News Archive - Page 24 of 58 - United Mine Workers of America

Mine Wars Museum reopens in new building with more exhibits, room for growth

Source: WV Gazette-Mail

September 5, 2020

MATEWAN — A move to a new location and the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic have made reopening the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum a struggle, but nothing worth having comes easy in this strife-steeped coal town.

On Friday, the museum reopened in its new home, the Matewan National Bank building, just across Mate Street from its former home in what once was the Chambers Hardware and Furniture Store.

The one-time hardware store was a fitting site for the museum when it was established there in 2015. Its brick walls are still pocked with bullet holes from a key mine wars battle — the 1920 Battle of Matewan, a gunfight between coal company detectives and townspeople led by Matewan Police Chief Sid Hatfield.

But the bank building provides the museum a sturdy structure with ample room in which to grow, with added exhibit space, a gift shop, a gallery for rotating art exhibits, a site for a new archives, office space for staff, a large conference room and rental space for businesses.

“We’ve more than doubled the space we had,” Mackenzie New, director of the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum, said Thursday as she and other museum staffers took a break from last-minute preparations on the eve of reopening.

“When we first walked in here a year ago, there was nothing here,” Wilma Steele, a member of the museum’s board of directors, said. “But now we have a living, breathing museum.”

“We’re really looking forward to reopening,” New said. “I’ve been counting. It’s been 310 days since we packed up and moved everything across the street.”

A May 16 reopening, scheduled to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Matewan, had initially been planned for the museum, featuring a number of crowd-drawing events, including a recreation of the 1920 gunfight that left 10 men dead. But the prospect of crowds following the arrival of COVID-19 did not mix, and the opening date had to be pushed back.

“We’ll just have our Battle of Matewan program next year, along with our observance of the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Blair Mountain,” New said.

“Next year, our anniversary program will be memorable,” Steele said.

From now through the end of October, the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum will be open on Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. Face masks and social distancing are mandatory, and no more than 10 people at a time will be admitted into the exhibit area.

“I really look forward to school groups coming in again,” New said. “There is no mention of the Mine Wars in West Virginia history texts. In fact, when President Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration was having writers produce travel guides for the states, Gov. Homer Holt insisted that all references to Blair Mountain, Mother Jones or anything else related to the mine wars be taken out.”

As a result, generations of young West Virginians have grown up never knowing of the history that took place near their homes. Lesson plans and other resources dealing with the Mine Wars are available to teachers via the museum’s website.

“One of the things I most frequently hear from visitors to Matewan is, ‘What were the Mine Wars?’” New said. “When they find out, most of them want to know more.”

College groups from Pennsylvania to Minnesota, plus Ball State University in Indiana, Berea College in Kentucky and Virginia Tech have toured the museum in recent years.

Another new item on display is a barred cell door from the Jefferson County Jail in Charles Town, used to hold some of the 22 United Mine Workers of America members awaiting trial on charges of treason against the state of West Virginia in 1922, following the Battle of Blair Mountain.

An abundance of other Blair Mountain artifacts can be seen by museum visitors, starting with a replica of a homemade bomb similar to real bombs dropped, with little effect, on miners from three biplanes chartered by coal operators.

Also displayed are photos of some of the 14 U.S. Army Air Service bombers under the command of Brig. Gen. Billy Mitchell ordered to stage in Charleston and be ready, if needed, to target striking miners. The bombers ended up being used only for surveillance purposes.

Handguns, rifles and other weaponry found on the battlefield by historian, metal detectorist and former museum board president Kenny King make up a large part of the exhibit.

Exhibits at the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum cover coalfield battles stemming from 1912-13 attempts to unionize mines along Paint and Cabin creeks, in Kanawha and Fayette counties, through the 1920 Battle of Matewan, also known as the Matewan Massacre.

They move on to recount the ambush revenge killing of Matewan Massacre figures Sid Hatfield and Ed Chambers in Welch in August 1921, which, a week later, triggered a Miners March from Charleston to Blair Mountain on the Boone-Logan county line. There, the miners engaged more than 5,000 sheriff’s deputies, coal company detectives and other union foes dug in on a ridgeline studded with fortified machine gun emplacements.

