BY JEFF POWERS
RANGELY, Colorado - At midnight April 27 members of United
Mine Workers of America (UMWA) Local 1984 here struck the
Deserado mine, owned by Blue Mountain Energy, Inc. The issues
in the strike include health care for retirees, adequate
pensions, seniority in job bids and vacation scheduling,
control over job assignments, and pay. Deserado produces coal
exclusively for Blue Mountain's power plant near Vernal, Utah.
The 105-to-2 strike vote seemed to catch the company by surprise, most union members said. "It even surprised us," several miners added.
This is one of only four UMWA locals in Colorado and Utah. Unlike union mines in the East, most of which are covered by a national agreement with the Bituminous Coal Operators Association, each of these locals negotiates a separate contract. Militant reporters found many other miners in Colorado, both union and nonunion, were following the strike at Deserado closely, believing the outcome will have an impact on their own conditions.
The biggest issue at Deserado is retirees' health care. There is currently no retirement health plan, forcing miners to rely on their own resources or Medicare if they qualify. "Any serious illness would completely wipe you out," striker Don Thomas told the Militant May 15. UMWA members are also fighting for better retirement benefits.
Deserado is a highly profitable operation. A serious fire in 1994 completely closed the mine, but the company came out of it in great shape because of an insurance settlement that allowed them to replace all of their worn out equipment.
The new machinery has greatly increased productivity. This, along with a five-year wage freeze, has meant a substantial profit. According to strikers, last year Blue Mountain set a target of mining coal at $16 per ton. The workers significantly beat that, producing coal for $14 per ton. This $2 per ton saving alone added up to $3.36 million in 1998. "The company makes a big deal of giving us bonuses of $3,000 last year but $3.36 million divided by everybody who works here is closer to $22,000," Thomas said. Company officials were cited in the Vernal, Utah, Express asserting their costs are close to $30 per ton.
Blue Mountain's current wage proposal is for a raise of just $1.55 over the next five years. "This hardly keeps up with inflation," several miners pointed out.
Three people have been killed at Deserado since it opened in 1984, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration just cited the mine for more than 60 safety violations last year, strikers said. One of the deaths was particularly troublesome because it was so easily preventable. After a series of accidents and near misses involving coal trucks and an overpass, a driver who mistakenly kept his bed up hit the overpass, flipped his rig, and was killed. Following his death the company strung a chain over the road to warn drivers who might make a similar mistake. Since then no other accidents have occurred.
One of the reasons the driver died was management forced him to work out of his previously held job as a technician. Blue Mountain routinely works UMWA members out of their job classifications and awards job bids through favoritism and even then often only on a temporary basis, according to strikers. "They are constantly changing the qualifications," Thomas said. "One of my friends was kept on a job for seven and a half years on a temporary basis."
Vacation scheduling is also important. "The company makes us take our vacations during the holidays," Thomas explained. "I want a choice. I want to go camping with my kids during the summer."
Forced overtime is another bone of contention. UMWA members agreed under the last contract to work four 10-hour days per week, with the promise that they would be guaranteed three-day weekends. They gave up two of their eight personal days after the company argued they would not be needed with three days off per week. But there was no cap on overtime, and Blue Mountain began scheduling five- and even six-day workweeks. To make matters worse, Blue Mountain only pays overtime premiums if you have been in the mine more than 40 hours that week. "Even if you took a personal day they would not count it towards your 40 hours," Thomas said.
Miners are staffing the picket lines 24 hours a day. Blue Mountain has hired a security company, which videotapes all the proceedings there. The UMWA union hall in Rangely is full of union members busily making signs and organizing other strike activities. No one tried to predict how long the strike would last. Members of Local 1984 struck Blue Mountain for 11 weeks in 1998. So far the company continues to run its power plant with stockpiled coal and through buying it from other sources.
Jeff Powers is a member of the United Transportation Union in Seattle, Washington.