{"id":527490,"date":"2010-04-14T09:01:35","date_gmt":"2010-04-14T13:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"tag:www.southernstudies.org,2010:\/\/5.12222"},"modified":"2010-04-14T09:12:33","modified_gmt":"2010-04-14T13:12:33","slug":"voices-corporate-overkill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/527490","title":{"rendered":"VOICES: Corporate overkill"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"blankenship.jpg\"<\/a><\/span>By Phil Mattera, Dirt Diggers Digest<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

There is so much corporate misbehavior taking place around us that it
\n is possible to lose one’s sense of outrage. But every so often a
\ncompany comes along that is so brazen in its misdeeds that it quickly
\nrestores our indignation.<\/p>\n

Massey Energy is one of those companies. Evidence is piling up suggesting<\/a> that corporate negligence and an
\nobsession with productivity above all else were responsible for the
\nhorrendous explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia that
\nkilled 29 workers.<\/p>\n

This is not the first time Massey has been accused of such behavior.
\nIn 2008 a Massey subsidiary had to pay a record $4.2 million<\/a> to settle federal
\ncriminal and civil charges of willful violation of mandatory safety
\nstandards in connection with a 2006 mine fire that caused the deaths of
\ntwo workers in West Virginia.<\/p>\n

Lax safety standards are far
\nfrom Massey’s only sin<\/a>. The unsafe conditions are made possible in
\npart by the fact that Massey has managed to deprive nearly all its
\nminers of union representation. That includes the workers at Upper Big
\nBranch, who were pressured by management to vote against the United Mine
\n Workers of America (UMWA) during organizing drives in 1995 and 1997. As
\n of the end of 2009, only 76<\/a> out of the company’s 5,851 employees were
\nmembers of the UMWA.<\/p>\n

Massey CEO Don Blankenship (photo<\/i>) flaunts his anti-union animus.
\nIt’s how he made his corporate bones. Back in 1984 Blankenship, then the
\n head of a Massey subsidiary, convinced top management to end its
\npractice of adhering to the industry-wide collective bargaining
\nagreements that the major coal operators negotiated with the UMWA. After
\n the union called a strike, the company prolonged the dispute by
\nemploying harsh tactics. The walkout, marked by violence on both sides,
\nlasted 15 months.<\/p>\n

In the years that followed, Massey phased out its unionized
\noperations, got rid of union members when it took over new mines and
\nfought hard against UMWA organizing drives. Without union work rules,
\nMassey has had an easier time cutting corners on safety.<\/p>\n

Massey has shown a similar disregard for the well-being of the
\ncommunities in which it operates. The company’s environmental record is
\nabysmal. In 2000 a poorly designed waste dam at a Massey facility in
\nMartin County, Kentucky collapsed, releasing some 250 million gallons<\/a> of toxic sludge.
\n The spill, larger than the infamous Buffalo Creek flood of 1972,
\ncontaminated 100 miles of rivers and streams and forced the governor to
\ndeclare a 10-county state of emergency.<\/p>\n

This and a series of smaller spills in 2001 caused such resentment
\nthat the UMWA and environmental groups — not normally the closest of
\nallies — came together to denounce the company. In 2002 UMWA President
\nCecil Roberts was arrested at a demonstration protesting the spills.<\/p>\n

In 2008 Massey had to pay a record $20 million civil penalty<\/a> to resolve federal charges
\n that its operations in West Virginia and Kentucky had violated the
\nClean Water Act more than 4,000 times.<\/p>\n

And to top it off, Blankenship is a global warming denier<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Massey is one of those corporations that has apparently concluded
\nthat it is far more profitable to defy the law and pay the price. What
\nit gains from flouting safety standards, labor protections and
\nenvironmental safeguards far outweighs even those record penalties that
\nhave been imposed. At the same time, Massey’s track record is so bad
\nthat it seems to be impervious to additional public disgrace.<\/p>\n

Faced with an outlaw company such as Massey, perhaps it is time for
\nus to resurrect the idea of a corporate death penalty, otherwise known
\nas charter revocation. If corporations are to have rights, they should
\nalso have responsibilities — and should face serious consequences when
\nthey violate those responsibilities in an egregious way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Phil Mattera, Dirt Diggers Digest There is so much corporate misbehavior taking place around us that it is possible to lose one’s sense of outrage. But every so often a company comes along that is so brazen in its misdeeds that it quickly restores our indignation. Massey Energy is one of those companies. Evidence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4533,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-527490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4533"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527490\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}