Blankenship, Massey Deny Time off For Miners to Attend Funerals

by: ccorra12

Fri Apr 23, 2010 at 00:31:42 AM EDT

This comes from ThinkProgress.  This is about the worst thing you could read.  What kind of pure scum would even go this far?  It is one thing for the previous events to occur, you'd think that there would be some soul left in Blankenship and Massey to allow the poor miners time to grieve and attend the funerals of their families and friends.

Massey Energy, the Virginia-based coal giant that runs the Upper Big Branch Mine, has denied time off for miners to attend their friends' funerals; has rejected makeshift memorials outside the mine site; and, in at least one case, required a worker to go on shift even though the fate of a relative - one of the victims of the April 5 disaster - remained unknown at the time, according to some family members and other sources familiar with those episodes. In short, the company might be taking heat for putting profits and efficiency above its workers, but it doesn't appear to have changed its tune in the wake of the worst mining tragedy in 40 years.

Rejecting makeshift memorials?  This isn't a concentration camp, this is a place of employment.  It sad that the miners who lost their lives cannot even be commemorated by their fellow miners.  Not even allowing someone time off to attend the funeral of a relative is cruel and unjust.  

Somedays I wonder if those who make these decisions can even feel human emotion...