Through their attorneys, the Kingston family contends that the UMWA, acting as an organization and through the individual workers who have been the strongest backers of the union organizing campaign, violated a labor agreement between the company and the IAUWU. The bosses claim the workers already had a union—the IAUWU—and a contract, so any moves to bring in the UMWA are unlawful. The miners fighting for UMWA representation at Co-Op have long explained that the IAUWU is nothing more than an outfit created and run by the bosses, which has never spoken for or supported the workers.

In its reply to the union’s motion to dismiss the harassment lawsuit, the company also contends that all of the statements made by the workers about the conditions at the mine that miners say led to their fighting for UMWA representation, were false and defamatory. The bosses repeat their side of the story, which workers explain is an attempt to rewrite history, slander workers who have fought to be represented by the UMWA, try to isolate their leaders, and, in short, turn the victims of unceasing company abuse and exploitation into the criminals.

“UMWA and its agents repeatedly stated that CWM fired some 74 workers for seeking union representation, called in the sheriff to kick them off the property, and locked them out,” says the March 16 Kingston reply to the UMWA legal brief asking for dismissal of the case. “CWM fired no one but Bill Estrada, who was discharged for cause. While they were meeting, some of the workers gathered outside. Estrada came out and falsely told the waiting workers they had also been fired. Relying on Estrada’s lie, the other workers left their jobs. CWM never locked them out, they simply chose not to return to work.

“One or more of Defendants or their agents published statements to the effect that IAUWU is a ‘company union,’ a ‘yellow-dog union,’ an ‘employer dominated union,’ ‘not a real union,’ that the union officers are all mine bosses, etc., all of which were specifically defamatory of IAUWU and its officers….

“They said CWM’s workers had no health insurance, which was a lie.

“They made specific claims of unsafe working conditions, all of which were lies….

“They said workers were paid only $5.25 to $7.00 an hour, which was a lie. While workers base pay was in that general range, workers also received supplemental pay and production bonuses that increased their pay, often substantially. A number of workers by applying themselves were receiving, and all workers through similar diligence could earn, $12.00 to $18.00 per hour.

“They said if a worker refused to carry out an unsafe work practice he was likely to lose bonus and supplementary pay, which was a lie.

“They said CWM had threatened to report workers to INS, which was a lie.”

After hearing about these claims by the company in the lawsuit, miners laughed at what they call the bosses’ hypocrisy. “Many Co-Op miners have the pay stubs to prove the low pay we got over many years,” said José Contreras, a supporter of the UMWA and one of the miners fired a week before the December 17 union representation vote. “We have only spoken the truth about conditions at the mine.”

Attorneys for C.W. Mining and IAUWU have asked for extra time to answer the separate motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed by union attorneys on behalf of the 17 individual Co-Op miners named in the suit. Unless denied by the judge, the Kingston lawyers will have until April 15 to respond to that particular motion.
 
 
Related articles:
Utah miners protest boss plan to hire replacement unionists
Kingstons ask for more time to reply to the ‘Militant’ motion to dismiss harassment case  
 
 
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