Thursday, April 15, 2010

High on Patriotism

At Tea Party demo today in DC.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Unionize the mines

With all the hand-wringing in the media about mine safety, there is one huge glaring fact that keeps being ignored. Unionized mines are safer than nonunion mines. Meteor Blades at DailyKos:

A report from the March 28, 2007, hearing on Protecting the Health and Safety of America's Mine Workers released by the House Committee on Education and Labor contains the following statistics for the five-year period of 2002-2006:

Underground coal injuries: 19,282

In union mines: 5,362 (or 27.8% of total)

Underground coal fatalities: 109

In union mines: 22 (or 20.2%)


I can't even listen to NPR on the Upper Big Branch explosion. Where are the reports when nonunion mines run by Massey, whose antilabor CEO is affilated with the national Chamber of Commerce and radical elements of the GOP, amass so many safety violations?

Fuck more regulation. Miners need to be protected when they report safety violations. These mines need to be unionized.

Friday, April 2, 2010