A coal-fired power plant. (Photo credit: Public Domain Photos)
The Cleveland Plain Dealer has a story of how one group of workers lost out when Republican nominee for president Mitt Romney came to town for a routine campaign stop.
On August 14th, Romney visited the Century Mine near Beallsville, Ohio to “promote jobs” in the coal industry. For “safety and security” reasons, the mine was shut down during the candidate’s visit. Several coal workers employed by Murray Energy, which operates the mine, told local radio host Gary Blomquist that they were intimidated into appearing at the Romney event:
Blomquist said that he got multiple emails and phone calls from Murray Energy workers who felt that they were intimidated into attending Romney’s appearance. He said employees were told they’d have to forfeit the day’s pay unless they could make up their missed hoursAi??on overtime or weekends.
“If they shut the mine down, why should they lose a day’s pay? There are some guys that just want to go to work, feed their family and go home,” said Blomquist.
Ironically, Romney used the event to appeal to the coal lobby, blasting the supposed “war on coal.” If the details relayed by the workers at the mine are correct, it seems that these particular coal miners would’ve been better off had Romney never visited.
Coal is a dirty industry in many more ways than one. Everyone can see the clouds of smoke and soot, carbons and chemicals rising into the atmosphere. Equally dirty has been coal companies’ treatments of employees for decades. Losing a day’s pay by workers is merely the last dirty trick. Watch Hazard County, U.S.A. (a documentary) to actually see how miners are forced to live or read about Blair Mountain, the bloodiest battle between company thugs, the U.S. army, and striking miners. My father was pulled out of school when he was ten and sent to work in coal mines; later he developed emphysema and lung cancer. We should cease using coal NOT ONLY TO SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT, but also to end the miseries of those people who work for these dirty coal companies!
Coal. I remember playing in the dirt in front of our house in Denver. This was seventy-odd years ago, and I and my playmate would be black with the coal residue from both ash and delivery. I remember my mothers anger with the coal dust on her damp laundry if the wind picked up before she could save it and get it back into the house to rewash. I remember my dad saying that coal clinkers were the only thing that would stay in holes in the driveway by the house. Now it seems such an innocent time when compared to mountains reduced to valleys just to get at the coal. Of men dying from breathing the dust. Of water contaminated beyond the point of use. Of air redolent with enough residue to kill. Of areas “reclaimed” with plantings of foliage not native to an area that cannot grow because there is no “nutriant-alive” soil for them to grow in anyway. Now there’s oil being sucked out of the earth and if a well gives out ‘let’s see if we can’t wash out more and if that’s insufficient let’s pulverize the rock. What possible difference can it make if contaminated ground water seeps into pristeen aquifers. I don’t think that we’re innocent anymore. Neither are we honorable in how we treat each other, especially if some of us have only their own interests at heart and others are willing to sell their souls”.
Puzzled about your complaint, I am to understand you do not agree and support Mittens? you are all anti-union, therefore your complaints useless!!