The United Mine Workers of America are endorsing Karen Baker’s candidacy for the Ninth Congressional District.
The UMWA, which represents the interests of miners and their families, has recognized Baker as a “champion for the issues that matter most to their members” according to a statement.
Baker’s background as an associate member of the UMWA and her involvement in advocacy work against the Moss 3 Landfill in Russell County “demonstrates her deep connection to the coalfields region and her commitment to environmental and labor issues.”
Baker expressed her gratitude for the endorsement.
“I am honored to receive the support of the United Mine Workers of America,” she said. “The men and women of the UMWA are the backbone of Southwest Virginia, and I am committed to fighting for their black lung benefits and pension and ensuring that their voices are heard in Washington.”
James Gibbs, International Vice President At-Large of the United Mine Workers of America said he is confident Baker will represent the UMWA’s interests.
“I’ve spent a lot of time with Karen Baker and I know she can do the work,” he said. “She is an outstanding candidate who cares about the coalfields region and our coal miners. I am confident that she will fight for us, unlike our current congressman.”
“Every time I see our miners, I ask them: Can you tell me one thing? One thing that Morgan Griffith has done for our union or for our coal miners? And they can’t tell me,” Gibbs told his members at recent meeting.
“Every time the mine workers put their heads together, anything is possible,” Gibbs added. “Y’all know we can get this thing done in these six coal counties. We have power and we have people. We will win this thing.”
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POWHATAN POINT — Eighty years ago this month, 66 men were trapped deep beneath the ground about 6 miles outside of Powhatan Point where they met their fates – and on Friday, their successors gathered to honor and remember them.
The tragic loss of life resulted from a fire at the Powhatan No. 1 Mine, owned by North American Coal Corp., on July 5, 1944. A brief memorial service was held Friday at the Powhatan Cemetery.
“We’re here today to honor these guys on the 80th anniversary. We were going to hold it last week, but due to the Fourth of July weekend we decided to have it today so we’d get a better participation,” United Mine Workers of America Local 5497 President William Rogers said.
“There are a lot of people here today that are residents of Powhatan. A lot of people lost fathers, sons, brothers or uncles. These guys were the patriotic individuals of World War II along with the soldiers that helped defeat the Nazis and Imperial Japanese. They provided the power and steel and whatever. As most of you know they were exempted from military service due to their specification of their jobs as coal miners.”
Rogers also believes that some of the men who lost their lives in the disaster likely were World War I veterans; however, he said due to the difficulty of finding the records of the individuals, he can’t be certain.
“As we honor them, we not only honor them as coal miners but as veterans also,” he said.
Powhatan Point American Legion Post 228 members were in attendance at the memorial ceremony. They were on hand to salute the fallen miners and to serve as an honor guard.
Rogers spoke about the timeline of events that occurred on July 5, 1944. According to an official report on the fire by the Bureau of Mines, the fire broke out in the mine at roughly 1:15 p.m., beginning with a roof fall that took down a trolley wire that shorted out when it struck the tracks below and ignited the coal seam. The miners attempted to extinguish the flames until they grew to the point where they had to “brattice” themselves off, which means they had to seal themselves in to protect themselves from the fire.
“As they fought the fire, things got worse and worse. Fifteen hours later, the Bureau of Mines along with the Divisions of Mines from Ohio decided to seal the mines. The mine stayed sealed from July 6, 1944, until June 11, 1945,” Rogers said.
According to the report, large quantities of air were circulated through the mine to remove explosive methane gas. This ventilation allowed the flames to grow and spread.
A total of 190 were in the mine when the fire occurred. Sixty-six were trapped by the fire and killed; 124 men escaped unassisted. Sixty of the men killed had barricaded themselves from the flames using boards, posts, screw-type roof jacks, coal and clothing. One man began to build a barricade.
“The remaining five men apparently attempted to get around the fire and were in part of the area which was sealed,” the report states. “The seals were opened on June 9, 1945, and a great part of the area was explored. Three bodies were found and removed, but rekindling of material under a large fall made it advisable to reseal the area on June 15 and 16, 1945.”
