Because the judge dismissed the case with prejudice, the company, which owns the Co-Op coal mine near Huntington, Utah, cannot refile the lawsuit.

The coal company and its allied International Association of United Workers Union (IAUWU) originally filed the suit in September 2004. The company claimed that the miners fighting for UMWA representation, the union itself and several of its officers, and many supporters of the miners’ struggle for a union were guilty of defamation and other charges. The Militant was a prominent defendant in the case because of its consistent coverage of the workers’ struggle to organize a union at Co-Op.

The dismissal followed a settlement agreement reached in May between C.W. Mining and the IAUWU, on one hand, and the UMWA, the 16 individual miners, the Militant, and Utah Jobs with Justice on the other.

As part of that settlement, C.W. Mining agreed to drop what was left of its lawsuit and pay back wages to several miners fired for union activity at the Co-Op mine.

Judge Benson issued the one-page July 6 court order based on a joint motion to dismiss the case filed by attorneys representing both sides in the dispute.

The judge’s ruling states that each side in the case must assume attorneys’ costs incurred during the 22-month-long legal battle.

Judge Benson had earlier dismissed on May 1 most of the C.W. Mining lawsuit—including all the charges against the 16 miners—leaving only a weak defamation case against the UMWA, the Militant, and Utah Jobs with Justice.

At a June 4 event at the UMWA hall in Price, Utah, to celebrate the victory for the labor movement that the settlement of the suit represented, Alyson Kennedy, one of the leaders of the union fight at Co-Op, explained how damaging the May 1 ruling was to the coal company. That decision, Kennedy said, “affirmed that workers have the right to express opinions about working conditions, including safety, and about our struggle to be represented by the union of our choice, without being sued by the bosses.” Just a few weeks after the May 1 ruling C.W. Mining agreed to settle the case. (See “How Co-Op miners stood up, defeated bosses’ retaliatory suit” in July 3 Militant.)

As this issue goes to press, Kennedy is returning from a speaking tour in Australia and New Zealand, where she discussed the accomplishments of these miners in their nearly three-year-long union-organizing struggle.

The visit in both countries was hosted by supporters of the Militant Fighting Fund, which helped raise money for the Militant to defend itself and publicized the fight of all the defendants (see front-page article on the New Zealand leg of the tour).
 
 
Related articles:
U.S. coal miner tours New Zealand
Miner in Australia fights firing after refusal to sign individual contract  
 
 
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