Exhibits also cover the miners’ decision to surrender their arms to the force of 4,000 U.S. Army troops dispatched to the scene of the battle, deemed to be the largest U.S. civil insurrection since the Civil War, and the treason trials of Miners March leaders in Charles Town in 1922.

The museum began to take shape in 2011 and 2012, when Steele and King placed battlefield artifacts King had found at Blair Mountain on display in a building in the nearby Logan County community of Blair, mainly for those taking part in a commemorative Miners March to see.

“Lou Martin, a history professor from Chatham University in Pennsylvania, said that exhibit was too good to take down and forget about,” Steele said.

Shaun Slifer, an exhibit technician, artist and sculptor from Pittsburgh who had been invited by a friend to get involved in the project, designed the exhibits in the original Mine Wars museum, starting in 2014, and has done the same on a larger scale in the new location.

“There was a great team of people involved in the project, but they needed someone to figure out what visitors should see when they walked into the room,” he recalled.

Slifer has made numerous trips from Pittsburgh to Matewan this year to design exhibits for the new building, and he has stayed in town for the past three weeks to make sure the museum is ready for its reopening.

After spending months thinking about what the museum should look like, he said, “it’s nice to finally see people walking around in it.”

Union Plus – Retiree Health Insurance

Source: Union Plus

Medicare Health Insurance for Union Members and Retirees

Many union members and retirees with original Medicare (Part A and Part B) coverage are looking for additional insurance to help limit out-of-pocket costs.

The resources offered by eHealth can help you navigate your Medicare Plan options and choose the right Medicare plan for you and your spouse, based on your budget and needs. eHealth can provide information about many different insurance companies and Medicare plans at no additional cost to you with no obligation to enroll.

If you need personalized help over the phone, you can call a licensed insurance agent at 888-680-4770 (TTY users 711) Monday through Friday, 8 am – 8 pm Eastern Time.

Medicare Supplement Insurance Plans

Medicare supplement insurance coverage can include:

Deductibles
Coinsurance
Foreign travel

Medicare Advantage Plans

Medicare Advantage may cover:

Most Medicare Part A (hospital coverage) covered services (Hospice will remain covered through Medicare)
Medicare Part B (medical insurance coverage) covered services
Medicare Part D Prescription drug coverage
Vision
Hearing
Dental
Wellness programs
Maximum out-of-pocket charges

Medicare Prescription Drug Plans

Medicare Prescription Drug coverage (Part D) may cover:

Prescription drugs
Generally does not cover over-the-counter medications

Visit Union Plus to find out more!

United Mine Workers of America’s Objection to Debtors’ Proposed Sale

We continue to fight in the bankruptcy court for the jobs of our members at Local Union 717 at Remington Arms.

The UMWA today filed an objection to Remington’s plan to sell its assets through the bankruptcy process without first negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement.

“By their own actions, the Debtors have already prevented the possible occurrence of good faith negotiations,” the UMWA’s objection says.

Mine Safety Agency Should Do More to Protect Coal Miners in the Pandemic, Oversight Office Finds

Source: ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT HEALTH

July 28, 2020

The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration has not done enough to protect coal miners during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report from an oversight agency released Tuesday.

Through interviews with MSHA officials and union representatives, as well as reviews of state and national policies, the Department of Labor’s Office of the Inspector General concluded that MSHA could do more to track coronavirus cases among coal miners, address a growing backlog of inspections, and mandate safety precautions underground.

Following the March determination that coal mines would be considered “critical infrastructure” and exempt from coronavirus-related shutdowns, MSHA issued voluntary guidelines to protect miners during the pandemic, including measures such as frequent hand-washing, wearing masks and maintaining social distance when possible. But the agency has faced significant pressure to make those guidelines mandatory.

“We’ve been trying to get the Mine Safety and Health Administration to establish regulations, emergency temporary standards, to set up a regulation that everybody has to follow, that is enforceable, instead of us going from mine to mine to mine and trying to work something out,” said United Mine Workers of America spokesperson Phil Smith. “Because at the mines where there is no union, there is no protection. It’s that simple.”

The National Coalition of Black Lung and Respiratory Disease Clinics wrote to MSHA requesting an emergency temporary standard, and a bipartisan group of senators in May filed the COVID-19 Mine Worker Protection Act to require the issuance of such a measure.

