The union’s response concentrates on three points:

1. In suing the UMWA, C.W. Mining is relying on legal precedents designed to regulate unfair labor practices between an employer and a union with an established labor contract. In this case, the only “contract” that exists is between C.W. Mining and the International Association of United Workers Union (IAUWU), which miners say is a company run outfit that has never represented their interests at the mine.

2. Claims of defamation against the union and individual Co-Op miners named in the suit are not valid. C.W. Mining says numerous statements made by the union and individual miners about wages, safety, and other work conditions, as well as actions by management, were “lies.”

C.W. Mining and the IAUWU contend that “because a number of statements attributable to the UMWA were allegedly false, those statements were ‘defamatory,’” says the brief filed by the union’s attorneys. In the context of a labor dispute, “there was nothing exceptional about the words allegedly exchanged,” the UMWA reply says, explaining that there are “heightened” requirements to prove defamation in such situations.

3. The dispute between the miners at the Co-Op mine, who are fighting for UMWA representation, and C.W. Mining is an ongoing dispute with issues still being decided by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The NLRB, for instance, has yet to rule on a number of unfair labor practices by the company, including the wholesale firing of union supporters and whether or not the votes of those miners will be counted in the union representation election that was held December 17. As such, C.W. Mining has no rights to sue the union over questions that are still being decided by the NLRB.

C.W. Mining has asked for and received extra time from the court, until April 15, to respond to several other defendants in the lawsuit who filed motions to dismiss the case. By that date the coal company’s lawyers will have to respond to motions filed by the 17 individual Co-Op miners, the Militant newspaper and the Socialist Workers Party, as well as Utah Jobs with Justice, Utah AFL-CIO and its individual officers, the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy (PACE) union in Salt Lake City, and University of Utah professor Hans Ehrbar. Following these replies by C.W. Mining, each of these defendants will have seven days to make any final written arguments for the court to consider.  
 
 
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