Vol. 71/No. 31      September 3, 2007

Young Socialists have joined in numerous discussions with coal miners and other working people on workers' safety and the need for a union. We have been part of various teams to shopping centers and post offices in Huntington, Price, and East Carbon, and to coal mines around these areas, reaching out to workers with the truth of why yet another mining disaster had occurred.

Working people have opened up their homes to us, putting us up during our stay so we can get out the facts and a working-class point of view.

The teams so far have sold more than 150 copies of the Militant. In the discussions, miners have expressed their discontent over the unsafe working conditions and speed-up on their jobs. Despite the declarations by coal boss Robert Murray, many people we spoke to understood that this cave-in was the result, not of an "act of God," but of the dangerous conditions the profit-hungry bosses have pushed miners to work in underground.

YS members have also learned more about the history of the miners’ fight for union representation in Utah going back to the 1930s. In talking to older miners, some retired and many belonging to the UMWA, we got a sense of a long history of struggle, in which coal miners lost their lives in order to have an organization that truly represented their interests and well-being. This legacy can have an impact today as a younger generation enters the mines, mostly nonunion, in the face of the disaster at Crandall Canyon.

A 22-year-old coal miner, Tyler Firm, who previously worked as a section mechanic at the Crandall Canyon mine, told us, "I wish we did have a union, but there's no guidebook on how to start one. How do you organize a union? We need to learn. We have to start becoming fearless. It's only a matter of time before someone else gets hurt."

Young Socialists will continue our efforts in Utah and across the country to distribute the Militant to tell the truth about what happened at the Crandall Canyon mine, and to join with other workers in struggles against unsafe working conditions and for unions. The socialist perspective we are getting out is essential for working people looking for a way to fight.
 
 
Related articles:
Utah miners: company disregard for safety led to mine collapse
Organize the mines!
Mine boss Murray has long antiworker record
'Militant' gets warm welcome in Utah
Workers pay high cost for bosses' profits  
 
 
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