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Source: America’s Workforce Radio

January 1, 2024

Happy New Year’s Day! Cecil Roberts, President of the United Mine Workers of America, joined America’s Work Force Union Podcast and discussed the Warrior Met Strike in Alabama, outdated protective equipment for miners, and the dangers of silica dust.

Roberts began by detailing the two-year Warrior Met Strike in Alabama. He said the coal company was the target of many protests because management did not try to negotiate for a Collective Bargaining Agreement. Roberts called the company anti-union and discussed why the miners were forced to return to work. He noted the UMWA invested about $35 million into the strike. Once the company succeeded in getting individuals back to work, Warrior Met unsuccessfully attempted to dismantle the union. This plan ended up backfiring on the employers who claimed no involvement, Roberts said. 

Roberts then spoke about silica dust, which has affected a large number of young miners, who have developed “black lung disease.” He explained how the dust is created by equipment that cuts through rock and puts silica dust into the air, which is then inhaled by the miners. When the dust is inhaled for an extended period through outdated safety equipment, workers get sick. He noted the only cure for “black lung” is a lung transplant. Sadly, he added that Congress has blocked the implementation of a new silica dust rule.

Finally, Roberts discussed the use of outdated protective equipment. He explained how the masks that miners wear put them at risk of suffocation and death due to multiple breathing hazards. Roberts urged the public to fight against a Congressional plan to end needed safety funding and introduce new bills to implement better health and safety measures for miners. The industry is in a decline because workers die from a disease they contract at the workplace, Roberts said. He added that coal companies need to make sure workers are not allowed to enter an area until silica dust is at safe levels.

For more updates on the UMWA and President Roberts, listen to the episode above.

Source: Herald-Standard

December 7, 2023

On Dec. 6, 1962, workers headed to the mine Robena No. 3 traveled there in bad, snowy weather.

“Little did they know their peril didn’t lie in their journey there but what would take place that fateful day,” said Ed Yankovich Jr., a member of United Mine Workers of American (UMWA) Local Union #1980.

An explosion near the mine’s Frosty Run Shaft, caused by an accumulation of methane gas and coal dust, killed 37 miners.

Wednesday marked 61 years since their deaths. Officials held a memorial service at the Robena Monument off Route 21, just west of the former Hatfield Power Plant.

At 18, Albert Bronakoski was the youngest miner who died in the explosion, a Penn State student studying to be a mining engineer — mining despite his father Adam, a superintendent of the Shannopin mine in Bobtown, forbidding it.

One of the oldest miners to die in the Greene County mine disaster was Alex Marra, a 62-year-old first-generation Italian immigrant who planned to retire the following spring.

Tragedies like the Robena Mine explosion, along with the Farmington, W. Va., mining disaster in 1968, led to the adoption of the Federal Coal Mine and Health and Safety Act of 1969.

“These men didn’t die in vain,” Yankovich said, adding that miners and other workers live today because of the lessons learned from disasters like Robena.

Chuck Knisell, the international vice president of UMWA District #2, said the sacrifices made 61 years ago have helped the workers of today.

“The folks that work at the Cumberland Mine — men and women who go to work at the Cumberland Mine every day — have it better because of what happened to these men,” Knisell said. “They died to make things better for us.”

Although conditions have improved since the disaster, UMWA International secretary/treasurer Brian Sanson said there’s still work to be done. He explained that today’s miners remain at risk and are still being diagnosed with black lung disease. Some of those who have been diagnosed with the condition, he said, are in their 40s.

Black lung is a disease caused by the long-term inhalation of coal dust in underground and surface coal mines. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the disease has caused or contributed to more than 76,000 deaths since 1968.

“Today, we have miners suffering,” Knisell said. “There are still safety standards that haven’t been met.”

The Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act included the Black Lung Benefits Act, which established health and safety standards to reduce miners’ exposure to coal dust and created a program to provide compensation and medical care to miners who are disabled because of the disease.

Last month, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey was in Fayette County to discuss the Black Lung Benefits Improvement Act of 2023, meant to streamline the process for miners who are applying for benefits.

“We have to make it a priority that we never forget and continue to fight for these safety protections,” Sanson said, urging unions to push the Mine Safety and Health Administration to protect coal miners.

Written by: Mark Hofman