MSHA has not yet committed to issuing an emergency temporary standard, the inspector general said.

The inspector general’s report also found that because of the coronavirus, MSHA suspended five categories of enforcement actions and seriously reduced 13 more, including ventilation investigations, non-fatal accident investigations and compliance assistance visits. Regular safety and health inspections, plus 14 other enforcement categories, have continued to operate at full capacity.

The report said those suspensions and reductions were a tradeoff: They limited contact between miners and mine safety inspectors and protected MSHA’s workforce from potential exposure to COVID-19, but they resulted in a backlog and increased the safety risk for miners.

Adding to the backlog was the number of MSHA inspectors who self-identified as being at high risk of contracting the coronavirus. About 100 of MSHA’s 750 inspectors, or 13 percent, have removed themselves from regular inspection duties out of concern for their own health.

In a response to the inspector general’s report included in its appendices, MSHA head David Zatezelo said, “MSHA agrees with OIG recommendations to develop a plan to manage the potential backlog of suspended or reduced activities, once full operations resume, and to monitor COVID-19 outbreaks at mines and to use that information to reevaluate our decision not to issue an emergency temporary standard.”

Some potential coronavirus prevention measures for coal mines include PPE, sanitization and staggered shifts. But these measures are an added expense for mine operators already struggling to remain profitable as the industry contracts.

Once a COVID-19 hotspot, Navajo Nation will begin to reopen in phases

Source: azcentral.

August 14, 2020

Following nearly two months of declining COVID-19 cases, the Navajo Nation on Thursday announced businesses could begin reopening in phases as early as next week.

Most businesses on Aug. 17 can begin operating at 25% maximum occupancy, according to a public health order from the Navajo Department of Health. This includes allowing drive-thru services only for dining establishments and permitting salons, barbershops, marinas and parks to reopen and operate by appointment only, the order states.

Youth programs, casinos and video poker, museums, flea markets, roadside markets, gyms, recreation facilities and movie theaters would remain closed, according to the order.

“Through contact tracing, we are learning more about the movement of the virus and we know that the fight is not over, but we have to find new ways to move forward,” Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez stated in a news release announcing the order.

“We cannot rush to reopen the Nation. We must reopen slowly and cautiously, and most importantly, rely on the data and advice of our health care experts,” he continued. “When states reopened in May, we saw how quickly the coronavirus can re-emerge and spread and that’s what we want to avoid.”

The announcement came days before the expiration of the tribe’s executive order declaring a state of emergency and government closures until Aug. 16.

Meanwhile, the Navajo Nation’s 32-hour curfew remains in effect for the next three weekends along with its nightly curfew. All businesses are required to close during the curfews, officials previously said.

The Navajo Nation at one point was among COVID-19’s hardest-hit communities in the country. But cases have recently declined.

“The Navajo Nation has had 49 consecutive days with less than 100 reported daily cases of COVID-19, and 14 consecutive days under 50 daily cases,” Vice President Myron Lizer said in a separate news release on Thursday.

As of Thursday, the Navajo Nation had 9,394 identified COVID-19 cases and 478 known deaths. But nearly 7,000 people have had the disease and recovered, according to the tribe.

Navajo Nation reopening based on color-coded system

The health department’s order on Thursday was part of a larger plan to reopen the Navajo Nation in phases, according to the news release from the tribe’s executive branch.

The status of the tribe’s reopening would be based on a color-coded system in which each color represents a different level of reopening activity. The health department’s order, for example, declared the Navajo Nation to be in an orange status, or “moderate-high restrictions” status, the news release explained.

The other statuses were as follows:

A red or “high restrictions” status: Grocery stores and laundry facilities are limited to 10 people or fewer; gas stations are limited to five people or fewer; and dining establishments can only offer drive-thru. Youth programs, casinos, museums, barbershops and hair salons, flea markets, roadside markets, marinas and parks, gyms, recreation facilities and movie theaters would remain closed.
A yellow or “moderate-low restrictions” status: All businesses can operate at 50% maximum occupancy and marinas and parks by appointment only. Casinos, video poker and museums remain closed.
A green or “low restrictions” status: All businesses can operate at 50% maximum occupancy.

The tribe’s reopening status would vary over time depending on its number of COVID-19 cases, its level of testing and its capacity to treat patients, according to the website. The tribe’s health command center, which is operated by its health department, would determine the tribe’s status.