“As they got near the seals, they noticed that smoke was still coming out and carbon monoxide was still present, so they left the area and replaced any sealing that was broke,” Rogers added.
On June 20, 1945, the mine returned to operation, using the areas not affected by the fire. In 1946 a decision was made to enter the affected areas to begin recovering the bodies. That effort lasted until 1947.
The official report indicates the doomed men left records of their time working to escape the fire. Some were simple notes about their plans to move to a different location. Others were long letters that trailed off as the writing became illegible.
Rogers closed the ceremony with words of hope for the future.
“So again, today we are here to honor these guys in remembrance and to never forget what happened here in the village and to hope that none of this ever happens again.”
(TRINIDAD, Colo.) — The National Park Service (NPS) announced on Wednesday, July 10 awarded grants to eight recipients to help preserve battlefields and other sites of armed conflict, including the site of the Ludlow Massacre in Las Animas County.
“The diverse grant opportunities provided through the American Battlefield Protection Program help our preservation partners study and protect almost 400 years of conflict history,” said National Park Service Director Chuck Sams. “By supporting these localized efforts, all Americans gain the opportunity to learn from these conflicts and understand their impact on the foundation and growth of this country.”
According to NPS, one of the projects funded will support the development of a comprehensive preservation and interpretation plan for the Ludlow Tent Colony Site, where a 10-day armed conflict occurred between the United Mine Workers of America and the Colorado National Guard, known as the Colorado Coalfield War or “War of 1914.”
NPS shared the history of the Ludlow Massacre, after several attempts to get major coal companies to meet their demands, including honoring the eight-hour workday and Colorado’s existing mine safety rules, the United Mine Workers declared a general strike to force the issue.
On April 20, 2014, National Guardsmen aligned with the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company attacked the Ludlow Tent Colony to try and break the strike, killing 21 people including 11 children.
The event started 10 days of continuous warfare in Colorado until President Woodrow Wilson ordered federal troops to disarm both sides and restore order. United Mine Workers of America was awarded $151,976.15 for the project.
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A subcommittee that Aderholt chairs supported cutting funding for a regulation meant to prevent coal miners from developing black lung.
On June 28, the United Mine Workers of America released a statement harshly criticizing Alabama Representative Robert Aderholt and a subcommittee he chairs for a proposed amendment to the 2025 Department of Labor Appropriations Act.
The section at issue reads: “None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to administer, implement, or enforce the proposed rule entitled ‘Lowering Miners’ Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica and Improving Respiratory Protection.’”
Proposed by the Mine Safety and Health Administration in 2023, the rule would set new limits on the amount of silica dust in the air that miners breathe.
The MSHA lists that breathing silica dust has been linked to “silicosis (i.e., acute silicosis, accelerated silicosis, chronic silicosis, and progressive massive fibrosis), nonmalignant respiratory diseases (e.g., emphysema and chronic bronchitis), lung cancer, and kidney disease.”
UMWA president Cecil Roberts called the rule “crucial for combating the worsening epidemic of black lung disease.”
“It is difficult for me to understand how certain members of Congress could possibly be supportive of more miners dying a suffocating death as a result of being forced to breathe this dust,” Roberts continued.
A summary of the bill released by the Republicans on the committee described their bill as “[prohibiting] funding to implement the [Department of Labor’s] destructive and anti-worker regulatory agenda.”
Rep. Aderholt’s office has not responded to APR’s request for comment or made a public statement on the subcommittee the Congressman chairs attempting to cut funding for the regulation.
Roberts blasted Aderholt for “prioritizing industry profits over the health and safety of the very workers he was elected to represent.”
“The miners in his district, many of whom already suffer from black lung disease, deserve better than this,” Roberts said. “I can only conclude that Aderholt is telling his constituents that their lives and health are of no concern to him.”
