LABOR
Tragedy At A Non-Union Mine
Yesterday, the AFL-CIO held a forum for Democratic presidential
candidates in Chicago, allowing working men and women to
ask the candidates questions on issues that affect working families.
The issues posed were so gripping that commentators said they could "change
American political history." Specifically, the questions
raised at the debate on workplace safety and unionization rights are
now more pressing than ever in the wake of continuing efforts to
rescue six
workers trapped in the collapsed Crandall Canyon mine in Utah.
Despite unions
ensuring that miners work in safe environments, President
Bush has gone to lengths to gut
workplace safety standards and union strength. While the exact
cause of the mine collapse is currently
under debate, the tragedy has raised important questions about the
safety standards of the miners that have been neglected under the Bush
administration.
THE NEED FOR UNIONS: The
Crandall Canyon mine, which
employed non-union labor, has run up "a record of more than 300
safety violations, of which 118 were considered to be serious
enough to cause injury or death." The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) union is
sharply critical of the mine's safety record. "If it were one of our union
mines, we wouldn't
allow the pattern to continue," said Bob Butero of the
UMWA, noting that an effort to organize mine workers failed six or
seven years ago. Mine owner Bob Murray -- who yesterday
boasted about his "non-union
mine" -- is notorious among miners for his union-busting history.
After 13
miners were trapped and killed in the Sago mine in West Virginia in
early 2006, Murray attacked proposed state safety reforms as "seriously
flawed, knee-jerk" reactions. In Ohio, he refused to hire union
workers because of their "costly health
and pension benefits"; in another operation, he paid his workers
"less than $3 an hour." At a press briefing yesterday, Murray used a
media appearance to criticize global warming proponents, and only later
"emphasized that his heart
and his priorities are with the trapped miners and their families."
He urged the press to "not
believe anything [the UMWA] says about the disaster."
A PREVENTABLE TRAGEDY?: At
the presidential forum last night, one widow whose husband died in a
mine accident "asked
how candidates would strengthen worker safety laws," as mine safety
standards have plummeted under
the Bush administration. Last year, 40
miners were killed on the job, more than any year since 2001. Early
in his administration, Bush appointed mining executive David
Lauriski to head the Mine Safety Health Administration (MSHA), who then
rescinded "more
than a half-dozen proposals intended to make coal miners' jobs safer."
In 2006, Bush recess-appointed former Murray Energy
executive Richard Stickler, whom the Senate had twice
rejected because the mines he managed "incurred injury rates double
the national average." In March 2007, the
AFL-CIO warned that MSHA was "moving too slowly on mine safety"
and that "another
Sago [is] possible."The Utah tragedy "happened
too soon" for reforms after Sago to be implemented, as
"government-mandated changes involving communication and tracking
equipment do not take effect until 2009." "Manufacturing
delays" prevented the Utah mine from stockpiling the required four
days of food, water and oxygen. "In all, the Bush
administration abandoned
or delayed implementation of 18 proposed safety rules that were in
the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration's regulatory pipeline
in early 2001, a review of agency records shows." Nonetheless,
Stickler believes that "no new laws or regulations are needed."
ASSAULT ON THE WORKPLACE: Several
of Bush's top regulatory appointments -- from Susan Dudley to Michael
Baroody (who later withdrew his nomination) -- are industry allies who oppose stringent worker and
consumer safety requirements. In April, a New York Times expose showed
how the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, "charged with
overseeing workplace safety," has placed safety "in
the hands of industry." The agency "had killed dozens of
existing and proposed regulations and delayed adopting others" by the
end of 2001, and it has since "vowed to limit new rules and roll back
what it considered cumbersome regulations that imposed unnecessary
costs on businesses and consumers." From opposing the Employee
Free Choice Act to appointing "easily the most
anti-worker labor board in history," the Bush administration has
denied the right to organize to at least "8
million workers in 200 occupations."
IRAQ -- TRAVELING COMPANION OF
O'HANLON AND POLLACK CONTRADICTS ROSY IRAQ ASSESSMENT: After an
eight-day trip in Iraq, Brookings Institution analysts Michael
O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack last week published an
op-ed in the New York Times stating that we are "finally getting
somewhere in Iraq." But O'Hanlon and Pollack were not alone on their military-planned trip. Center for Strategic and International Studies analyst Anthony
Cordesman, who traveled with them, came to very
different conclusions on the success of President Bush's escalation
strategy. "It is scarcely surprising that my perceptions of a
recent trip to Iraq are different from that of two of my traveling
companions," Cordesman wrote in his trip report. "From my
perspective, the US now has only uncertain, high risk options in Iraq.
It cannot dictate Iraq's future, only influence it, and this
presents serious problems at a time when the Iraqi political process
has failed to move forward in reaching either a new consensus or
some form of peaceful coexistence." Though Cordesman does note some
signs of progress, he concludes that there is only a "tenuous case for
strategic patience in Iraq," which
is greatly at odds with Pollack and O'Hanlon's contention that the current strategy has the "potential" to produce "a
sustainable stability that both we and the Iraqis could live with."
Talking Points Memo's Greg Sargent wonders, "Will Cordesman's
conclusions get anywhere near the same level of media attention that
the big news orgs lavished on O'Hanlon and Pollack?"