The plan also outlines “best practices” to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and policies and procedures that businesses should implement during the pandemic, such as increasing building ventilation, adding plexiglass barriers, allowing flexible work schedules and giving employees flexible leave policies.

Reach the reporter at chelsea.curtis@arizonarepublic.com or follow her on Twitter @curtis_chels.

Written by: Chelsea Curtis

The Passing of Jimmy Earl Thomas, Local Union 1928 President

The UMWA mourns Brother Jimmy Thomas, the President of UMWA Local Union 1928, who passed away from COVID-19 this morning.

Jimmy marched, rallied and lobbied for 10 years to save UMWA retirees’ pensions and health care. If you have a pension and retiree health care today, Jimmy is a major reason why. We will be eternally grateful to Brother Thomas, and ask everyone to join with us in prayers for him and his family.

He was the son of Booker, Sr. and Lue Bell Gibson Thomas and graduate of Westfield High School.

Since retirement in 1999 from Jim Walter Resources #3 Mine, Jimmy worked with Thomason Law. He was currently president of UMWA Local #1928 and had been an advocate for miners’ pensions and healthcare.

A daughter, Tamika Dial and brothers, Booker, Jr., James D., Allen and Kenneth predeceased him. Memories remain with sons, Eric Bevelle and Marco Thomas; siblings, Joyce, Eddie, Glenn, Don (Constance), Charles and James E. (Vanessa) Thomas; granddaughter, Aly.

Calling Hours at Johnson Memorial, Bessemer, Wednesday Noon until 8:00. Remembrance Hour is 11:00 Thursday at Highland Memorial.

To Plant Memorial Trees in memory, please visit our Sympathy Store.

Fill out the form below if you would like to leave a message for the family:

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Cecil Roberts: Bankruptcy vultures scavenge from coal communities (Opinion)

Source: WV Gazette-Mail

July 28, 2020

It was startling to read a recent report that more than $274 million has been paid to lawyers and financial advisers in just 20 of the coal industry’s 56 bankruptcies since 2012. Two hundred, seventy-four million! While that is just a blip on the balance sheets of these huge law firms and Wall Street financial houses, it would go a long way in the coalfields.

Bankrupt coal companies often pay legal fees that can run up to $1,800 per hour. I ask you: Who is worth $1,800 an hour? That’s about 58 times what a coal miner earns. I can make a good argument that what the coal miner produces is much more valuable to America than what a bankruptcy lawyer produces.

Two hundred, seventy-four million dollars! Yet, retired union coal miners had to fight down to the wire to preserve their pensions and health care. Coalfield clinics, pharmacies, therapists, hospitals and other health care providers are dealing with decreasing revenue and are struggling to stay open. Indeed, many have closed their doors, slashing health care access for everyone.

Two hundred, seventy-four million dollars! Yet, coal communities affected by bankruptcies are seeing tax revenue dry up. They cannot pay for local police forces, deputy sheriffs, firefighters, EMT’s and more. Their infrastructure is crumbling, and they do not have the resources to do anything about it.

Let’s face it, America’s bankruptcy system is a scam. It’s rigged to siphon off millions of dollars from working-class communities and send it to Wall Street. And just what is it that these lawyers and financial advisers are providing?

The American bankruptcy process is straightforward. The steps are clear and bankruptcy courts’ decisions almost always follow the same rules, no matter where that court is located:

First, workers and retirees get nothing.
Next, vendors get a little, but not nearly all they are owed.
Next, the bankrupt company’s executives split up a wealth of bonuses.
Next, the lenders get most of their money back.
And last, a company cannot emerge from bankruptcy until it gets more loans, called exit financing, which ensures the lawyers and advisers get paid.\

That is exactly how it works. The workers and retirees get nothing and the lawyers and advisers always get paid. They have been running this scam especially hard in the coalfields lately.

No one knows better than I that the coal industry has been hit hard. The markets for traditional energy fuels, such as coal and natural gas, are depressed. The market for metallurgical coal has looked like a yo-yo the past several years; some years are good, some years are bad. Coal-fired power plants are closing at an accelerating pace. Companies sometimes have to turn to bankruptcy.

