niedbala@observer-reporter.com
WAYNESBURG - At a rally held Wednesday to celebrate the annual coal miners' holiday, United Mine Workers of America President Cecil E. Roberts urged members to commit to the fight for the Employee Free Choice Act.
Speaking to more than 1,000 union members at the Greene County Fairgrounds, Roberts also said the union is committed to seeing that two new mines proposed to be built by Foundation Coal open as union mines.
The rally was held to celebrate "Mitchell Day," a union holiday honoring the union's fifth president, John Mitchell, who negotiated the first contract with an eight-hour workday.
A number of speakers took the stage, including Daniel Kane, UMW secretary/treasurer, and Nemacolin native Richard Trumka, former UMW president, now secretary/treasurer of the AFL-CIO.
Roberts spoke of the union's fight several years ago to ensure health benefits for its retired members. He asked that the same effort now be brought to bear to support the Employee Free Choice Act.
"Are you ready to lead the same fight to organize the unorganized?" Roberts asked. "Are you ready to tell every politician ... that this is the most important issue of our lifetime?"
The act would require the National Labor Relations Board to certify a union as the employees' bargaining representative without an election if a majority of the employees sign union membership cards.
It is opposed by those who say the lack of a secret ballot would take away freedom and democracy in the workplace.
With more than a hint of sarcasm, Roberts said he's sure corporate heads really worry every day about what goes on in the workplace. It's the union, he said, that ensures freedom and democracy by giving workers a voice.
Members in Congress now say there must be a compromise in regard to the act.
"I got news for them," Roberts said. "We do not intend to compromise one iota. We have been compromising for far too long."
Roberts said the union also refuses to compromise on other issues, including health care for everyone and safety in the mines. "We have compromised with our lives. We have compromised with our health. We do not intend to compromise any longer."
Roberts also spoke of the benefits of the act in terms of stimulating the economy.
"If you want to end poverty in the United States of America, put workers in a union," he said. "If you want to put money in the economy and drive up wages so people can buy cars and stoves and everything else, put them in a union and pay them union wages," he said.
A group of miners from Consol Energy's Fola Mine in Clay County, W.Va., also attended the rally and spoke of their efforts to organize a union and the need for the act.
Roberts, in addition, spoke of the union's strike against Foundation Coal two years ago when the company would not accept a union contract for its Emerald and Cumberland mines.
"You, the membership of the United Mine Workers, came right here," Roberts said, referring to a similar rally held at the fairgrounds then.
"You proclaimed on that day 'We won't back down; we won't turn around. There are no backward steps,'" he said. The effort led to the one of the best union contracts in America, Roberts said. But now Foundation proposes to open two new mines without the union.
"These (union) people make you more money than any of the coal mines you've got, and they're saying, 'I don't want to take you to another coal mine,'" he said.
"The stockholders have to realize the leadership of Foundation do not run a shuttle car or a continuous miner. There would not be one ounce of coal from out of these mines if it wasn't for the United Mine Workers of America."
Trumka also promised to stand with the Foundation Coal workers and, if necessary, bring every member of the AFL-CIO to Greene County to help.
"They want to take the profit that was generated by UMWA miners and use it to open up nonunion operations," he said. "One thing is certain. We cannot and will not let them take away from us any longer."
Company officials have said the company intends to open the two mines and then let the workers decide whether the mines will be union.