Militant/Tamar Rosenfeld

July 24 picnic of UMWA Local 1332 from the McKinley mine near Window Rock, Arizona. Wilbur Willey, on back of pickup truck, welcomed Co-Op miners from Utah.

A delegation of Co-Op miners traveled from Huntington, Utah, to be part of the festivities. When the Co-Op miners—Celso Panduro, Jesus Leyba, Humberto Miranda, Bill Estrada, and Alyson Kennedy—arrived they were warmly greeted by the officers and members of the local.

As people lined up for food, Wilbur Willey, a member of UMWA Local 1332, got up on the back of a pickup truck and addressed the crowd. “We want to welcome our soon-to-be full-fledged union brothers, the Co-Op miners from Huntington, Utah,” he said. “They struck the Co-Op mine, a family-run business, for 10 months. How many of us can handle that? But we can do it if we have to. We use our miners’ rights. A lot of people wouldn’t be working here today if it weren’t for this great union. It’s the union that gives you a voice and it’s your voice that makes the union,” said Willey.

Local 1332 members noted that their contract with P&M expires Aug. 6, 2006. The local has waged four strikes. The last walkout, in the summer of 2000, defeated an attempt by P&M to institute 12-hour workdays.

The Co-Op miners set up a photo display of their 22-month battle to win UMWA representation. They said they have been holding picket lines at the Co-Op mine and invited everyone to a solidarity picnic in Huntington on August 27 (see box below).

The Utah miners also reported that C.W. Mining, the owner of the Co-Op mine, is the target of a lawsuit filed July 5 in Salt Lake City by Aquila Inc., a power plant operator based in Missouri. After firing many of its workers leading up to a union representation election last December, the Co-Op bosses have been unable to produce enough coal to fulfill their contract with this customer. Aquila is suing for damages after being forced to buy coal elsewhere at higher prices.

“If you take the full impact of that contract, not having that contract and having to replace it, it could be $10 million to $20 million per year impact on an ongoing basis,” Keith Stamm, Aquila’s chief executive officer, told the Megawatt Daily. The contract between the two companies runs from Jan. 1, 2004, to Dec. 31, 2008. C.W. Mining notified Aquila in April it was canceling the contract “due to union related workforce issues” at the Co-Op mine.

On Dec. 16, 2004, a union representation election was held at the Huntington mine. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has yet to announce the results of the vote. Nearly 40 miners, mostly Mexican immigrants, were fired a week before the vote. The company claimed the workers did not have proper work documents. The miners point out they had worked for years with the same documents and were dismissed just before the vote for UMWA representation. The union fight broke out Sept. 22, 2003, when the bosses locked out 75 miners after they protested the firing of one of their co-workers and demanded safe working conditions, livable wages, and dignity on the job. The workers turned the lockout into a strike, which lasted 10 months. They were reinstated in July 2004 after an agreement brokered by the NLRB, only to be fired again months later. The UMWA has challenged the firings, an issue also pending before the labor board.

Messages of support and contributions for their struggle can be sent to the Co-Op Miners Fund c/o UMWA District 22, 525 E. 100 S., Price, UT 84501. For more information call UMWA District 22 at (435) 637-2037.
 
 
Related articles:
Coal bosses in Utah rewrite 'defamation' lawsuit
Militant Fighting Fund gains support in Venezuela  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home