But the rules I laid out above are almost always followed by bankruptcy courts. I know that, and the companies know that. I cannot figure out why the companies need to pay $274 million for someone to explain rules they already know. But they did, and they are paying now, and more companies will be paying in the future. I do not know what value they are getting for that money.

In the meantime, the resources and funding that workers, families and communities in America’s coalfields so desperately need is sucked away, never to return. It is a con game and, in the end, we all pay for it.

Written by: UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts

Fayette County Prison shuts down visitation after correctional officers, inmates test positive for COVID-19

Source: Pittsburgh Action News 4

July 24, 2020

Click here to view the broadcast.

UNIONTOWN, Pa. — No visitation or public admittance will be allowed at the Fayette County Prison for at least two weeks — a move prompted by recent positive COVID-19 tests among inmates and correctional officers, the district attorney said Friday.

The new safety measures are being taken after three correctional officers and two inmates tested positive for the virus this week, District Attorney Rich Bower said.

County officials said these cases are the first at the prison since the coronavirus pandemic began.

Along with the five positive tests, nine other officers are self-quarantining while they await test results, Bower said.

Officials said the county is in the process of testing all 200-plus people who are at the prison, including staff and inmates.

This is a developing story. Follow @JimWTAE for updates and watch his report tonight on Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 at 5 p.m. Download the WTAE mobile app to stay connected with breaking news.

Tragedies at Clarksburg VA Hospital must never happen again

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JULY 14, 2020

[CHARLESTON, W.VA.] United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President Cecil E. Roberts, a Vietnam combat veteran and Chair of the AFL-CIO’s Veterans Committee, issued the following statement today:

“The admission by a former nursing assistant that she murdered patients under her care at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Clarksburg, W.Va., is shocking and beyond comprehension. We grieve for all those lost, and we send our prayers to their families. While justice may finally be coming in this case, nothing can bring back their loved ones.

“The Department of Veterans Affairs must get to the bottom of how this could happen, and establish protocols so that it can never happen again. I am very concerned that funding for our veterans’ health care system, including the VA hospitals, has continued to face cuts from Washington politicians at the same time that thousands of Vietnam veterans need health care the most.

“I urge West Virginia’s congressional delegation to demand Congress restore adequate funding for America’s veterans. They put their lives on the line for all of us. For them to be subject to unspeakable tragedies like this is unacceptable.”

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Local Business Helps To Restore Powhatan UMWA Monument

Source: The Intelligencer – Wheeling News Register

July 13, 2020

POWHATAN POINT – A local business donated its services to help restore the Powhatan United Mine Workers of America memorial.

The more than 10-foot granite stone monument in Powhatan Cemetery is dedicated in memory of 66 men who died in the 1944 Powhatan Mine fire.

Randall L. Gallagher Memorials Inc. of St. Clairsville helped to restore the memorial, free of charge. Employees Justin Gallagher and Randall Purtiman spent Friday morning cleaning and power washing the memorial. Gallagher said the monument was covered in dirt, grime and moss.

This is not the first time the company has aided in a memorial restoration. Last month, it donated its services to help with the Dough Boy monument restoration at Wheeling Park.

“We do a lot for certain organizations. We try to help out the different communities,” Gallagher said.

Prior to Friday’s cleaning, the monument had not been cleaned in more than 20 years.

Jerry Binni, retired secretary/treasurer of District 6 UMWA, said the monument was erected in the early 1950s by Local Union 5497 UMWA. The last time it was cleaned was on the 50th anniversary of the fire that claimed those 66 lives, he said. Binni said July 5 marked the 76th anniversary of the fatal fire.

“On July 5, 1944, the fire started … These men ended up not being able to make it out. They barricaded themselves in and after a couple of days of fighting the fire, they were unable to put out the fire. The decision was then made to seal the mine and cut the air. While the men were barricaded in down there, most of them were overcome by smoke and carbon dioxide and eventually died,” he said.

It took nearly two years for all of the men’s bodies to be recovered, Binni said.

Notes and letters the men had written to their loved ones were found.

Members from various local unions of the UMWA gathered to admire the monument after its deep cleaning.

“We really appreciate Gallagher Monuments cleaning this. After all, this is just a year after the 75th anniversary of the fire,” Binni said.

Written by: Carri Graham