Last miners union in 'Salt of the Earth' area ends [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Last miners union in 'Salt of the Earth' area ends
The Associated Press
September 23, 2014 Updated 13 minutes ago

SILVER CITY, N.M. — Miners in a southwestern New Mexico county once famous for its labor activism have voted against participating in the union.

The United Steelworkers Union members at Chino Mine in Hurley, New Mexico, recently voted 236 to 83 against participating in the union in a decertification election, the Silver City Sun-News reports (http://goo.gl/L7ktPx).

Grant County, where the 1954 "Salt of the Earth" movie based on an actual strike against the Empire Zinc Mine was filmed, now won't have union representation at any mine within the county.

The decertification vote was brought about by one man who began a successful petition to end the union.

~snip~
"Salt of the Earth" was blacklisted in the U.S. during Cold War retribution against communist filmmakers and gained an underground following more than a decade later when it was finally shown. In the film, Mexican-American miners barred by federal law from striking against a zinc company were replaced on the picket lines by their wives.

Read more: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2014/09/23/3390579_last-miners-union-in-salt-of-the.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy