Archives: News

Source: The Register-Herald

July 18, 2019

Senator Rollan Roberts calls for civility in teacher unions (”A call for civility in teacher unions,” July 3). I began to question whether I had his district correct in my mind, so I looked it up. Sure enough, Roberts is from Raleigh County and represents Raleigh Wyoming and a part of McDowell in the 9th District. The senator called out teachers and service personnel for staying silent and not speaking out against the dreaded union bosses. Does he not know the union history of his own district?

West Virginians have deep roots. We have a strong sense of home that’s bred into us. We gain comfort from our lush green mountains, and the heritage that sings through the tree tops down into our valleys.

Growing up in the 80s and 90s in Boone County, we all heard the songs of our ancestors through the lips of our family members. My daddy graduated from high school in 1971 and immediately began working in the coal mines. We lived through many strikes and layoffs throughout the years.

We sat down at the dinner table every evening when he got home and frequently discussed what was happening at the mines and what the union was doing about it. The United Mine Workers of America changed the lives of Appalachians throughout the 20th Century and we take that very seriously. Most of us weren’t alive during the hardest fought battles of our people along with the UMWA, but those stories have been passed down to us. They have solidified our community and forever impacted our history as West Virginians.

No one should be shocked when we rally together to head to the capitol. It’s in our blood to stand up for what is right. The term “union boss” is worn as a badge of honor. When we see the green camo and gold, we pay attention. To smack the proverbial hand of teachers and service personnel for unionizing and fighting for our students and the educational system in West Virginia is quite disheartening. I would hope the folks that take care of my two little boys all day have adequate training, supplies, support, pay and can take a day off when they are sick. Sadly, as educators, we have to fight for these rights every legislative session now and even special ones they call against us.

Sen. Roberts, you seem to have gotten most of your story backward. The “reprehensible, vindictive, retaliatory, and hypocritical” behaviors that you mentioned were not exhibited by our great state’s teachers, service personnel or union leaders. Those behaviors were exhibited by the majority caucus of both the House and Senate towards educators in the 2019 legislative sessions.

Anytime you begin to question what “the union” is doing, walk outside and listen to the voices of our ancestors of 100 years ago. They will tell you to listen to and fight for what is right for our workers, our people, and most importantly the children of West Virginia.

Heather Hayes Ritter

Librarian, Scott High School, Boone County

Treasurer, AFT Boone Local 6101

The Source: The Hill

July 15, 2019

The president of the United Mine Workers of America characterized the progressive Green New Deal’s goal of transitioning to renewable energy over 10 years as “almost impossible.”

The Green New Deal, introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) earlier this year, aims to cut greenhouse emissions in half by shifting to 100 percent renewable energy over the next decade. The proposal also calls for creating millions of “good, high-wage” jobs to achieve that goal.

“It’s almost impossible to transition in 10 years away from fossil fuels even if everybody was for it,” Cecil Roberts told Hill.TV on Monday. “It just can’t really be done but if you did do that, you’re going to have a massive, terrible economic problem on your hands.”

Roberts argued that over the past 10 to 15 years, the U.S. has been slowly transitioning from coal to natural gas, and that thousands of coal miners in Appalachia have been making the shift too.

“As coal miners have lost their jobs, thousands and thousands of other workers have been able to get employment in Appalachia doing the pipelines to these facilities and in some instances, drilling for natural gas and the new technology — the fracking and all that, that we have all kinds of debates about,” he told Hill.TV.

“What we’re talking about with the Green New Deal is we’re going to eliminate that. So all of this new technology that’s been in place and all the work that’s been gathered because of that — we’re talking about eliminating that and starting down the road to completely renewables,” he added, while noting that climate change is a “worldwide threat.”

Last week, Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) among others, backed a resolutionto declare a climate change an emergency. The resolution would not enact any initiatives to combat climate change or lower emissions.

“This is a political crisis of inaction,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “It’s going to take political will, political courage in order for us to treat this issue with the urgency that the next generation needs.”

The Trump administration has rolled back a number of Obama-era climate initiatives and repeatedly cast doubt over whether climate change is real.

In a recent speech touting his administration’s environmental policies, Trump didn’t mention climate change.

—Tess Bonn

To watch President Roberts interview click here.

Source: MetroNews

July 12, 2019

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A man with courage is how United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts described former UMWA President Arnold Miller on Friday.

Roberts spoke alongside two of Miller’s children at the UMWA District 17 Office in Charleston during a dedication of a sign that will be placed on an Interstate-77 bridge near Miller’s hometown of Cabin Creek barring his name.

The late Miller was President of UMWA from 1972 to 1979.

