A December 13 statement released by the union concurred with the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration’s (MSHA) finding that the company’s "failed emergency plan, as well as JWR’s failure to control mine roof problems, failure to properly examine the mine and failure to control explosive coal dust, were clear factors in the deaths of 13 miners." UMWA president Cecil Roberts noted, however, that the report "does not represent a thorough examination of all the facts in the investigation."

The explosions on September 23, 2001, were the worst U.S. coal mine disaster in nearly two decades. For more than a year members of the United Mine Workers along with the miners’ families have fought to expose the callous disregard for safety by the company that led to this disaster.

On the first anniversary of the explosion more than 300 miners and family members attended the unveiling of a memorial at the West Brookwood Church, next to the JWR No. 5 mine. The names of the miners are engraved on a black granite slab that can be seen from the road going to the mine. Later that afternoon a ceremony and cookout were held at the union hall, where UMWA Local 2368 dedicated another memorial--a glass case enclosing 13 hard hats--12 black and one white--for each of the 12 UMWA members and one foreman who died.

The church gathering and union ceremony marked the second year in a row that union miners in Alabama observed a memorial day to honor their fallen brothers and did not work. Last year the union held a memorial day on September 27 in response to the deaths of the men.

Many of the families and miners have spoken out in newspapers and on television holding Jim Walter Resources responsible for the miners’ deaths. Charles Nail, whose father died in the explosion, told the Tuscaloosa News, "The way I look at it, they murdered my dad. Last year, I believed they would do the right thing. Wrong."

Nail was referring to the problems the families have had receiving compensation from Jim Walter, including a special fund supposedly set up by the company for the families. After making an initial $20,000 payment, the company said it would release another $29,000 if each family agreed to give up the right to sue over the administration of the fund.

In the UMWA statement, union president Roberts asked, "If those violations had been followed-up on and rectified, could lives have been saved? It’s an important question and it deserves a full and complete answer."

A March 2002 letter from UMWA safety director Joe Main to MSHA described "highly disturbing problems with MSHA’s enforcement at the mine." An Associated Press story pointed to the agency’s "practice of describing major violations as only minor infractions and failing to make follow-up inspections to determine whether problems were fixed."

"Inspectors didn’t respond to No. 5 miners’ requests for increased inspections when serious hazards existed," Main wrote, "and miners were discouraged from filing health and safety complaints." The UMWA had already accused MSHA of being too cozy with Alabama coal companies, and charged five years before the 2001 explosion that the agency had given the company the names of miners who made safety complaints, a move that opens workers up to victimization and harassment by the employers.

In December 2001, just three months after the explosion and the investigation still not complete, JWR reopened the mine. Coal production began in the spring of 2002.  
 
Miner wins lawsuit against JWR
In another development, on December 12 a former miner at the No. 5 mine won a $1 million compensatory and $500,000 punitive damage award in a wrongful termination case against Jim Walter Resources. Vonnie Riles, a miner with 27 years experience, was just 800 feet from the explosion. Riles was diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress syndrome and was ordered by his doctor not to work underground. Riles returned to work in December 2001 and was assigned a job on the surface. After he filed a workers’ compensation claim JWR ordered Riles to go underground or face termination. After a two-week trial, the jury ruled that the miner had been wrongly fired.

In the four weeks before the explosion, there were three ignitions or fires, all on No. 4 section where the explosions happened. One of the miners, Matthew Wright, who worked on No. 4 section, told the Chicago Tribune, "The whole week prior [to the explosion], we stopped running coal. We shut her down. We didn’t have enough air." Tens of thousands of cubic feet of air are needed at the No. 5 mine to sweep away the excessive amounts of methane that is released as the Blue Creek coal seam is cut.

"They put us [to work] in the mud hole to punish us," miner Charles Ogletree explained. Longwall crew members said that the first worker to stand up to the bosses about the dangerous levels of methane was 38-year-old Clarence "Bit" Boyd, who was killed in the explosions.

Rock dust, non-combustible pulverized limestone, is spread over the mine floor and walls to dilute and neutralize explosive coal dust. The dust samples taken by the mine inspectors should contain at least twice as much limestone as coal. The investigation after the explosion found 121 of 123 mine dust samples from the area where the blasts occurred did not contain the required levels of inert limestone.

Robert Tarvin, a member of UMWA 2368, is a rock duster and was in the mine during the explosion. Tarvin told the Militant, "Starting in the late 1990s the company started cutting corners and cutting back. Sometimes they would go two or three weeks without rock dusting. Other times they would only let us rock dust for 30 minutes instead of an hour."

Commenting on MSHA’s role in the explosion, Tarvin explained that "MSHA’s responsible, too. MSHA comes underground and the bosses have no respect for them. They point out a little problem while ignoring a major problem right next to it. They play golf with company officials."

Walter Industries, Inc., a Tampa, Florida, -based homebuilding and manufacturing company, began operating the Brookwood, Alabama, mines in 1976. Four JWR mines accumulated 10,930 safety violations over the past six years.

The company’s no. 4 mine had four deaths since 1995--more separate fatal incidents than any other U.S. coal mine during that period. The operating income from the JWR mines rose 266 percent at the end of the June 2002 quarter. Revenues from coal and methane gas sales were $238.6 million in 2001.

Clay Dennison is a member of UMWA local 2133 in Oak Grove, Alabama.  
 
 
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