RADICAL RIGHT -- RIGHT-WING PREACHER PLANS FUNERAL PROTESTS AGAINST
VICTIMS OF MINNEAPOLIS BRIDGE COLLAPSE: Right-wing
preacher Fred Phelps's "anti-gay hate
group Westboro Baptist Church" is planning "protests
at funerals of victims of the 35W bridge collapse to state that God
made the bridge fall because he hates America, and especially
Minnesota, because of its tolerance of homosexuality." Shortly after
the bridge's collapse, the Westboro group put out a release headlined, "Thank God for Minneapolis Bridge Collapse." This instance
is far not the first time Phelps has exploitedcalamity and catastrophe
to promote his right-wing cause. In response to the July 2005 London
attacks, Phelps posted a release stating, "Thank God for the bombing of London’s subway today -- July 7,
2005 -- wherein dozens were killed and hundreds seriously injured. Wish
it was many more." Phelps's cult has also traveled the country
disrupting military funerals, picketing dozens of burial services with
messages such as "Thank
God For AIDS" and "God Hates Fags."
These "protests" forced Congress to pass the Respect for America's
Fallen Heroes Act in 2006, which "bars
protests within 500 feet of a military cemetery from 60 minutes
before to 60 minutes after a funeral if those protests involve
disruptive noises or other disturbances." Banned from military
funerals, Phelps is excited to be taking his hate agenda to the victims
in Minneapolis.
ENVIRONMENT -- U.N. WEATHER REPORT FINDS 'HOT EXTREMES' MORE
FREQUENT: According to a report released yesterday by the U.N.
World Meteorological Organization (WMO), this year has already
"experienced a range
of weather extremes...well outside the historical norm and is a
precursor of much greater weather variability as global warming
transforms the planet." The report concluded that "hot extremes, heat
waves and heavy precipitation events will continue to become more
frequent," leading to "an increase in extreme events as the global
temperatures rise." Consequently, "Europe and the United States are
likely to become more prone to flooding and areas closer to the equator
will experience more drought." The increase in extreme weather events
is "happening more quickly than earlier models predicted, which tells
us that the effects of the buildup of greenhouse gases is probably more
damaging than we've thought." Yesterday speaking in Singapore, Al Gore lambasted the misinformation
campaign led by
the world's leading carbon polluters. "There has been an organized
campaign, financed to the tune of about $10 million a year from some of
the largest carbon polluters, to create the impression that there is
disagreement in the scientific community," said Gore. "In actuality, there
is very little disagreement."
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During the debate over FISA last week, Director of National
Intelligence Mike McConnell told congressional leaders he was
getting intense pressure from "the other side." His changes of
position left some members suggesting that he "had
become a puppet for the White House." Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) called
McConnell's role in the debate an "unsatisfactory,
even embarrassing performance."
"The Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, a coalition that includes
MoveOn, is mounting a multimillion-dollar campaign aimed at 23 senators
and 70 representatives to chip away at support for Bush's war
strategy. The 10-week-long
campaign includes nearly 100 organizers in 15 states."
"Four U.S. military personnel and a British soldier have been killed
in attacks, military officials said yesterday, raising the number
of U.S. deaths in August to 19 in a possible sign that extremists
are regrouping after a decline in U.S. casualties last month."
The AP writes that President Bush "need
only look in the mirror" to see the type of American who still
supports him: "a conservative, white, Republican man,
an evangelical Christian who goes to church regularly." Bush's approval rating is now at
just 29 percent.
"Adults
aged 19 to 29 are the biggest group of the newly uninsured,"
composing "30 percent of the 45 million Americans without
health insurance in 2005."
"Hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused far more dislocation to Louisiana's population than previously estimated." Earlier studies
of New Orleans suggested that 226,000 residents left after the
storm. The new study finds that about "246,000
left the city, about 50,000 moved from one house in the city to
another, and about 20,000 moved in from elsewhere."
And finally: "At a hearing Wednesday before the House Homeland
Security Subcommittee on Management, Investigations and Oversight,
Chairman Christopher
Carney (D-Pa.) made an awkward
foray into hip-hop parlance when he gave special props to one of
the witnesses testifying before his panel. 'Tip of the hat to
the homies here,' was his greeting to a subcommittee guest."
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FEMA "has done an about-face" and announced that it "will immediately stop using, buying and selling
disaster-relief trailers because they could be contaminated
with formaldehyde."
NEW YORK:
New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D): "Humility has to be
more than just a talking point."
MASSACHUSETTS:
Lawmakers are set to renew standards to ensure school children have
access to nutritious foods.
VIRGINIA:
"Ex-gay" group allowed to distribute scientifically-unsound
"conversion" materials to public school children.
THINK
PROGRESS: Editorials on FISA: "Unnecessary and dangerous expansion
of President Bush's powers."
MEDIA MATTERS:
On Fox News, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer
mischaracterized the new FISA law as limited to foreign-to-foreign
communications.
COMMON
SENSE: In an effort to defend President Bush's opposition to an
expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, the
Department of Health and Human Services sent copycat letters to the
editor under different names.
THE
NOTION: Operation Straight Up, an official arm of the Pentagon's
America Supports You program, plans to mail copies of a controversial
apocalyptic video game to soldiers serving in Iraq.
"Here is the most important thing Americans need to understand: We are
finally getting somewhere in Iraq, at least in military terms."
-- Brookings Institution analysts Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack, 7/30/07
VERSUS
"From my perspective, the US now has only uncertain, high risk options
in Iraq. It cannot dictate Iraq's future, only influence it, and this
presents serious problems at a time when the Iraqi political process
has failed to move forward in reaching either a new consensus or some
form of peaceful coexistence."
-- Center for Strategic and International Studies analyst Anthony
Cordesman, 8/6/07,
on his recent trip to Iraq with O'Hanlon and Pollack
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