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12 Miners Found Dead In Mine Explosion
By UAW Region 8 Webmaster John Davis

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the 12 miners who died in an explosion at the ICG Coal Mine in Tallmansville, West Virginia. Some of those confirmed dead are:
Alva Martin Bennett
Jim Bennett
Jerry Groves
Terry Helms
David Lewis
Martin Toler
Fred Ware, Jr.
Marshall Winans
Jack Weaver
George Hamner

Currently reports have one miner, Randal McCloy listed as a survivor. Initial reports state that he is in critical condition at a local hospital.

USA Today reported on January 02, 2006 the mine had been cited for safety violations 208 times during 2005. This was up from 68 citations in 2004. Federal inspectors deemed 96 of the 2005 violations to be significant and substantial. The International Coal Group purchased the mine in March 2005. Records from the Labor Department’s Mine Safety and Health Administration showed the injury rate for hours worked at the mine to be three times the national average in 2004. The mine had been cited 22 times in the past two years for allowing coal dust and other combustible material to accumulate, including four times in December of 2005.

New York financier Wilbur Ross, who has known for buying bankrupt companies and combining them into one larger company and then selling them off, formed International Coal Group in 2004. Currently ICG is operating at least 10 deep mines in Kentucky, West Virginia and Illinois. The company was founded with the purchase of Horizon Natural Resources in 2004, after a bankruptcy judge ruled that Horizon did not have to honor their union contracts that guaranteed benefits for the miners. Afterwards, Ross added the Anker Coal Group and CoalQuest Development to form ICG.

There will be a time for questions concerning the safety of the miners who worked in the mine, but for now our thoughts and prayers go out to the families left behind and for the lone survivor.

America’s workers deserve a safe workplace. The workers at the mine were not represented by a union. However, organized labor constantly fights for the rights of all workers to have a safe workplace. In the labor movement, the loss of any worker is heart wrenching whether or not they belong to a union. Our thoughts and prayers go out to these families.

 

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