In addition to cutting funding for the new regulation on silica dust, the proposed bill would also prevent the Department of Labor from implementing:
New protections for nonimmigrant temporary agricultural workers
A change making it harder for employers to classify workers as independent contractors
Improvements to labor standards for apprenticeships
A clarification allowing retirement funds to incorporate environmental, social, and governance considerations
And a rule expanding who employees can use as a representative during OSHA workplace inspections
While it’s unclear if these restrictions will survive votes on the House floor, much less get passed by the Senate, it may be for naught.
Following the Supreme Court overturning Chevron deference in its ruling on Loper Bright Enterprises v.Raimondo, federal courts have begun to rule against more and more proposed federal rules changes.
A Texas judge issued an preliminary injunction on Wednesday against the Federal Trade Commission’s pending ban on non-compete agreements. A Kansas judge issued a similar injunction against anti-discrimination protections the Department of Education had proposed.
Even if the Department of Labor is not prevented from enforcing the MSHA’s new silica dust regulations by Congress withholding funding, it could still fall victim to this new legal status quo.
UMWA Condemns U.S. House subcommittee move to defund enforcement of new MSHA black lung silica dust rule
MORGANTOWN – In April, miners and mining labor leaders met with U.S. Department of Labor Acting Secretary Julie Su in Uniontown, Pa., to celebrate DOL’s final rule to protect miners from silica dust – exposure to which can lead to black lung disease.
On Friday, the miners and mine labor leaders criticized a move by a U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations subcommittee to not fund enforcement of the rule. The subcommittee advanced the bill providing funds for DOL and its Mine Safety and Health Administration.
The markup specifies, “None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to administer, implement, or enforce the proposed rule entitled ‘Lowering Miners’ Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica and Improving Respiratory 18 Protection.’”
In April, United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts celebrated. “What does this rule do? It’s not overly complicated. More people will be alive 10 years from now than there would have been if it wasn’t for what we’ve done fighting for this rule. We were on the right side of this. We were doing the Lord’s work here.”
On Friday, Roberts said, “MSHA’s silica standard aims to reduce the amount of deadly silica dust in mine atmospheres, which is crucial for combating the worsening epidemic of black lung disease. It is difficult for me to understand how certain members of Congress could possibly be supportive of more miners dying a suffocating death as a result of being forced to breathe this dust.”
He continued, “These actions are a direct attack on the health and safety of coal miners. The epidemic of black lung disease is a critical issue that demands immediate action. I call on all members of Congress to reject this dangerous provision and stand up for the rights and health of miners.”
MSHA proposed the rule last June. Its current standard for metal/nonmetal (MNM) mines is 100 micrograms per cubic meter of air for a full-shift exposure – meaning an eight-hour time weighted average. For coal mines, there is no separate standard for silica dust.
MSHA’s new standard would match the Occupational Safety and Health Administration standard adopted in 2016: for both MNM and coal mines, 50 micrograms per cubic meter for a full-shift exposure. If a miner’s exposure exceeds the limit, the final rule requires mine operators to take immediate corrective actions to come into compliance.
The rule also establishes an action level matching OSHA’s: 25 micrograms per cubic meter across a full shift. When miners’ exposures is above the proposed action level but below the permitted exposure limit of 50 micrograms, the proposed rule would require mine operators to conduct periodic sampling until miners’ exposures are below the action level.
The proposed rule also includes medical surveillance requirements for MNM miners, modeled on existing medical surveillance requirements for coal miners, and requiring companies to establish medical surveillance programs to provide periodic health examinations at no cost to miners.
Roberts noted that subcommittee chair Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., represents a district with a significant number of coal mines and thousands of coal miners.
“This would indicate that he is prioritizing industry profits over the health and safety of the very workers he was elected to represent,” Roberts said. “The miners in his district, many of whom already suffer from black lung disease, deserve better than this. I can only conclude that Aderholt is telling his constituents that their lives and health are of no concern to him.”
