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After 29 workers died at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia, talkshow host Rush Limbaugh (4/9/10) fingered the culprit: the miners' union. "Where was the union?" he asked. "The union is generally holding these companies up demanding all kinds of safety. Why were these miners continuing to work in what apparently was an unsafe atmosphere?" As it turned out, the mine, owned by notorious union-buster Massey Energy, didn't have a union. Alerted to his inaccuracy, Limbaugh (4/15/10) doubled down, saying that 85 union coal miners won a decision against Massey and were re-hired. "So there were union workers there, and so the United Mine Workers should have been overseeing their safety.... You people, it's been 21 years. At some point you are going to learn: If you go up against me on a challenge of fact, you are going to be wrong. It's just that simple." What's even simpler? Disproving him: Those workers he's talking about are from an entirely different mine owned by Massey--which has appealed the ruling, so even those workers aren't back on the job yet (AFL-CIO Blog, 4/16/10).
As noted earlier this year, the fact that Massey's mines are non-union is common knowledge in West Virginia. You really have to wonder what the thought process is like in a local conservative's head, when they hear Rush spew something they know is blatantly false and they have to come up with a justification to continue to believe his every word as gospel.
JOE MANCHIN IS ON OUR SIDE
Joe Manchin has been on the side of working families as governor and will continue
as U.S. senator. He respected and defended working West Virginians when a campaign
ad for John Raese was filmed out of state with actors told to look "hicky."
• With Manchin as governor, 23,000 new jobs have been created in West Virginia and
billions of dollars have been invested by business to keep our economy growing.
(Charleston Daily Mail, 1/20/09)
• Manchin signed legislation to increase the minimum wage, giving working families
a much-needed raise. (The State Journal, 4/4/06; H.B. 4023, 2006)
• Manchin believes in improving workplace safety. He says, "While our work to make
our mines safer continues, we must also carry those lessons to the rest of our
manufacturing industries, to help make all our industrial workplaces safer." (State
of the State address, 2/11/09)
WE CAN'T AFFORD JOHN RAESE
John Raese wants to put decisions about the minimum wage and workplace safety in the
hands of corporations. He has not apologized for the campaign ad that was shot out
of state with actors told to look "hicky."
• Raese opposed the Recovery Act that created 3,565 new jobs in our state and
helped avert layoffs of public employees. (www.recovery.gov, accessed 9/22/10;
Charleston Daily Mail, 9/20/10)
• Raese has called for ending the minimum wage, calling it "an archaic system that
frankly has not worked." (Charleston Daily Mail, 9/20/10)
• Raese says he wants to "unshackle" management at coal mines from safety
regulations. (Candidate website, accessed 9/22/10)
Check the facts on the candidates for U.S. Senate. Then you decide. And whatever you
decide, make solid plans to vote and forward this message to at least five friends
to make sure they vote, too.
(Bumped. You can tell how effective this ad with real West Virginian firefighters and not paid Philadelphia actors hurts the Raese campaign by how much the Raese people are whining about it. - promoted by Carnacki)
Real West Virginian firefighters and not Philadelphia actors talk about why they support Joe Manchin for Senate over Florida Republican John Raese.
Manchin would be better off with commercials like this from the IAFF than with the one he aired with the rifle.
This is a horribly misguided effort to "Draft Joe."
Top West Virginia labor and business leaders are calling on Gov. Joe Manchin - who local Democrats say is highly interested in running for Senate - to reverse course and appoint himself to the seat held by the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.).
"We just strongly believe that he's the right person and we would certainly encourage him to reconsider that decision and in fact appoint himself," said Larry Matheney, the secretary and treasurer of the West Virginia AFL-CIO.
For one thing, they're forgetting the not-so-trivial detail that the Gov. cannot appointment himself. He'd have to make a dubious moral bargain with the designated Gov. successor whereby Manchin agreed to elevate someone else to Gov. in exchange for them naming him a US Senator.
That's a mighty big bite of a poisoned fruit for them both to begin new offices with.
If Manchin turns out to be the next Dem. party candidate for Senator, I would vote for him over any WVa Republican alternative I've ever seen, but I think this whole idea of back-room maneuvering to be interim successor just plain stinks.
This post from Leo W. Gerard, international president of the United Steelworkers and by Cecil Roberts, international president of the United Mine Workers of America, is well worth reading in its entirety:
But in the midst of the Great Recession caused by Wall Street recklessness, America has repeatedly delayed renewal of unemployment benefits and now is terminating federal health insurance support for the furloughed middle class.
Middle class workers are the ones who die in coal mines and on oil rigs.
Afterwards, CEOs say anything to save the bottom line - the one that will determine their bonuses.