“This way he will never be forgotten,” Roberts said. “Not that he was ever going to be but this is something every time someone goes across the bridge from some other state or some other location in the state, they will say well who was Arnold Miller. Once they go across they will look it up who he was.”

Born in Kanawha County on April 25, 1923, the late Miller became a coal miner at the age of 16.

Roberts said he most admired Miller for his service in the Army in World War II where Miller was severely wounded during the D-Day invasion.

Returning home from service and after 19 operations for his battle wounds, Miller found himself back in the mines.

In 1969 Miller was the leader of a union local where he helped lead the passage of West Virginia’s first black lung compensation law.

Miller ran for UMWA President in 1972 against Tony Boyle, the incumbent, and won to become the first true rank-and-file miner to head the labor union.

Roberts said Miller’s run in 1972 came with a lot of courage because of the murder of Boyle’s previous opponent Jock Yablonski.

“To say that I want to the person to run against Tony Boyle after Jock Yablonski, his wife and his daughter were murdered. He had a lot of courage to do that and it was a tough election,” Roberts said.

“There was a lot of arguments and fistfights along the way but he won.”

From the election, Roberts said Miller helped transform the union as it is today.

First, at the 1973 convention brought democracy to UMWA’s national movement and complete democracy to the coalfields.

“The first time we elected our district officials, we had never done that in the history of the union until after the 1973 convention,” Roberts said.

“Then he gave us a right to ratify collecting bargaining agreements. We never had those rights.”

Roberts said the contract Miller helped negotiate in 1974 was one of the best contracts in the history of the coalfields. The contract helped bring personal leave days, floating vacation days, sick and accident insurance to miners, something Roberts said people take for granted these days.

Miller resigned as president in 1979 due to health issues and died six years later in Charleston at age 62.

The bridge that sits on I-77 on the way to Marmet and Charleston has donned Miller’s name with military honors but through legislation in the House, will read UMWA President 1972-1979 now.

A declaration from the House of Delegates was read Friday noting Miller’s achievements.

Roberts said everyone can learn from Miller’s life.

“He taught us with democracy and autonomy comes responsibility. Sometimes we forget that.”

Source: NBC News

 

The union’s invitation to 23 presidential candidates comes as mining job losses continue under President Trump.

 

WASHINGTON — The United Mine Workers of America, the union representing mineworkers for nearly 130 years, has for the first time invited every Democratic presidential hopeful to tour a coal mine and to discuss their thoughts on finding a place for coal workers in their vision for the nation’s energy future.

In letters sent Monday to 23 Democratic presidential candidates and obtained by NBC News, the union’s president, Cecil E. Roberts, said many miners who have felt estranged from the Democratic Party for years are now interested in starting a dialogue.

“They want to talk to you, and they have a right to be heard,” Roberts said, inviting candidates to “demonstrate that Democrats are still the strong voice for working families that has long been the party’s tradition.”

The last Democratic presidential candidate to tour a mine with coal workers was John Kerry in 2004.

Mine workers were often the face of the “forgotten man” Trump vowed to prioritize in his 2016 insurgent campaign. As president, Trump has taken credit for what he has called a coal comeback after easing rules governing greenhouse gas emissions and the storage of toxic coal ash over the past two years.

But the reality is far different. Coal production is expected to hit a record low in 2019, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, a nonpartisan agency. And today, there are fewer people employed by mine operators and contractors than there were under President Obama, according to the Department of Labor.

“Coal-fired power plants have continued to close notwithstanding those rules,” UMWA spokesman Phil Smith told NBC News.

While the steepest decline in coal jobs came between 2012 and 2016, 2018 was a record year in terms of coal plant retirements in critical coal states including Kentucky, West Virginia and Ohio.

Just this past week, 600 miners in Gillette, Wyoming lost their jobs when Blackjewel LLC suddenly shuttered two mines.

In the meantime, miners and a landowners’ group are raising health, safety and environmental concerns due to huge open pit mines that aren’t being managed by trained experts, including spontaneous coal fires, explosives and abandoned clean-up operations.

Yet it’s unclear how miners and Democrats will agree on a plan to transform the nation’s energy future. Many Democrats have made addressing climate change a pillar of their campaigns amid historic flooding, hurricanes, heat waves and wildfires.

While they are rolling out plans to invest in clean energy technology in coal communities, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s experience is a cautionary tale. In her book, “What Happened,” Clinton said her biggest regret from the campaign was stating that her plan would put a lot coal miners out of business.

The miners have not sent a letter to Trump with a similar offer, said Smith.

“The miners kind of already know where President Trump is on their issues,” he said.

By Heidi Przybyla