Roberts joined America’s Work Force Union Podcast and discussed the Warrior Met Strike in Alabama, outdated protective equipment for miners, and the dangers of silica dust.

Roberts began by detailing the two-year Warrior Met Strike in Alabama. He said the coal company was the target of many protests because management did not try to negotiate for a Collective Bargaining Agreement. Roberts called the company anti-union and discussed why the miners were forced to return to work. He noted the UMWA invested about $35 million into the strike. Once the company succeeded in getting individuals back to work, Warrior Met unsuccessfully attempted to dismantle the union. This plan ended up backfiring on the employers who claimed no involvement, Roberts said.

Roberts then spoke about silica dust, which has affected a large number of young miners, who have developed “black lung disease.” He explained how the dust is created by equipment that cuts through rock and puts silica dust into the air, which is then inhaled by the miners. When the dust is inhaled for an extended period through outdated safety equipment, workers get sick. He noted the only cure for “black lung” is a lung transplant. Sadly, he added that Congress has blocked the implementation of a new silica dust rule.

Finally, Roberts discussed the use of outdated protective equipment. He explained how the masks that miners wear put them at risk of suffocation and death due to multiple breathing hazards. Roberts urged the public to fight against a Congressional plan to end needed safety funding and introduce new bills to implement better health and safety measures for miners. The industry is in a decline because workers die from a disease they contract at the workplace, Roberts said. He added that coal companies need to make sure workers are not allowed to enter an area until silica dust is at safe levels.

For more updates on the UMWA and President Roberts, listen to the episode here.

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The main text of this post came directly from a press release issued by the UMWA. I added several links.

On this date in labor history: The worst industrial disaster in U.S. history

 

Photo taken from We Never Forget

On December 6, 1907 at least two explosions and a wayward train of coal cars caused the deaths of at least 362 mine workers and a few others who happened to be in two interconnected mines in Monongah, West Virginia. We will never know the exact number of those killed, but Davitt McAteer's good book on the Monongah mine disaster puts the number at around 500 killed. 

The majority of those killed were immigrant workers, and of their number most were Italians and many were fathers and sons or other relatives working together. The coal company, the state, and charities colluded to obscure the facts of the blasts and the numbers killed and injured and to pay off family members of those murdered by company and state indifference and to bury the dead quickly without properly identifying them or giving the family members and the communities affected much time to mourn. 

I recently visited two of the cemeteries where most of those killed are buried. One holds a mass grave and a few markers and two commemorative monuments. A large marker provided by the Italian government and many gravestones mark the areas where the dead lie. We protest against corporate greed and for stronger occupational safety and health provisions and for the rights of immigrant workers---all movements that we need---but it comes to my mind that it was left to the Italian government to remind us of our history and that the monument provided by the Italians was put in place in 2007. Could we not teach a true labor history in our schools and unions and honor with our outrage those who died building this country as well? Must the truth wait for one hundred years to be commemorated?

The photograph above shows families gathered near the mines that blew up waiting for news of their loved ones. The company and the state wanted to avoid criticism and the very-much-deserved public anguish and outrage that should have followed the explosions and prevented many of the dead from being publicly identified by family members. Most of the dead were buried without proper or traditional funerals and mourning. And most of the Black workers who perished were not buried with their white and immigrant fellow workers. The mines that blew up on November 6, 1907 were back in operation in a few years' time and employed the children of some of those who had been killed.

The company ultimately responsible for the Monongah mines was the Consolidation Coal Company, now known as Consol Energy. That company's Farmington mine, just a short distance from Monongah, blew up on November 20, 1968 and that explosion took the lives of 78 mine workers. We also mark today the 1962 Robena mine explosion in Greene County, PA. that took the lives of 37 mine workers. That mine was owned by U.S. Steel. Consol and U.S. Steel have come to be regarded as powerful corporate citizens, and both used their considerable influence to set public policy and divide working-class people for generations.

We continue to protest. And workers continue to be killed at work. The Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded 5,190 workplace fatalities in 2022. That is almost a 9% increase from 2020, and it does not include those who died from occupational diseases like black lung, mesothelioma and stress. In 2021, a worker died every 101 minutes from a workplace injury. What happened at Monongah on this date in 1907 was not a unique event that we can consign to history. There is a "us" and there is a "them" in this system and thousands of us are dying because of their greed.

Saverio Pignanelli was only 16 years old when he perished in the

 Monongah mine disaster. What did he know of the world? 

The photos above were taken by me. The opinions expressed here do not reflect those of the Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Chapter or the Oregon AFL-CIO.