Miners said this is a step forward in their struggle to counter the offensive the bosses have been carrying out against United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) supporters since they returned to work July 12, after a nine-and-a-half month strike.

Ironically, the Co-Op mine’s safety trainer, José Ortega, is the person responsible for Chávez’s lack of training, Chávez said. Of the 32 hours of training mandated by MSHA for a new coal miner, Ortega gave Chávez only six hours of instruction and charged him more than twice the average cost for such a class in the state of Utah, the miner explained. A number of strikers gave testimony to MSHA last October about such training practices and other safety violations. Ortega continues to give training courses at Co-Op, and the outcome of the MSHA investigation against Ortega is still pending, the miners said.

Chávez reported back to work August 2 only after he got another certified trainer to give him the course in Spanish. Now Chávez is entitled to receive back wages for the time the company prevented him from working—July 13 to August 1—and to reimburse him for the $150 he spent for the classes. “I want the government agency to intervene because I have not received a paycheck and my family needs money for food and housing,” said Chávez. “I need those wages and I think the law is on my side.”

The 1977 Federal Mine Safety and Health Act stipulates that “you cannot be fired, discriminated against, or suffer loss of pay if you are withdrawn from a mine for not having the necessary safety and health training.” The law also says, “You are paid for long as it takes for you to receive the training you need and until you return to your regular job.”

Chávez was one of 75 coal miners who were fired to the person by the Co-Op bosses last September because they fought for safety on the job, to end victimization of co-workers, and to win representation by the UMWA. After a lengthy strike, which won widespread support from the labor movement, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled the miners had been fired illegally and stipulated a settlement that was signed by the Co-Op bosses and the UMWA. Following the NLRB ruling, the company made an unconditional offer to return to work to all the miners. More than two dozen strikers returned on the job. The settlement entitles the miners who were fired to receive back pay, which the miners are now organizing to obtain.

The NLRB has also set a union representation election at the mine for later this year. The labor board held a hearing in Price, Utah, July 20-21, where the company and the union presented arguments on who should have the right to vote in the union election. The mine owners, the Kingstons, submitted as eligible a list of some 100 Kingston family members and others who are on the payroll as part-time or seasonal workers.

At the end of the hearing, attorneys for both sides were asked to submit their briefs by August 4. After the hearing UMWA Region IV organizing director Bob Butero told reporters the NLRB will most likely issue its decision on this matter several weeks after that date. (See coverage in last week’s issue).

UMWA supporters at Co-Op say they are confronting blatant discrimination by management on the job.

Alejandro Ramírez and Juan Carlos López, for example, have recently received warnings for accumulating too many attendance “occurrences” going back to the time before the strike began, the miners said. Another miner who reported to work July 12 was terminated by the company because he didn’t show up the next day. His car had broken down, he said.

The miners say all these actions violate the NLRB settlement in which the company promised in writing it “will not discharge, give oral or written warnings to, suspend, or otherwise discriminate against you because you engage in concerted activity protected by Section 7 of the Act or other activity on behalf of United Mine Workers of America.”

Miners report that a 2001 “agreement” between the bosses and the “union” run by the mine owners states a worker can face a three-day suspension and loss of pay for accumulating up to seven occurrences, and termination at eight. The company is also supposed to eliminate an occurrence every 90 days, according to this agreement between the company and the International Association of United Workers Union—the company outfit.

A boss told one of the UMWA supporters, however, that the company is not deducting any occurrences from the miners who participated in the strike, workers said. The miners have asked the UMWA to file charges against the company for these violations.

“We’ll do what’s necessary to protect our brothers,” said Celso Panduro, a roof bolter at the mine. “We have to charge them for violating the law.”

On August 1, more than 20 miners met to discuss and take action against these company attacks. At that meeting they also filled out forms provided by the NLRB in Spanish that will be used to determine the back pay damages owed to the miners who took part in the strike, the miners reported.  
 
 
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