Vol. 76/No. 7      February 20, 2012

Petkas, who has been an underground coal miner since 2003, currently works at the Peabody-owned Wildcat Hills Mine. “I come from a family of coal miners,” she told the Southern. “My father works in a mine. My grandfathers and great-grandfather worked in the mines. It’s Southern Illinois—that’s what you do.”

The Chicago District EEOC Office began investigating Petkas’s complaint and determined that discrimination had occurred, Ethan Cohen and Ann Henry, EEOC attorneys involved in the case, told the Militant.

“We requested a list of applicants to the Mach Mine,” explained Henry, and then sent letters to see if they had been hired. After hearing about the case, other women also contacted the EEOC.

“At least 30 women have agreed to be part of the suit,” said Cohen. “Qualified applicants weren’t hired. The mine, which was a new mine, didn’t have a women’s bathroom. Many of the women who applied had mining certificates or were experienced miners, some currently working.”

On Jan. 24 the first hearing with a judge took place by phone conference. The trial is scheduled for July 2013, according to Cohen.

Mach Mine has responded to the EEOC complaint, denying it engaged in any civil rights violations or unlawful employment practices. The mine is being represented by Ogletree Deakins, the antiunion law firm that is representing Peabody Coal in its attempt to keep the democratically elected United Mine Workers of America out of its Willow Lake Mine. An attempt by the Militant to get a comment on the lawsuit from Mach Mining was unsuccessful.

The women miners are seeking back pay, compensatory damages, jobs search expenses, and punitive damages, said Henry. “We will want hiring relief to get women jobs at the mine. And we seek injunctive relief barring the company from discrimination in the future.”
 
 
Related articles:
4 workers killed in 7 months at Vale’s mines in Canada  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home