The Dominion Post contacted Rep. Alex Mooney, who represents West Virginia’s 2nd District – the northern half of the state – noting that he represents coal miners, many who have black lung. His office did not respond.
At some point, in whatever its final form, the bill will cross over to the Senate, so we also contacted Sens. Shelley Moore Capito and Joe Manchin.
Capito did not wish to comment at this time. Manchin’s office said he opposes the defunding measure.
The head of the national mine workers’ union is condemning an effort by House Republicans to block enforcement of a long-awaited federal rule directed at curbing workers’ exposure to deadly rock dust.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The head of the national mine workers’ union on Friday condemned what he characterized as an effort by House Republicans to block enforcement of a long-awaited federal rule directed at curbing workers’ exposure to poisonous, deadly rock dust, calling it “a direct attack on the health and safety of coal miners.”
United Mine Workers of America International President Cecil E. Roberts said a budget provision — approved by a U.S. House subcommittee Thursday — prohibiting the Department of Labor from using funding to enforce a silica dust rule operators must be in compliance with next year is “morally reprehensible” and that the action “undermines the principles of fairness and justice that our country stands for.”
“It is difficult for me to understand how certain members of Congress could be supportive of more miners dying a suffocating death as a result of being forced to breathe this dust,” Roberts said in a statement. Silicosis, commonly referred to as black lung, is an occupational pneumoconiosis caused by the inhalation of crystalline silica dust present in minerals like sandstone. Finalized in April by Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, or MSHA, rule cuts by half the permissible exposure limit for crystalline silica for an eight-hour shift.
The regulation is in line with exposure levels imposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on construction and other non-mining industries. And it’s the standard the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended since 1974. The U.S. Department of Labor began studying silica and its impact on workers’ health in the 1930s, but the focus on stopping exposure in the workplace largely bypassed coal miners.
Su said in April that it is “unconscionable” that America’s miners have been forced to work without the protections for so long: “We’re making it clear that no job should be a death sentence.”
The black lung problem has only grown in recent years as miners dig through more rock layers to get to less accessible coal, generating deadly silica dust in the process. Silica dust is 20 times more toxic than coal dust and causes severe forms of black lung disease even after a few years of exposure.
The increased drilling has meant that severe forms of the disease are being identified even among younger Appalachian miners, some in their 30s and 40s. An estimated one in five tenured miners in Central Appalachia has black lung disease; one in 20 has the most disabling form of black lung.
On Thursday, the House subcommittee did not debate the bill containing the silica dust rule enforcement block before advancing it. A spokesperson for Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Subcommittee Chair U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, a Republican representing Alabama, did not return an email request for comment Friday. National Mining Association spokesperson Conor Bernstein said in an email Friday that officials at the organization, which represents operators, haven’t been “involved in this legislation and, therefore, are not in a position to comment.”
Mine safety advocates are scrambling to meet with lawmakers before the bill is scheduled to go before the full House Appropriations Committee on July 10. It would have to be greenlit by that committee before going to the full chamber.
Quenton King, federal legislative specialist for Appalachian Voices, a nonprofit that advocated for the silica dust rule, said the protection is essential to protecting not only coal miners in central Appalachia but metal and nonmetal miners across the country. He said that if allowed to be enforced, it will help save thousands of lives.
“To willfully prevent MSHA from doing that would be killing miners,” he said.
West Virginia Attorney Sam Petsonk, who has represented coal miners who were diagnosed with black lung after companies violated safety violations, said he sees workers every day who have fewer than 10 years of mining experience diagnosed with end-stage, fatal silicosis.
“This is a policy decision by the entire Republican party leadership to throw America’s miners to the dogs,” he said. “It’s insulting and unfair to our communities for them to do this to us. And it’s certainly inconsistent with the idea that the Republicans are trying to help coal miners and coal mining communities.”