Discussing the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, Massey CEO Don Blankenship told stock analysts in a conference call late in April:
"Some of the implications have been that we don't focus on safety or we put dollars in front of safety and nothing could be further from the truth."
Though the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) issued 1,342 safety violation notices to Upper Big Branch over the past five years, Blankenship explained that's just life in the coal business:
"Violations are unfortunately a normal part of the mining process."
Despite the fact Blankenship claims safety violations are a "normal part of the mining process" he is now trying to shift blame on to federal regulators.
Until recently Lori Rea, the Democratic challenger to incumbent Del. John Doyle in the 57th District, was a Republican.
She switched to the Democratic Party in July 2009 when she decided to run against Doyle, a long-time Democratic incumbent.
I've nothing against Republicans switching to the Democratic Party. Richie Robb in South Charleston and blogger John Cole at Balloon Juice are two examples of former Republicans who are now fine Democrats.
But in her positions as stated in the Observer, Rea doesn't sound like she's strayed very far from the Republican Party since leaving it.
For instance, she wants tort reform because of "frivolous lawsuits," a frequently raised issue by Republicans in this state. I'd like anyone with a complaint that there are too many "frivolous lawsuits" filed in this state to name just 10 over the past 10 years. I'll spot you one: Don Blankenship's lawsuit against his maid for screwing up his McDonald's order was definitely a frivolous lawsuit. Now I'd like to hear of just nine others. If there's sooooo many, this should be an easy task. Lawsuits are public documents, easily accessible. 10 9 examples please.
But then there was this from Rea:
Collective Bargaining. I am opposed to collective bargaining (emphasis mine) for public employees because I believe it would lead to:
• Increased costs for state government to administer such a system resulting in significant tax increases.
• A decrease in the effectiveness of the associated agencies to carry out their mission effectively.
• Increased opportunity for service disruption to the citizens.
• The development of policy by professional arbitrators unfamiliar with our area.
Our state would be forced to develop a sophisticated labor relations bureaucracy.
The real question is: Would the taxpayers get anything more for their money?
Many successful companies have union workforces which benefits the workers and the employers by having stronger, more effective workers. What would be next? Would she oppose collective bargaining for the private sector too for the same reasons, arguing that collective bargaining hurts the state's economic viability?
The Democratic Party is a big tent. But there is more to changing party affiliation. It's embracing some of the basic ideas of the Democrats and shedding the old worn out Republican talking points.
But I have no clue what to make of this about her voting record showing she had not voted in any primary elections since moving to West Virginia in 2000:
In an e-mail to the Chronicle, Rea writes that "when I was a younger voter, in Maryland, I invested emotionally in candidates early on, [in the primary] only to have them lose that first race." Rea says that she discovered that she had a difficult time aligning herself with the remaining candidates because they were not her candidates.
"I felt disenfranchised from the remainder of the election. In reaction to that, I adopted a practice of avoiding that mistake by allowing the other voters to choose the two opponents and then investing in the one I was most aligned with Hence, my general non-participation in primary races," writes Rea.
She's asking people to vote for her in a primary even though her own personal policy in recent years was to not vote in primaries!
Granted, she said she did like President Obama in the 2008 race and would have voted for him in the primary if a clerical error had not prevented her from changing her party affiliation at the time. But she left the Democratic Party when she lived in Maryland because she was "disenchanted" by President Bill Clinton.
Rea would not say show she voted for in 2000 and 2004 citing privacy reasons though those same privacy issues did not stop her from saying she supported Obama in 2008.
I welcome any new Democrats in to the tent, but please leave the worst ideas of the GOP behind when you come in.
"Oh Say, did you see him; it was early this morning.
He passed by your houses on his way to the coal.
He was tall, he was slender, and his dark eyes so tender
His occupation was mining, West Virginia his home
It was just before noon, I was feeding the children,
Ben Moseley came running to give us the news.
Number eight was all flooded, many men were in danger
And we don't know their number, but we fear they're all doomed"
- Jean Ritchie
Coal mining is dangerous business and the people of the Appalachian Coalfields, from Tennessee to West Virginia to Pennsylvania, have come to expect disasters out of the mining industry. Mining is a job that's full of risks and packed with hard work. Miners have come to be proud of the work that they do which truly has had a great role in powering the United States for more than the last century. It's been work that's populated Appalachia with amazing people but has kicked up a lot of coal dust in the process all over our great state of West Virginia.
After 9/11, where I was less than 10 miles from the Pentagon and remember hearing fighter jets & helicopters flying over my house throughout that tense night. I never thought I would feel that tragic emotion that brought anger, anticipation, fear, mourning, and pride together into one horrendous stomach ache again. Then came the disaster at Massey's Upper Big Branch Mine.
