“I am writing to urge that the NLRB rule on the side of justice in these miners’ efforts to join the United Mine Workers of America,” wrote Charlie Flemming, president of the Atlanta Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, in a letter to B. Allan Benson, regional director of the labor board.

A number of other messages have arrived from workers who have also been involved in union-organizing struggles. Many came on time for the October 2 one-year anniversary rally marking the start of the organizing fight at C.W. Mining, also known as the Co-Op mine, held at the UMWA hall in nearby Price, Utah. A greeting card was signed by 13 sewing machine operators in an unorganized shop in central Iowa, where a number of workers have been trying to unionize. “Thank you for your inspiring example,” the card said. It included a contribution of $20.

Support is also growing for the miners’ fight against a lawsuit that the Kingstons, the Co-Op owners, filed in federal court September 24. It targets the UMWA, 17 Co-Op miners, dozens of their supporters, and many newspapers—including the Militant—and other media that have covered the labor struggle. The suit charges the 120 defendants with “unlawful labor practices” and “defamation.”

“C.W. Mining Company has recently filed a federal lawsuit targeting individuals and groups who supported the picketing workers,” says a letter to the editor from Ned Scarlet published October 12 in the Sun Advocate, one of the Utah newspapers cited in the Kingstons’ lawsuit for alleged defamation. “They are also suing reporters who wrote stories about C.W. Mining’s recent labor dispute. Defending oneself in this type of action can be very expensive, even if the suit is without merit. I believe this is the latest scheme to intimidate anyone who opposes their practice of paying low wages and not providing benefits. What the mine owners do not understand is that when people are speaking or writing the truth it is not slander or libel, nor is it defamation of character.”

On Sept. 22, 2003, C.W. Mining bosses fired 75 miners after getting wind of the miners’ talking to the UMWA about organizing. Miners there were getting paid between $5.25 and $7 an hour, while wages for underground miners in the United States average at least $17 per hour.

The miners, who are mostly Mexican immigrants, were locked out of their jobs after protesting the firing of one UMWA supporter and disciplinary actions against other miners who supported the UMWA organizing effort. A few weeks later, the miners turned the lockout into a strike.

The miners began getting the word out about their struggle to the labor movement and others. The depth of solidarity the miners have received was reflected at the October 2 rally here when Bob Butero held up a large stack of messages of support. The 900-member Local Lodge 869 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers in Montreal, Quebec, sent such a letter.

The Co-Op miners said many of the messages were greeting cards and letters with signatures of individual workers; more than 400 workers signed greetings like these. Workers at the Point Blank Body Armor plant in Oakland Park, Florida, sent an 8 1/2 by 11 inch card that read in part, “Two years after we started we continue our struggle.… If we all stick together, and support each other, everything is possible.” Workers at this sewing plant make bulletproof vests for the army and police. They won representation by UNITE HERE and their first contract last year.

Coal miners from Pennsylvania sent a message with a wood sculpture of two Co-Op miners. “Amigos, raffle this carving to help raise funds! Your brothers and sisters of UMWA L.U. 1248, Uniontown, PA,” said the letter.

It is solidarity like this, the miners say, that forced the NLRB to uphold UMWA charges that C.W. Mining had fired the workers illegally last year. After a large majority of the 75 dismissed workers signed a petition demanding representation by the UMWA, the board also ruled that a union election must be held. The government agency then brokered a settlement between the bosses and the UMWA under which the company offered the strikers an unconditional return to work. A number of strikers went back to the job July 12. The NLRB held hearings in Price on July 20-21 to determine who would be eligible to cast ballots in the union election. The UMWA and the Co-Op miners argued that Kingston family members and relatives, including managerial and office personnel who have been brought into the mine to stack the deck against the union-organizing effort, should not be allowed to vote. The bosses argued that all 100 of these “workers” should be permitted to vote because they are members of the so-called International Association of United Workers Union (IAUWU), which the NLRB has recognized since 1979. The miners counter that this is a company union.

Attorneys for the IAUWU filed the recent civil lawsuit against the UMWA and its backers along with the Kingstons. This action, miners say, is further proof that this is an outfit run by the bosses, not a workers’ union.

Two weeks ago, the IAUWU gave out letters to several miners revoking their membership. The miners said Juan Salazar’s foreman, Chris Peterson, approached him underground October 4 and handed him an envelope with a note from the IAUWU. The letter told Salazar, one of the UMWA stalwarts, that he is being kicked out of the “union.”

“It has been determined that you are in violation of your membership agreement with IAUWU,” Salazar reported the letter as saying. The notice was signed by IAUWU local president Chris Grundvig. A check for $39.76 was also enclosed as a refund for dues taken out of Salazar’s paychecks since July 12.

The miners are asking that letters be sent to the NLRB backing the UMWA’s position on the upcoming union election, and demanding the board set a date for the union vote. These letters should be sent to NLRB Region 27, attention B. Allan Benson, director, 600 17th Street, 7th floor—North Tower, Denver, CO 80202-5433. Tel: (303) 844-3551; Fax: (303) 844-6249.

For more information contact UMWA District 22 at 525 East 100 South, Price, UT 84501; Tel: (435) 637-2037.  
 
 
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