The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.62/No.24           June 22, 1998 
 
 
UMWA Officials Assault Protesting Union Members  

BY DAVE WELTERS AND CHRIS REMPLE
WASHINGTON, Pennsylvania - Local 1197 of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) faces the prospect of being placed under "trusteeship" and three of its members being disciplined by the union's International Executive Board in relation to an April 1 protest by union members in Bentleyville, Pennsylvania.

On April 1, a protest by UMWA members at the union's annual Mitchell Day celebration was attacked by UMWA officials. Several coal miners were punched, knocked to the ground, and kicked. One miner, Rich Cicci, required nine stitches to close a wound to his ear where he was struck by a board. The miners were protesting forced overtime and use of money from the union's strike fund for non-strike related purposes.

Ed Bell, a miner who works at the McElroy mine in northern West Virginia, testified at a preliminary court hearing on charges against five union officials that he was one of 10 to 20 miners who met beforehand to draw up an agenda of their concerns.

"We planned the protest as a forum and to express dissatisfaction with the union policies," Bell said. He did not agree that the protest was disruptive. "I see it as democracy in action," he stated.

At the hearing, Cicci said they organized a protest because Mitchell Day "celebrates the eight-hour day. We were protesting that we don't have the eight hour day." In an interview, he explained that miners at the 84 Mine, where he is employed, work six days a week. Production crews work nine-and-a-half or 10-hour days, and the company has recently begun working long-wall mining crews in 12-hour shifts on weekends.

The flyer distributed at the protest included other issues miners felt should have been addressed in the recent contract settlement with the Bituminous Coal Operators Association. The five-year agreement provides for three raises totaling one dollar. "We've had nine years of raises in 15 years," the miners said in the flyer. "We'll be further behind at the end of this contract." Cicci said miners' take-home pay is the same as it was in 1983, after deductions for the increased Social Security deductions and for the strike fund assessment.

He told the Militant that miners have different views on the strike fund. Some want it eliminated; others want tighter restrictions on how the money can be used. Miner Jim DeBarer said the strike fund was set up to help miners survive a strike. "What we're opposed to is the use of the strike fund beyond what it was originally intended to do."

Bell said many miners were upset about paying 1 percent of their salaries into a strike fund when there hasn't been a strike in years.

Several miners said pensions should have been improved. "What happened to `30 [years] and out' like workers in other industries have?" Cicci asked. "Instead of dropping the 75- cent-per-ton royalty for pensions, why not raise the pension?" DeBarer said the new provision, which offers a modest pension to miners with 20 years service if they get laid off, puts miners in a bind because they also lose medical benefits after one year until they reach age 55.

The Mitchell Day event is an annual celebration named after John Mitchell, who was president of the union at the turn of the century when miners won the eight-hour workday. UMWA president Cecil Roberts and AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer Richard Trumka were speakers at this year's event.

The morning of April 1, some 30-40 miners assembled outside the Bentleyville social hall with signs and leaflets that explained their concerns. Another group led by union officials started arguing with them and then charged the protesting miners, ripping up their signs and beating several people.

James Gibbs, a director of organizing for the international union, led the assault. Rich Cicci testified at a court hearing May 27 that Gibbs "charged Russ Walker, hit him with his forearm, flipped him over on his back, reached down and grabbed his stick and ripped off his sign." Gibbs was "swinging at him when he was down on the ground," and "struck him five or six times when he was trying to get up." Cicci and several others testified to seeing the union officials kicking Walker and Glen McClure, another miner at the protest, after they had been punched and knocked to the ground.

The confrontation lasted only a couple minutes, but 75-100 state troopers, county deputies, and local police descended on Bentleyville's main street. UMWA international representative Clemmy Allen was charged with disorderly conduct. Later, charges were brought against international representatives James Gibbs, Donnie Samms, Martin Hudson, and Jerry Kerns Sr., and Jerry Kerns Jr. The most serious charges were against Gibbs: simple assault, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, harassment, disorderly conduct, criminal conspiracy, disrupting a meeting, and rioting.

After the assault, union president Roberts entered the hall for the meeting, surrounded by police and bodyguards. He said the miners who were opposed to the new contract will be used as "poster boys for nonunion coal companies." Trumka and Roberts were repeatedly booed by about half the crowd of 400. On April 16, Roberts convened a panel made up of three international UMWA officials to investigate the incident. In early June the panel recommended filing disciplinary charges against Cicci, Segedi, and a third Local 1197 member, Ronald Martos, and placing the local in a "limited trusteeship" for "not operating effectively."

Meanwhile, at the May 27 court hearing, union lawyers argued that charges against the five UMWA officials should be dropped except the charge of simple assault against Gibbs, claiming insufficient evidence and lack of serious injury. They tried to establish that miners had been drinking before the protest and had used racial slurs against Gibbs, who is Black, and that miners had organized to disrupt the meeting and were equally responsible for the violence.

The miners who testified, however, contradicted these claims. Besides assaulting Cicci, Walker, and McClure, the officials punched Mark Segedi, a safety committeeman from Local 1197. Ed Bell was also knocked to the ground and kicked. Butch Patterson, a miner from Local 1197 who is Black, refuted the accusation that miners made racist comments. "I heard no racial slurs - at that time, that day, all day," he stated. No miners gave any evidence of racial slurs or of drinking before the protest.

The judge dismissed all charges except harassment against Hudson, Samms and Kerns Sr., and the charge of simple assault against Kerns Jr. Gibbs, however, will stand trial on charges of aggravated assault, harassment, and reckless endangerment. Allen's case will be handled separately.

McClure said, "The UMWA leadership is not running the union for the rank and file. Miners need to have access to knowledge" about how the union is run, he said.

Cicci said that this year, "miners didn't have enough time to look over the contract before voting on it. The agreement was reached on Friday, they had a presentation on the highlights on Sunday, and voted on Tuesday. What was the big hurry ?" He said the agreement was reached eight months before the old contract expired.

"We lost a prime opportunity to get a good contract," Cicci said. "The economy is good. There's $100 million in the strike fund. But they want to use that to fight the global warming treaty," he said, referring to a recent international treaty that places limits on emissions from carbon-based fuels. The UMWA officials are trying to get miners to see the fight for jobs as a joint effort with the coal companies to defeat the treaty.

"We were up for a fight," Cicci said, referring to preparations for the new contract. "But they [top union officials] didn't give us any way to do it. So we had to make our own way."

Dave Welters is a member of International Association of Machinists Local 1976 and Chris Remple is a member of the United Steelworkers of America in Pittsburgh.  
 
 
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