\nindustries are really trying to outdo each other these days. Massey Energy, the
\ncriminally unsafe coal mining and intimidation company, refuses
\nto give workers time off<\/a> to attend the funerals of friends who died in
\nMassey’s Upper Big Branch Mine, the Washington Independent reports:<\/p>\n
Massey Energy, the Virginia-based coal giant that runs the <\/p>\n “They told my <\/p>\n Such anecdotes aren’t easy to come by. Massey—the top coal producer in Appalachia—has built a reputation Bet the offshore <\/p>\n Our running tally of fossil-fuel The oil rig explosion<\/a>, The spillage Remember, the people Related Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n Hey, look: Denver has a bike-sharing program<\/a><\/p>\n Burning oil rig sinks into Gulf of Mexico<\/a><\/p>\n
\nUpper Big Branch Mine, has denied time off for miners to attend their friends’
\nfunerals; has rejected makeshift memorials outside the mine site; and, in at
\nleast one case, required a worker to go
\non shift even though the fate of a relative—one of the victims of the April 5
\ndisaster—remained unknown at the time<\/strong>, according to some family members
\nand other sources familiar with those episodes. In short, the company might be
\ntaking heat for putting profits and efficiency above its workers, but it
\ndoesn’t appear to have changed its tune in the wake of the worst mining tragedy
\nin 40 years.<\/p>\n
\nhusband, ‘You’ve got a job to do and you’re gonna do it,’”<\/strong> said the wife of
\none Massey miner, referring to the funerals he’s missed this month for friends
\nwho died in the blast. “What else are we
\ngonna do?”<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nof intimidating its workers into a type of lock-step compliance that most often
\ntakes the form of silence<\/strong>, particularly when the subject revolves around
\nsafety in the company’s mines. The reason is clear: Massey is the economic engine in parts of West Virginia, and there’s a lingering fear among
\nmany workers that any grumbling could leave them unemployed. Some former
\nemployees said this week that the reluctance of Upper Big Branch miners to
\ndiscuss the conditions inside those tunnels prior to the blast is no accident. [Emphasis mine.]<\/p>\n
\ndrilling folks are hoping this takes some attention away from the rig that
\ncollapsed into the Gulf of Mexico today.<\/p>\n
\nindustry disasters of late:<\/p>\n
\nwhich injured 17 workers, left 11 missing, and is spilling crude oil and
\npossibly diesel into the Gulf.
\nThe awful coal-mine
\nexplosion<\/a> that killed 29 men under the criminal safety record of
\nMassey
\nEnergy CEO Don
\nBlankenship<\/a>.
\nThe crash
\nof
\n a coal freighter<\/a> into the fragile Great Barrier Reef as it tried to
\n take
\na shortcut from Australian mines to Chinese furnaces.
\nThe Tesoro oil
\nrefinery explosion<\/a> that killed five workers in Washington state.<\/p>\n
\nof
\n 18,000 gallons of crude oil<\/a> from a Chevron into a canal in the
\nDelta
\nNational Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana.<\/p>\n
\nmaking money off these businesses are the ones fighting hardest against a
\nclean-energy bill. They say this is the best we can do.<\/p>\n