FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SEPT. 14, 2017
[TRIANGLE, VA.] United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President Cecil E. Roberts issued the following statement today:
“The UMWA is very pleased by the vote in the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday against an amendment to the Department of Labor appropriations bill that would have cut coal mine safety and health enforcement by ten percent.
“I had expressed our concerns regarding this amendment in a letter last week to House members, and asked them to vote no. I am gratified that a majority of the House agreed with our position that we should not be cutting coal mine safety at a time when we are experiencing rising fatalities and serious injuries in America’s mines.
“We stand ready to continue to work with Congress, the Mine Safety and Health Administration and the coal industry to enhance safety. But cutting back on safety and health merely to encourage enhanced production puts miners at risk and should never be allowed. We have lost too many miners to ever forget that the most important resource to come out of a mine is the miner, not the coal.”