I could not work all week. I could not stop refreshing the WSAZ news page and the Coal Tattoo Blog for updates. I could not get my mind off the basic question of whether there is good in the world where 29 hardworking men are killed because of Massey Energy's disregard for miner safety. I could not get off the phone talking with students I work with and my own family members who were grieving like I was for these men and holding out hope that the four "missing miners" would be found alive. They were not. And we continued to mourn through the weekend.
Good afternoon, West Virginia Blue, readers. This is your afternoon open thread to discuss all things Hill-related. Use this thread to praise or bash Congresscritters, share a juicy tip, ask questions, offer critiques and suggestions, or post your manifesto.
This is an open source project, so feel free to add your own insights. Here's the news I found lurking around the Internets, possibly West Virginia news that is not basketball related ...
On June 25th, 2009, Health Care for America Now put on a huge rally in Washington, DC, Health Care '09-Health Care Can't Wait. Over 10,000 people from all across America attended to show support for the public health insurance plan known as the Public Option. Sorry folks, Oprah was a no show.
Over 200 people from West Virginia attended, including folks from the Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO, WV Citizen Action Group,WV National Association of Social Workers, WV Nurses Association, religious organizations, social activists, and even Del. Dale Martin joined in on the fun.
Actress Edie Falco of "The Sopranos" and "Nurse Jackie" fame and former Vermont governor Dr. Howard Dean addressed the crowd. People lacking health care or being victimized by the health insurance industry spoke as well, giving people a glimpse into their real life health care nightmares.
The whole point of the rally was to raise public sentiment towards the Public Option in health care reform through the media. However, on that day, two horrific things happened: the King of Pop and one of Charlie's Angels died. Needless to write, the health care rally didn't get as much attention as the two pop icons' deaths did. Not that we're mad or anything.
After the rally, folks met with their Congressional reps. West Virginians met with reps from Rahall and Mollohan's offices (both were busy), plus were given an audience with Sen. Rockefeller.
The Public Option was pushed big time by unions and organizations all across the state. Rallies and town halls (with some booing from our FOX News loving Tea Party friends)were held with great success, despite what negative stories some media outlets ran. WV-CAG, along with its State HCAN coalition partners, petitioned for the Public Option as well, collecting thousands of signatures.
Right now America has the chance to pass serious reforms in health care. The Public Option might be dead at the moment, but it may very well pop back up after this legislation passes, or even better, Single Payer (Medicare for All) might become the new IT-word in health care reform. Who knows?
It is important West Virginians contact their House reps ASAP and tell them to support the current health care legislation before them.
Sen. Rockefeller Addresses West Virginia Constituents
After extensive deliberation the AFL-CIO Executive Council, with my strong support and recommendation, agreed this afternoon to support and fight to pass the president's health care reform bill.
This was not a decision we made casually because we know this bill is not perfect. But it is the best opportunity we have had in decades to begin fixing America's broken health care system.
If you need proof this bill is worth fighting for, look no further than the swarm of insurance company lobbyists all over Capitol Hill trying to stop it!
Today I'm asking you to join us and do everything you can to help pass this bill. Call your representative now: 1-877-3-AFLCIO and tell your representative to support the health care bill before Congress.
Together we have fought to improve this bill every day for more than a year, and our actions made it far better. The president's health care reform bill will:
* Immediately stop the worst greed-driven insurance company abuses-like denying care because of pre-existing conditions;
* Toughen penalties on employers that try to run from their responsibilities;
* Put the burden of paying for health care where it belongs-on the wealthy; and
* Get life-saving health coverage to 30 million more people.
This is our moment. We can't miss this opportunity. The long-term health security that will result from this bill is the most important thing we can do for our future-for our children and their children.
Today I'm asking you to do everything you can to help pass this bill.
Call your representative today: 1-877-3-AFLCIO, and tell your representative: Pass heath care reform.
Join me as the labor movement helps make history again.
In case you're having any problems getting through to DC (using the 877 number above or the handy calling tool advertised in our side bar) here's the numbers for the regional WV offices, too.
Rep. Nick Rahall
Beckley Office
301 Prince St.,
Beckley, WV 25801
(304) 252-5000
From an email, TD has information on an event in Morgantown next week that looks quite interesting:
On Wednesday, March 24th @ Noon, in the Davis Gallery, at the West Virginia University College of Law, the Democratic Law Caucus and the WVU Labor Law Society will be hosting an event to discuss the Battle of Blair Mountain, its importance in history, and the current state of the battle to get it placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Dr. Barbara Rasmussen, one of the lead historians regarding the Battle of Blair Mountain, will be speaking.
