Blankenship story coming up on 60 minutes.

[Clayton_Wetter]

There were all kinds of non-union coal companies back home and their men were as happy as could be, working in mines as safe as any around; my dad was one of those men.

Oh my, how could that be, without a "UNION" making sure that they were all well paid and that working conditions were safe??? hahahhaha

[Clayton_Wetter]

There sure are a lot of corrupt unions, but not near as many as corrupt politicians who are at the beckon call of lobbyists. Just think, The rich businesses have their lobbyists and the only lobbyist that even comes close to representing the working man is the Union. When they go, you have no one. Name one lobby that stands for the average working man, while labor and safety laws slip away.
At the turn of the 19th century, Labor unions and Socialists lobbied for Safe working conditions, pure food and drug acts and child labor laws and as the dwindled, so has the strength and enforcement. When the Unions are gone, so will these laws be gone.

It sure would be nice to see UNIONS done away with and the businesses ran by the owners and employees, with state and federal laws taking the place of the leeching unions and their creeping Socialism, influencing elections with the workers being fleeced by rediculous "union dues".

Unions remind me too much of the MOB, going around to business for a "CUT" to "protect" their businesses of course. cough cough

[buster83]

a lot of skilled workers are union rather working on ground or 1000 feet up on a 6 x6 beam most have a good pension plan in place by the company,plus there savings plan plus excellent medical most companies that are union will not let politicians on there property to influence one way or another most workers that fit this are making good pay weekly or biweekly some are bring home 1600 a week check plus travel expense some not so lucky but they love there job.

[COKEandaSMILE]

You boys are fans of socialism and don't even know it!

[Illtsate32]

Well if you want to work for unfair wages, work till you die with no retirement pension, get blown up a 1000 feer under ground, go work non union, go fight for yourself for those things dont knock unions cause they do....

[NormP]

Well if you want to work for unfair wages, work till you die with no retirement pension, get blown up a 1000 feer under ground, go work non union, go fight for yourself for those things dont knock unions cause they do....

Like I said before, you can work for non-union companies and have it just as good as the union companies do, with the added bonus of not having the union extort money from you. My dad worked for a non-union coal company that treated him like gold.

Some uninformed people can call that fiction if they want, but they'll be speaking from a position of ignorance.

[COKEandaSMILE]

Heart warming "daddy" story. Thanks for sharing. That's indisputable evidence that non union workers are offered the same Benifits/training as the other side.

The difference in our perspectives is you are focusing on an individual, whereas in looking at much broader, the particular trade workforce.

Are their individuals that are treated well working non? Of course there are, they have to be, that's how non union operate. A small percentage get treated well. The rest, not so much.

That's personal experience, not a daddy story.

[JK4745]

Unions were a good thing 50 years ago. They are like just about everything else now, corrupt people running them screwing whoever they can whenever they can. The unions have run their course though. I don't know what the next step is but it's time for something new.

[johnE]

A good paying, safe, non-union mining job would not be there if not for the pressure put on the industry by unions. Stockholders and CEOs do not make concessions out of the goodness of their hearts.

[ALLDIRT]

Unions were a good thing 50 years ago. They are like just about everything else now, corrupt people running them screwing whoever they can whenever they can. The unions have run their course though. I don't know what the next step is but it's time for something new.

Amen to that . Unions are as big of thieves as any organisations out there . just like all the donation phone calls you get that call you at suppertime so they can have their country clubs . just another from
of thievery . while i admit we need some company protection . unions dont care a rats a$$ about
you . where do you think all those fees or donations is a better word , go. oh wait its for
the company picnic ( lol ) .

[Bubstr]

In my opinion, If the CEO was found at fault, there should be some government inspectors at fault also. That was their job to prevent these catastrophes.

This is a prime example of the deterioration of safety laws, when unions are weak or fading. You can talk the Rich right wing talking points about getting rid of unions, but the only reason a non union shop pays union scale and provides union benefits, is because there are unions. Call it Socialism if you want. The fact is, whether your union or not, They are still the only representation you have. With out them, our work safety laws, child labor laws, minimum wage and overtime over 40 hours will disappear. You can say, I don't need anyone to tell me how to do it, but evidently there is a need, as Work safety, Pure food and drug laws and even United building codes are all written in blood. Somebody's blood, that was just like you or I. Some died for those laws to be created. Food from overseas without origin or inspection. We all know where that is leading. The same place lax enforcement of Mining safety laws here. The mines have more pull with the politicians that oversee the inspectors than the unions do. What the mines did by ignoring the safety laws is no worse than what the enforcement of these laws did. We should be more mad at them than the mine CEO, because we pay their wages. They not only didn't do their job, but probably took some graft not to. How does this get all twisted up to where it's the Unions fault? It certainly wasn't his son''s fault.

[vande07]

In my opinion, If the CEO was found at fault, there should be some government inspectors at fault also. That was their job to prevent these catastrophes.

This is a prime example of the deterioration of safety laws, when unions are weak or fading. You can talk the Rich right wing talking points about getting rid of unions, but the only reason a non union shop pays union scale and provides union benefits, is because there are unions. Call it Socialism if you want. The fact is, whether your union or not, They are still the only representation you have. With out them, our work safety laws, child labor laws, minimum wage and overtime over 40 hours will disappear. You can say, I don't need anyone to tell me how to do it, but evidently there is a need, as Work safety, Pure food and drug laws and even United building codes are all written in blood. Somebody's blood, that was just like you or I. Some died for those laws to be created. Food from overseas without origin or inspection. We all know where that is leading. The same place lax enforcement of Mining safety laws here. The mines have more pull with the politicians that oversee the inspectors than the unions do. What the mines did by ignoring the safety laws is no worse than what the enforcement of these laws did. We should be more mad at them than the mine CEO, because we pay their wages. They not only didn't do their job, but probably took some graft not to. How does this get all twisted up to where it's the Unions fault? It certainly wasn't his son''s fault.

Hate to disagree with you on this, but Unions have ZERO to do with wages in non-union shops.

I'll give an example, we have 2 companies in my immediate area that do the same exact type of work (welding, large machinery building). They BOTH pay well over $20 per hour + benefits for most skilled workers. NEITHER are Union or have ever been Union. The closest Union job is well over 40 minutes away and pays LESS per hour and has less benefits.

Competition for employees is what drives up wages, not unions. if anything, Unions keep wages down as it has to be bargained every so many years so Steve who makes $20 an hour will get a guaranteed $0.50 an hour wage increase every 2 years (even if he's a horrible worker and does nothing), whereas Joe who runs circles around Steve and gets more work and productivity done doesn't get rewarded for his hard work (he gets that same $0.50 per hour wage increase every 2 years.

Unions basically are the "socialism" that everyone seems to hate. Unions fight for everyone to get exactly the same thing instead of hard work and dedication by employees being what gets them bigger raises than the guy just putting in his time standing next to him.

Plus, to top it off, Unions get the "union dues" from everyone and usually do zilch to actually help out the workers (a community close to me lost a Whirlpool Plant (formerly Maytag) because of the short-sightedness of the union over years and years. they fought tooth and nail to ensure that Maytag never ever upgraded equipment to build their machines and when they sold out to Whirlpool, it was an easy decision to close the plant. The equipment was so out-dated that it was wayyyyy cheaper to close it and move to a new location or build the machines at another factory than it was to retro-fit the existing one. The factory they moved the volume to was non-union and paid higher wages than the one they closed.

[Illtsate32]

Ask those non union workers how much they have in their annuity fund/ pension fund....

[t3r3e3]

how about all the coal miners the president is starving to death , what should he get????????

Coal has no one to blame but natural gas, China, and.....coal. Natural gas is cheaper to extract, less harmful to burn, and still abundant and relatively easy to get at. You don't have to blow up a mountain to get it. Natural gas still has many issues (fracking waste, Oklahoma earthquakes, neighbors breathing in vent fumes), but they're not as major as coal (land destruction, acid mine drainage, sulfur dioxide, acid deposition, mine slurry ponds).

China is exporting more coal than ever. They have pretty much zero regard for worker safety. The most dangerous job in the world is usually a Chinese coal miner. The Chinese outcompete our coal pricing by way of ruthless operation. The coal coming from Wyoming is also cheaper than Appalachian coal, and contains less sulfur.

And coal is also to blame. They've reduced their own workforce in Appalachia by over 3/4 by eliminating underground jobs and going to mountaintop removal wherever possible. There are far less employees on surface jobs, and companies like Massey were famous for hiring out of region workers to limit local influence in their operations.

Where does Obama play in all this? He doesn't, unless you play the conservative Republican card without knowing the facts. Either way, Don Blankenship is the worst sort of robber baron. The one that sh!ts all over the very people and region he grew up in, all to make a nickel. Whatever he gets on the criminal and civil end will not be enough.

[NormP]

Heart warming "daddy" story. Thanks for sharing. That's indisputable evidence that non union workers are offered the same Benifits/training as the other side.

The difference in our perspectives is you are focusing on an individual, whereas in looking at much broader, the particular trade workforce.

Are their individuals that are treated well working non? Of course there are, they have to be, that's how non union operate. A small percentage get treated well. The rest, not so much.

That's personal experience, not a daddy story.

You can try unsucessfully to disparage it as a daddy story if you want, but you offered zero evidence of personal experience. It doesn't get much more personal than living in the house and seeing it firsthand. And I'm talking about an entire company treated well, not one man.

You offer a bunch of opinion, not fact. Come back when you have something of substance to add. Until then quit drinking the union kool aid. They may be able to blow smoke up your ass but not everyone is as gullible as you.

Unions have outlived their usefulness.