West Virginia Blue
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Thanks and congratulations to WV Governor Joe Manchin, who is one of 16 governors (so far) to sign a letter to U.S. Senate leaders in support of the Employee Free Choice Act.
Here's the text:
As governors, we ask for your support of the "Employee Free Choice Act," introduced by U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy and U.S. Representative George Miller. This legislation provides for recognition of a union when the majority of employees voluntarily sign authorizations, offers mediation and binding arbitration to resolve first contracts, and strengthens penalties for violations during organizing and first contract efforts.
The freedom to form and join unions is a fundamental human right protected by our constitutional freedom of association, our nation's labor laws, and international human rights laws, including the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is a right for which millions of Americans have struggled. The freedom to form unions is of special importance to the civil and women's rights movements because unions help ensure adequate wages, health care coverage and retirement security. It was the right to form a union that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was supporting during the Memphis sanitation strike when he was assassinated in 1968. Unions also help to reduce the wage gap for women and people of color, and can prevent arbitrary and discriminatory employer behavior. The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 has long allowed employers to recognize a union when the majority of workers sign authorization cards, designating the union as their bargaining agent. The right to form a union, however, has been eroded over the last several years, resulting in increasing employer harassment, discrimination, and sometimes termination for workers taking initial steps toward forming a union. Twenty-five percent of private-sector employers illegally fire at least one worker for union activity during organizing campaigns. Even where workers successfully form unions, employers often refuse to bargain fairly with the workers. Moreover, 92% of employers illegally force employees to attend mandatory, closed-door meetings against the union. The Employee Free Choice Act will protect workers from these abuses, provide for first contract mediation and arbitration, and establish meaningful penalties when employers violate workers rights.When workers try to form unions, all too often they are harassed, intimidated, and even fired for their support of the union. These attacks on workers' rights, for which there are only weak –if any --remedies, occur all too frequently among the most vulnerable workers of our society, including women, the working poor of all races, and recent immigrants. As a result, those workers who need unions the most are often those who have the least chance of achieving the benefits of unionization. We strongly urge you to support the Employee Free Choice, legislation that would begin to reinstate the right to form unions that Congress protected for Americas workers over 65 years ago.I’d say this is worth a “thank you” call or email to the Governor’s office.There’s more at The Goat Rope.
Thank you Sen. Byrd. Thank you Sen. Rockefeller. This is just one of many issues where you have won my heart-felt gratitude. Thank you for supporting this critical piece of legislation.
As recently as April 27th I posted a Diary about how Massey Energy pushed the envelope by intimidating coal miners at the Progress Coal Company that can be seen here.
In a story reported yesterday in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph by Mannix Porterfield we learn that the right of coal miners to organize continues to be abused here in Boone County, West Virginia at the Brody Mine.
Boone County, WV (from Wikipedia)
This story really hits home as to the lengths a company will go to to prevent collective bargaining in our state. The story can be seen here.
BECKLEY, W.Va. - A union election at Peabody Energy's Brody Mine in Boone County was frozen Wednesday by the National Labor Relations Board amid formal complaints by the United Mine Workers of America the mine owner violated federal organizing statutes.
Gary Muffley, the NLRB's region 9 director, said the election would be "canceled pending investigation of the unfair labor practice charge."
Federal labor law violations were alleged this week by the UMWA in its organizing effort at a contractor operating the Brody Mine.
"The actions of the company in this election crossed the line, even in the eyes of the NLRB," UMWA President Cecil Roberts said in a statement from his office.
Roberts interpreted the agency's speedy response to his complaint that "there is evidence that the company so polluted the election process at this mine that it will be impossible to hold a free and fair election at this time."
The story goes on to detail the absolutely ridiculous lengths that the Peabody Mine Company went to in violating the law and abusing the rights of coal miners.
In his complaint, Roberts accused the firm of instigating violence and other illegal acts in a "plot" to make the union look responsible.
"At least one worker has been used by the company as a plant within our organizing campaign," the union leader said.
"He later `renounced' his support for the union after he was fired for sleeping on the job and made false and misleading statements about the union."
Last week, Roberts said, the same unidentified employee threatened union members, staff and their spouses outside a Beckley hotel to trigger a response while "a `union avoidance lawyer' was hiding in the darkness of the hotel parking lot with a video camera."
Police were called and a confrontation never occurred, Roberts said.
It is interesting to contrast this to the diary by Clem Guttata yesterday regarding unions in Pennsylvania and how well they are doing..
There is no doubt in my mind that the abuses listed above will continue until the Employee Free Choice Act is passed by Congress, and we have a President in office that will not veto the legislation.
Click on There's More for more of my thoughts on the plight of unions in West Virginia.
Unions in the United States and West Virginia are continuing to lose ground as can be seen in this article from Forbes Magazine and the Associated Press here.
Miners at a Massey Energy Co. subsidiary have rejected an attempt to unionize a West Virginia mine, the company said Thursday.
Miners at Massey's Progress Coal Co. voted 180-110 not to be represented by the United Mine Workers of America. The National Labor Relations Board conducted a secret ballot on Wednesday.
"We appreciate the confidence these members have in their company and are pleased our members can now put this event behind them and focus on what they do best - safely mining coal," said Don L. Blankenship, chairman, chief executive officer and president.
The Richmond, Va.-based Massey is a largely nonunion company. The union filed a petition with the NLRB on March 7 to represent workers at the Progress mine near Twilight in Boone County.
Union spokesman Phil Smith said the UMW sought the election after a majority of the mine's employees "signed cards indicating that they wanted a union."
"This election had little to do with actual workplace democracy and workers having a free voice to express their will about whether or not they wanted union representation," Smith said. "It had everything to do with a vicious campaign of fear and intimidation on the part of the company, which is precisely what the Employee Free Choice Act will eliminate."
The law would take away the right of employers to demand secret-ballot elections by workers before unions could be recognized.
The House and the Senate need to pass the Employee Free Choice Act to help bring back rights for workers and more importantly to let companies know that they can't continue to downgrade the quality of life for Americans. Blankenship will be doing all he can to stop the Free Choice Act. As we all know if the Free Choice Act passes that Bushie will veto it. We need to show our representatives in Washington that we support this act and even more to insure that a Democratic President is elected in November of next year so that we won't have to contend with more anti-americans vetoes from PResident Bush.
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