Food and refreshments will be provided courtesy of the Democratic Law Caucus.
Please come learn about one of the most important pieces of Labor & West Virginia History.
There's been a lot of accusations regarding the listing and delisting of Blair Mountain to the National Register of Historic Places. If you attend, let us know what Dr. Rasmussen's take on the controversy is.
- An appeal is being filed by the West Virginia Labor History Association over the removal of Blair Mountain from the National Register of Historic Places.
- The Times Herald-Record, of New York's Hudson River Valley, profiled Mat Louis-Rosenberg of Coal River Mountain Watch.
"Mountaintop removal is the worst manmade catastrophe in the nation's history," he said. "It's also an economic catastrophe for West Virginia. The coal industry, while promising prosperity to the state, has devastated communities across the state."
Blankenship was feeling shy:
Blankenship declined comment on the "Rolling Stone" article and on accusations of violating the Clean Water Act. He also declined comment on accusations that mountaintop mining affects the health of the Appalachian people.
- When Don's feeling more talkative, he often says mountaintop removal is necessary to ward off competition from overseas. He might want to look into these guys at Massey Energy, who just signed a deal with Delhi, India-based Jindal Steel & Power for coal projects in India, Mongolia, Australia and the United States.
-The rightwing Charleston Daily Mail tells us that changes for the black lung benefits program that Senator Byrd put in the Senate health care bill are a "job killer."
How do we know?
"Experts" say, according to the Daily Mail - Experts like Steve Roberts of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, who, coincidentally, wanted Byrd to hold the health care bill hostage unless the coal owners' demands were met.
Some fine stenography by the Daily Mail's business editor, George Hohmann.
- And speaking of Daily Mail hacks, just wanted to point out that we're two weeks out and Don Surber has yet to offer even a remotely substantive rebuttal to Ken Ward's post that obliterated the crap Don was inserting into DM editorials.
- Republican Senator James Inhofe has a distinguished career as a total shill for corporate America. Whether its pushing for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or comparing the world's scientific community to the Third Reich, he's worked hard to be the go-to guy for polluters... and He's quite proud of it. ...so it was only a matter of time until he came out solidly in favor of the destruction of the Appalachian Mountains.
Yesterday afternoon in Pittsburgh, I had the honor and privilege of being elected president of the AFL-CIO along with our new Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler and Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker. Before I share my thoughts on what we can accomplish together in the future, there's someone I need to thank-someone I think all of us need to thank.
John Sweeney has renewed our commitment to organizing, restored our voice in government and reminded us that organized labor isn't just an institution; we are a movement.
That's right, we are a movement, and today, on my first full day as president of the AFL-CIO, my message to America is that just as unions built the middle class once before, if you give us the chance, we can build it again.
The surest, the fastest, most effective way to lift workers and our families into the middle class is with the strength that can only, only come with a union contract!
And, sisters and brothers, that fundamental truth has never been more critical to the future of this country than it is right now. Because today the American middle class isn't being squeezed: We are being crushed. The mirage of prosperity through borrowed money has dissolved-and now we're left with the reality of a hollowed-out economy and a broken financial system.
What kind of labor movement do we need to rebuild America?
A younger labor movement. A greener labor movement. A labor movement that can project its power-to defend workers anywhere in the world. A labor movement that's organizing the unorganized.
A labor movement that's winning health care for every family-and, yes, a labor movement that stands by its friends, punishes its enemies and challenges those who can't decide whose side they're on.
Can we make it happen?
I know we can.
It's up to us to build a newer, stronger labor movement and a unionism that speaks clearly and boldly to the needs of Americans today.
What's labor's dream for America?
We dream of an America where men and women work at jobs where they're treated with respect and paid what they've truly earned.
We dream of an America where workers have jobs they look forward to going to every morning-not the kind they can't wait to leave every night.
We dream of an America where young parents tiptoe over to the crib where their baby's sleeping...and look down at that little boy or girl...and know, in their hearts, that the America they'll leave to that child will be better and fairer than the America that was left to them.
What does labor want?
We want a nation where it doesn't matter what the color of your skin is...or what sex or religion you are...or whether you're gay or straight or what country your family's from because here, in America, we believe everyone ought to have their chance to step into the winner's circle.
What does labor want?
We want an America...where every man, woman and child who needs a doctor can see one! Where every worker looking for a good job can find one! Where every American who wants to have a union can join one!
What does labor want?
We want an America whose future will always, always be better than its past and where every voice is heard.
I believe this is our moment.
And today I'm telling you that we will seize this moment.
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