Vol. 71/No. 46      December 10, 2007

Howard Harris, 54, was caught in a conveyor belt at a mine owned by United Coal. Charles Kenney, 34, was pinned by a dislodged rock at a Long Branch Energy Corp. mine. That raised to 29 the number of coal miners killed at work in U.S. mines so far this year.

Two weeks later, a U.S. Labor Department report exposed the fact, not surprising to workers, that the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), has routinely failed to carry out required inspections of mines and falsely inflated its enforcement record. On top of that, the fines are so small that bosses can get away with their murderous neglect year after year.

These facts underscore the reality facing coal miners, and millions of other workers today—the bosses’ brutal “productivity” drive. The findings in the latest report offer further confirmation that the high death toll in mining is due neither to “acts of God” nor to “the nature of the industry,” as the bosses and their apologists claim. It is caused by the accelerating drive for profits by the wealthy owners, who want to produce as much coal as they can in the shortest time possible. Ensuring proper roof support, dust control, and other safety requirements are just irritations that get in the way of making money as far as the bosses are concerned.

MSHA and the rest of the capitalist government are complicit in covering up for the employers’ wanton disregard for life and limb. Faulty MSHA inspections were discovered at numerous mines where fatal disasters occurred recently, including Crandall Canyon in Utah, Darby in Kentucky, and Aracoma Alma No. 1 and Sago in West Virginia.

Miners have seen from bitter experience that they cannot depend on MSHA—or, for that matter, any other government agency, court, or capitalist politician—to enforce safety conditions. The only force that has the interest and the power to do that is the organized miners themselves.

There is only one way to effectively protect workers’ lives and well-being. We need to organize unions wherever they don’t exist. Where we have a union, we must use our collective power on the job when safety is threatened. Labor’s watchword must be: No miner has to die!
 
 
Related articles:
Report: safety agency failed to inspect 107 coal mines  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home