Murder in coal mine

The new year was marred by tragedy for the families of 13 West Virginia coal miners. On Jan. 2 an explosion trapped 13 workers underground in a mine in Sago, W.Va. One worker was killed instantly by the explosion. Twelve others attempted to shield themselves from the carbon monoxide by securing themselves behind a sheet of fabric.

Above, David Lewis killed in disaster. Below, his wife, Samantha Lewis reads a statement.

Poor communications coupled with a lack of regard for the feelings of the miners’ friends and families led company officials to prematurely declare that all twelve miners had survived. The tight-knit community’s roller-coaster ride was about to get rockier as it was later communicated that only one coal miner made it out in critical condition. Eleven others died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Community members expressed outrage at the false report of the miners’ survival. Comments by Danielle Bennett, granddaughter of a deceased coal miner, are indicative of the hurt and confusion caused by the report - “I came down from Elkins to see my granddaddy,” she said, “and now I find out my granddaddy is dead.”

Government & bosses knew:
Sago mine not safe for workers

The Sago mine was non-union in a county where the main employers are Wal-Mart and the school system. Starting pay of $15 to $20 an hour made jobs at the mine attractive despite a history of unsafe working conditions.

The mine received 208 citations from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration in 2005. Citations included reprimands for excessive accumulation of inflammable materials such as coal dust. According to the AFL-CIO the mine only paid out $24,000 in fines despite the disproportionate number of violations. The company’s disregard for the health and safety of its workers resulted in the tragic loss of life in Sago.

United Mine Workers’ president Cecil Roberts called for a state and federal investigation into the events surrounding the explosion and subsequent misreport that the miners had survived. Earl Casto, a former miner and cousin of one of the victims, said angrily, “If it’d been a union mine this never would have happened”.

The mine is owned by the International Coal Group, which in turn is controlled by Wilbur Ross, a “distressed investor” and major contributor to the Democratic Party. Ross’ other investments include the takeover of bankrupt Bethlehem and Weirton Steel. Distressed investing is the practice of buying financially troubled firms and forcing concessions upon employees in an attempt to make the company more valuable to shareholders. Such extreme cost-saving measures can result in cutting corners on training and safety practices and can lead to disaster.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration is promising a vigorous and impartial investigation. But it remains to be seen just how impartial such an investigation can be. The power that King Coal still wields over politicians is evident in the lax record of regulation.

The Bush administration’s primary contribution to improving the working condition of coal miners has been to appoint energy industry hacks to political positions. Federal officials insist that the mine was appropriately regulated even as the administration proposes $4.9 million in budget cuts from the mine safety agency. The agency’s ability to fulfill its mandate has been further weakened by the attrition of 170 employees over the last five years.

The government may pretend to try to find out who is responsible for the miners’ deaths, but the people of Sago are already fully aware who the guilty parties are. When word spread that only one miner had in fact survived, community members gathered at a local church reportedly yelled out that company officials were liars and hypocrites. Some workers vowed to return home to arm themselves and exact justice against company officials.

The state’s response to this crime against workers was not to mobilize the necessary forces to carry out a rescue operation or to arrest the corporate and government officials responsible for the killings. Instead extra police reinforcements were sent to occupy the town and intimidate the anguished families.

History of struggle

The town of Sago is a post-boom Appalachian mining hamlet where many of the workers are second- and third-generation coal miners. Mili tant struggles with mine management and the police and government officials guilty of corporate collusion are nothing new to these workers. It has been a way of life in the region since the bloody West Virginia Coal Mine Wars of 1912-1921.

In fact the worst coal-mine disaster in U.S. history took place in 1907 at Mon ongah, W.Va. when 362 workers lost their lives in an explosion. A subsequent disaster over half a century later at Farmington, W.Va. claimed the lives of 78 workers. That disaster, and the struggle launched in its aftermath, compelled Congress to enact the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969.

Government and corporate collusion resulted in the regulatory inaction that allowed a mine with a string of violations involving poor ventilation, inoperable machinery, and combustible materials like coal dust to operate and risk the lives of its workers despite the 1969 Act.

Capitalism Indicted

As a result of this criminal negligence, twelve working class martyrs joined the ranks of their 100,000 coalmining brothers and sisters who have been killed since 1900.

The Sago tragedy, much like the Hurricane Katrina disaster and the illegal occupations of Iraq and Afghan istan, has provided a harrowing indictment of modern global capitalism. Barbaric cruelty and indifference to human life are the hallmark features of this system.

But the response by the suffering workers and oppressed people affected by all three of these crimes presages the inevitable coming struggle for liberation as Katrina survivors organize them selves and take the fight to the doorsteps of government officials, an heroic Iraqi resistance deals daily blows to U.S. and British imperialist occupation and Appalachian coal miners issue calls to arm themselves.