AFL-CIO Weblog | Crandall Canyon: ‘Putting Production and Profits Ahead of People’

AFL-CIO Weblog | Crandall Canyon: ‘Putting Production and Profits Ahead of People’
In the first two weeks after six coal miners were trapped Aug. 6 deep inside a Utah coal mine, the most familiar face to TV news viewers following the rescue attempts, was Murray Energy President Robert Murray. He ranted against the Mine Workers (UMWA), pointed to phantom earthquakes and rambled on about his life in the mines—all the while claiming, "This isn't about Bob Murray."

In a column posted on the Huffington Post, UMWA President Cecil Roberts writes:

Bob Murray is right about one thing: This isn't about him. It's about the more universal practice, old as the history of mining, of putting production and profits ahead of people. And while mine operators have usually been the culprits, in recent years they've been ably assisted by MSHA. That agency's leadership under the Bush administration rejected important safety reforms proposed during the Clinton administration and ignored the agency's sole reason for existence—to enforce the law and do everything in its power to protect the health and safety of miners. They abandoned that mandate and shifted the agency's focus to regulatory "compliance assistance."