Vol. 77/No. 38      October 28, 2013

The three deaths, which occurred at mines in West Virginia, Illinois and Wyoming, bring the total number of coal miners killed on the job in the U.S. this year to 17.

This takes place in the context of declining demand and employment in the coal industry as a result of a contraction of industrial production worldwide and a shift toward use of natural gas in the U.S. As part of efforts to shore up their profits, coal bosses have targeted unions and their safety committees. The offensive has been met with little resistance as workers’ confidence has been sapped by layoffs and a union movement hamstrung by decades of seeking common ground with the employers.

In response to the string of deaths, top officials of the United Mine Workers have pointed above all to the U.S. government “shutdown” resulting from factional disagreements between Democratic and Republican party legislators over the government budget and Affordable Care Act.

“It is extremely troubling that within a week after the federal government shutdown caused the normal system of mine safety inspection and enforcement to come to a halt, three miners are dead,” said United Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts in a statement Oct. 8. “Call your members of Congress and Senators and tell them while they’re squabbling, miners are dying.”

Roger King worked at Consol Energy’s McElroy Mine in Marshall County, W.Va. He was killed Oct. 4 when a conveyor chain broke and hit him in the head during the move of a longwall machine. McElroy is the biggest mine in the state with nearly 1,000 workers and organized by the United Mine Workers. Two miners employed by Consol were killed in Marion County in February and last November.

Robert Smith was killed on the job Oct. 5 when a vehicle he was driving overturned. He worked at the Pattiki Mine in White County, Ill., operated by Alliance Resource Partners.

Mark Stassinos, 44, was operating a bulldozer that plunged off a 160-foot-high wall Oct. 6. He was ejected from the cab and killed instantly. Stassinos worked at the Jim Bridger Mine in Sweetwater County, Wyo.

Bridger Coal, which operates the mine, was cited for 25 separate violations of safety regulations in 2012. The company is a joint venture between PacifiCorp and Idaho Power. The UMWA has been involved in a fight with PacifiCorp at the Deer Creek mine in Utah over attempts to gut the union’s safety committee.

According to the United Mine Workers, one-third of coal miners today are members of a union. Of the 17 miners killed in 2013 to date, 13 worked in nonunion mines.
 
 
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