Denver, CO – On Sunday, June 23, a group of Teamsters from Denver attended the Ludlow, Colorado memorial service in Las Animas County, almost 200 miles south of Denver. Ludlow is the site of the Ludlow Massacre, a horrific 1914 attack by the National Guard and a mine owners’ militia that resulted in approximately 21 deaths. Victims included wives and children of striking miners.
The Ludlow Massacre was the height of action of the 1913-14 United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) strike in Colorado, and, as historian Howard Zinn describes, it was “the culminating act of perhaps the most violent struggle between corporate power and laboring men in American history.” Tensions were building far before the day of the massacre, however, and these tensions were rooted deeply in the struggle of the coal miners against John D. Rockefeller Jr.’s Colorado Fuel and Iron company.
Miners at the time were demanding better wages, an eight-hour day, less company control, and the right to organize. They also demanded a safer workplace – coal mines at the time were up to ten times as dangerous as other workplaces in the country and Colorado’s fatality rate for miners was double the national average.
Many of the families at Ludlow were European immigrants or local Chicano workers, and there were at least 24 languages spoken at the site. This diverse group was able to maintain solidarity throughout the entirety of the strike. At the memorial service, UMWA President Cecil Roberts spoke on this, noting that in the coal mines, “we are all the same.”
The strike came after a series of mining accidents where dozens of miners were killed. When their basic demands were not met, and they went on strike. At the time, miners were living in company towns outside the mine, but strikers were evicted after the strike was announced. Approximately 200 tents, housing about 1200 miners and their families, were built outside the town in response, and this became the site of the massacre. There were several incidents of violence throughout the strike leading up to the massacre, mostly perpetrated by the company and National Guard.
Mother Jones, notably, was present through the strike and was arrested at least twice in Colorado, serving prison time there. Throughout the strike, according to UMWA President Roberts, machine guns were placed along the camp and occasionally shot into the camp seemingly at random. At times, tents were destroyed through such actions, and injuries and fatalities followed.
The tensions became untenable the day after Orthodox Easter on April 19, 1914. That Sunday was spent in celebration among the miners, and a baseball game was held where even National Guardsmen participated. The day after, however, was bloody and brutal; shots rang out from both sides and company men set part of the camp on fire. Gunfire was exchanged throughout the morning. In an act of solidarity, a train conductor in a passing train stopped on the tracks separating the machine guns from the miners, blocking the bullets. By the end, however, 21 had been killed, many of whom were suffocated by smoke from the fire. After the massacre, miners engaged in armed resistance during the “Ten Days War,” where at least 50 more people died. The strike continued until December and was eventually lost by the miners.
Those who died for justice in the massacre are remembered at the memorial, while the National Guardsmen and company men who murdered them are forgotten. Of the 21 on the plaque at the memorial, 11 were children, ranging from three months old to 11 years. Many who died as a result of the brutal repression from Rockefeller’s men are nameless, forgotten to the history books, yet their example and their determination to fight for their fellow workers needs to be remembered.
The memorial service was not somber; Roberts and UMWA International District 22 Vice President Michael Dalpiaz gave rousing speeches full of righteous anger and statements of solidarity. Dalpiaz states, “We didn’t do it for any reason other than justice for coal miners and working class people.” Roberts notes that Ludlow is not in the history books in schools, but you open any book and “Rockefeller’s name is in there.”
An estimated 15 to 20 unions were represented at the memorial service, and several attendees were descendants of miners who worked at Ludlow. All were there in solidarity with the honorable fight that the Ludlow miners put up that continues to this day. As we are reminded by Mother Jones, “Above all, you must fight!” While many workers today are not living in company towns or tent colonies, all workers share so much with the brave fighters at Ludlow, and to not carry on their struggle is a betrayal of their memory. As one plaque at the memorial says, “We remember the Ludlow martyrs for the courageous stand they took so many years ago on our behalf. We forget their struggle and sacrifice at our peril.”
Ludlow may remain outside the realm of popular history books, but their fight was done for us. Let us continue the struggle, and fight on the behalf of those living 100 and more years from now, just as the Ludlow miners did. Forward with the struggle!
