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News :: Civil & Human Rights : Health : Labor : Political-Economy : Regime |
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Dead Miners? Government Moves to Protect Mine Owners, Instead of Workers! |
Current rating: 0 |
by via AP
(No verified email address) |
23 Aug 2006
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Judge Dismisses Coal Mine Safety Suit |
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal judge on Wednesday threw out a lawsuit by coal miners demanding that the government do more to ensure miners have working oxygen supplies and know how to use them.
The lawsuit was filed in June after Congress overhauled mine safety rules in response to the collapse of West Virginia's Sago mine, where 12 miners died in January.
The United Mine Workers of America had sought to force the Mine Safety and Health Administration to conduct periodic checks of oxygen units and conduct emergency training for all underground coal miners.
But U.S. District Judge John D. Bates said the lawsuit didn't meet the legal requirements to force a court order.
''The loss of lives, and the risks miners presently face, weigh heavily in public discourse and are taken seriously by this court,'' Bates wrote. ''But the tragedy of those events, and the need for greater protection described by plaintiff, cannot substitute for the requirements of the law.''
Mine operators are required to provide oxygen units for their workers, but the union said the devices often don't work properly and miners are not adequately trained to use them.
The sole survivor of the Sago mine collapse, Randal McCloy Jr., said at least four of his crew's air packs failed, forcing the miners to share the devices.
McCloy and the families of two victims filed lawsuits Wednesday against the mine owner and five other companies in a West Virginia court. The suits allege that unsafe working conditions and inadequate safety equipment led to the Jan. 2 explosion.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press
http://www.ap.org/ |
Copyright by the author. All rights reserved. |
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Sure, There's a Law |
by worker bee
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
23 Aug 2006
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And the owners can now plan on the government giving them a free ride. As long as the rescue mask is hanging there, it doesn't matter if it works as far as the law is concerned? I would have thought that the government could be held accounatable for failing to enforse the law, but apparently some judge's vile concern about the dignity of the law keeps it from being enforced.
What if they pass yet anotehr tax cut for Bush's fat cat friends and their big fat refund check didn't arrive in the mail? I'd bet the judge would find a way, because they're rich folks. |
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At This Point, We Shouldn't Be Surprised |
by hmmm
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
23 Aug 2006
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Good points, worker bee.
But get prepared. The know-nothing troll(s) are hanging around.
They'll be sure to tell you that it 's all just in our liberal imaginations that there are ANY safety problems in the mines, that those dead miners were just trying to start trouble by refusing to hold their breath as long as management wanted them to, and that if miners were required to supply their own masks -- instead of sponging safety money off management -- they would always be sure that they'd work.
I can hear it now. Conservatives will swear to you every time it's just raining, while they stand there pissing on your leg. |
