BY PAUL MAILHOT
SALT LAKE CITYSupporters of the Militant Fighting Fund here raised their goal for the second time to $1,400 after several new contributions came in this week. At a meeting with United Steelworkers Local 8-578 in Bountiful, Utah, which represents oil refinery workers, organizers of the fund were given time to explain the latest developments in the fight against the C.W. Mining lawsuit.
After some questions about the suit and a discussion of what the local could do to help the Co-Op miners, one of the union officers proposed donating another $100 to the defense campaign. The hat was also passed and another $135 was chipped in. Margaret Battin, a professor of philosophy at the University of Utah here, also endorsed the defense campaign and made a contribution. Six University of Utah professors have already endorsed and contributed to the fund.
With a little more than one week to go, the Militant Fighting Fund campaign stands at $42,000 collected out of a goal of $60,000. A special effort is needed this week by all defenders of the Militant to collect the pledges and send them by the August 15 deadline. All contributions that arrive at the Salt Lake City post office box by 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, August 17 will be counted toward the goal and reported in that week's issue of the Militant.
Funds are urgently needed now as the attorneys for the Militant prepare to submit a new legal response to the rewritten lawsuit filed by C.W. Mining. Preparations will then begin for the next hearing, which will take up the motions by the three defendant newspapersthe Militant, Salt Lake Tribune, and Deseret Morning Newsto dismiss this harassment suit.
Joyce Fairchild from the United Kingdom wrote that she and Jim Spaul participated in the Durham coal miners gala, a national meeting and march of trade union solidarity organized by the National Union of Mineworkers, and secured the following individual endorsements for the Militant Fighting Fund: Rick Sumner, convenor of the National Justice for Mineworkers campaign; Kevin Kelly, national vice president of the Public and Commercial Services Union; and Ken Capstick, former chairman of Yorkshires National Union of Mineworkers.
View the Militant Fighting Fund chart