The second fact is that the U.S. government, through its so-called oversight agency - the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) - has sat back and watched this criminal activity happen. One MSHA bureaucrat described the agency's complicity in ignoring evidence of rampant dust-test fraud as "a blind spot." In reality, government officials were doing their job: looking out for the financial interests of the coal bosses.
Meanwhile, miners are dying from black lung, a disease that can be prevented by a combination of water sprays and proper air circulation. The simple fact - plain for all to see - is that the mine bosses put their profit ledgers above the health and safety of coal miners. For them it means nothing for a miner in his or her 30s or 40s to be disabled and unable to work again.
The cause of this preventable disease has been known for more than 150 years. One of the founders of the modern revolutionary working-class movement, Frederick Engels, described black lung - then referred to by miners as "black spittle" - in 1845. "In all the coal-mines which are properly ventilated this disease is unknown, while it frequently happens that miners who go from well to ill-ventilated mines are seized by it."
Engels made another important point worth quoting: "The profit-greed of mine owners which prevents the use of ventilators is therefore responsible for the fact that this working-men's disease exists at all."
Profit-greed. That's what this is all about. The assault by the mine owners is part of a broader offensive by the capitalist employers and their government against the health and safety, the unionization, and the very humanity of the working class. The basic workings of the production-for- profit system drive them to try to squeeze ever more out of the hides of the working class.
The assaults on miners - from mine layoffs to attacks on health, safety, and black lung benefits - are not going unnoticed in central Appalachia and Southern Illinois. At a recent Black lung hearing in Kentucky, UMWA miners from Pittston came to show their solidarity with miners who testified, many of whom were from nonunion mines where conditions are far worse than union mines. Almost a decade ago, more than 1,900 Pittston miners waged an 11-month strike and held off their employers' union-busting drive.
In eastern Pennsylvania, 59 UMWA miners have been on strike against Jeddo Coal Co. since March 26. This fight was reinforced September 11 when 350 UMWA miners struck three Freeman United Coal mines in southern Illinois. Gutting medical benefits for retirees is the main issue in the strike. In taking on the miners, Freeman has resorted to rough methods, including bringing in goons to harass and intimidate strikers.
The Freeman miners are beginning to reach out to other fighters for support. On October 11 they will be holding a solidarity rally. The labor movement should go all out in getting the word out about this fight.