Mine Worker Punished for Trying to Form a Union

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/04/17/mine-worker-punished-for-trying-to-form-a-union/

by Seth Michaels, Apr 17, 2009

As the battle for the Employee Free Choice Act gets fought out in the press and the political arena, it’s worth remembering why we’re fighting for this bill in the first place: because far too many workers can’t exercise their freedom to form a union. Heath Coleman, a heavy-equipment operator from West Virginia, tried to form a union and found his safety endangered by management pressure. His story shows why we need the Employee Free Choice Act.

Says Coleman:

I’ve had to put my family’s well-being at stake just to exercise my rights as an American. People shouldn’t have to live the way we’ve had to live for the last year.

Coleman works at the Fola Coal Co. in Indore, W.Va. When another company, Consol, bought Fola, it slashed health benefits and wouldn’t provide information about the pension plan to workers. So along with other workers, Coleman sought to form a union with the Mine Workers (UMWA) to get a say in the workplace. Consol then began to intimidate and pressure workers individually and in group meetings.

Management didn’t stop there, says Coleman.

The company told us that if it went union, they’d shut down because they couldn’t afford to work union.

And when employees started signing cards saying they wanted union representation,

management would direct employees to get those cards back from the union.

Management threatened to fire pro-union workers and even put Coleman himself in danger, he says:

One of the things they did was that they came out and took my company radio from me. That could have put me in some danger. I’m a reclamation worker, so I’m out by myself a lot and away from the equipment where there’s a CB radio. They issued radios to us as a safety precaution. I asked the foreman why he was taking away my radio, and he said, “They don’t feel you represent the company anymore; you represent the union.”

FULL story and photo at link.