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- Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
- Path: sparky!uunet!wupost!mont!pencil.cs.missouri.edu!daemon
- From: ww%nyxfer%igc.apc.org@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu (Workers World Service)
- Subject: NEWS:Mine Bosses Kill 8 More Workers
- Message-ID: <1992Dec19.232719.21678@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
- Followup-To: alt.activism.d
- Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
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- Organization: The NY Transfer News Service
- Resent-From: "Rich Winkel" <MATHRICH@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
- Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1992 23:27:19 GMT
- Approved: map@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Lines: 58
-
- Via The NY Transfer News Service * All the News that Doesn't Fit
-
-
- MINE BOSSES KILL 8 MORE WORKERS
-
- By G. Dunkel
-
- Eight coal miners were killed in a methane explosion near Norton,
- Va., Dec. 7.
-
- Assistant Secretary of Labor Bill Tattersoll, a high-ranking
- administration official, announced the deaths. His intervention
- testifies to the seriousness of this accident and its
- consequences.
-
- Mine workers say the "accident," like most in U.S. coal mines,
- was preventable. The supervisor was known for cutting corners
- where health and safety matters were concerned.
-
- The families and friends of the miners entombed in South Mountain
- Mine No. 3 kept a three-day vigil in front of the mine. Norma
- Bowman, a cousin of two of those killed, told reporters: "Those
- boys all knew the risk. But they didn't have any choice."
-
- Now their families and friends won't have any choice either.
- Instead of enjoying the holiday season, they will be filling out
- all the paperwork for whatever meager benefits they get and
- worrying about their own future.
-
- Thirty more workers are now out of a job, too.
-
- No one expects the mine to re-open. Former South Mountain miner
- Howard Campbell said, "As far as the company taking care of the
- other miners, that's doubtful."
-
- Southwestern Virginia, tucked between Kentucky and Tennessee, is
- an area of extremely high unemployment. According to a local
- lawyer: "They're mining more coal now than ever, with fewer men.
- It's still a single-employer economy."
-
- Labor Department officials didn't say anything about what they
- would do for the remaining workers or surviving family members,
- who all face poverty and misery now.
-
- All through Appalachia, the people of the coal fields realize
- the dangers of mining. It's their family members who have been
- dying. They're angry that all they get from the mine bosses is
- suffering, pain and danger--without even a chance for a safe,
- steady, good-paying job.
-
- (Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if
- source is cited. For more info contact Workers World, 46 W. 21
- St., New York, NY 10010; email: ww%nyxfer@igc.apc.org; "workers"
- on PeaceNet; on Internet: "workers@mcimail.com".)
-
-
- NY Transfer News Service * All the News that Doesn't Fit
- Modem: 718-448-2358 * Internet: nytransfer@igc.apc.org
-