“We are here because we’re fighting for justice, we’re tired of all the mistreatment, abuses, and lies we’ve endured for years at Co-Op mine—and all at minimum wage!” Domingo Olivas, a miner for six years at Co-Op, shouted through a bullhorn in front of the restaurant supply business. “With your help, we can bring justice and win.”

The miners are stepping up their efforts to be represented by the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) after they unanimously rejected a ploy by CW Mining, also known as Co-Op, to report back to work under the same working conditions as before. The bosses’ “offer” included the condition that the workers must accept the company-run union as their bargaining representative and not the UMWA.

Olivas was addressing a festive crowd on a cold afternoon among chants of “¡Sí, Se Puede!” (Yes We Can) and “Miners United Will Never be Defeated!” Passing motorists honked long and loudly in support. Labor, religious, community, and student groups turned out to back the striking miners.

Irma García, a student at the University of Utah and member of Student Labor Action Project (SLAP), came to the picket line. “I support this fight,” she said. “My parents were immigrants from Mexico and have worked at the mercy of others. These workers are a strong voice. They will have to hear us,” she stated, referring to the Kingstons.

SLAP is organizing a fund-raising concert at their campus on January 23 as well as a program featuring two Co-Op miners and one of the women who escaped the polygamous Kingston clan after she was forced to marry a relative and suffered physical abuse when she protested.

Among unionists present were members of the United Steel Workers of America (USWA) and Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical, Energy Employees (PACE). According to Buddy Beck, vice president of PACE Local 8-578, his local recently collected $750 for the Co-Op miners, and another PACE local carried out a plant-gate collection that netted almost $1,500 over two days. Refinery workers from four PACE locals were represented at the picket line. A USWA and a PACE local are each contributing $200 toward a bus from Salt Lake City to Huntington for a solidarity rally there on February 7.

Nicole Jones from KRCL radio, which works with Utah’s Jobs With Justice, is backing the miners. She came with a group that waved signs reading, “Support the Co-Op Miners,” and “Workers Rights=Human Rights.” Jones said her group supports this strike “because any immigrant worker deserves respect and safe working conditions. It is about time someone said this, and these workers are organizing to demand these rights.” Four locations throughout the city serve as drop off points for donations as part of a food drive by the radio station. Jones explained the volume of donations continues to be high through the efforts of “some people who don’t like the Kingstons, others who want to support the miners, and others who are union members who want to help workers trying to organize a union.”

Jesús Salazar, another miner and a leader of the strike, held a sign that read in big letters, “UMWA, Yes!” Salazar invited all present to reserve seats with Utah’s Jobs With Justice to go to Huntington for the February 7 solidarity rally. The miners leafleted the crowd with a list of their demands and an invitation to their next event.

Later that evening, Salt Lake City television stations Channel 13 and Channel 2 broadcast reports on the miners picket. The Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News also covered the event.
 
 
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Striking Utah miners on labor tour in Bay Area  
 
 
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