http://themilitant.com/2016/8032/803255.html
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Vol. 80/No. 32 August 29, 2016
Bosses’ profit drive caused 1984 Utah mine disaster
Below are excerpts from the Jan. 11, 1985, Militant reporting on the
Wilberg mine disaster. The authors were both coal miners who
participated in the union rescue and relief effort. Cecelia Moriarity
worked at the mine and was a member of United Mine Workers of America
Local 2176 and of the Lady Coal Miners of Utah. She was the Socialist
Workers Party candidate for governor of Utah in 1984.
BY JOE GEISER
AND CECELIA MORIARITY
PRICE, Utah — Nineteen members of UMWA Local 2176, and eight company
executives and foremen, were killed by a fire that started Dec. 19,
1984, at the Wilberg mine outside Orangeville, Utah. The mine is located
in the main coal-producing region in the southeastern part of the state.
The bodies of the 26 men and one woman remain inside the mine despite
attempts to rescue them. On Dec. 23 rescue teams were evacuated from the
mine on the order of federal mine inspectors as explosive gases reached
a dangerous level. On Dec. 29 the mine portals were sealed in an effort
to bring under control the fire that has raged since Dec. 19.
The dead miners were all working in a section of the mine where a
longwall, the most modern and mechanized machine for producing coal, was
in use. The company was attempting to achieve a 24-hour world production
record at the time of the fire.
UMWA members, widows, and other community residents here are in general
agreement with UMWA International Pres. Richard Trumka, who said, “When
a coal operator becomes so concerned with setting short-term
coal-production records, safety is made an afterthought and miners are
needlessly killed.”
Few miners or other community residents here believe the company’s story
that the fire was an unpredictable “accident.” They blame Emery Mining
Corp. for recklessly endangering lives and disregarding safety in its
drive to boost coal production and profits.
Emery Mining has tried to cover up its responsibility for the disaster,
claiming the fire probably started as a result of a mechanical failure.
However, at a press conference Dec. 28 at UMWA Local 2176 headquarters,
UMWA members Alex Tidwell and Clinton Price said the fire broke out near
an electrical cable in the fresh-air tunnel leading to the longwall
section.
In the Wilberg mine, the power system is equipped with safety circuits
that should shut off power if cables are overloaded, damaged or catch
fire. But once the fire started, and the cable exploded, the power
stayed on, the two unionists reported. They said the company “may have
jumped the cable, a common practice.”
The two men said the phone nearest the fire was not working so they were
unable to immediately call for help. As the fire spread to the conveyor
belt motor, an automatic foam system that should have been activated to
put out the fire failed to work. “It just bubbled,” they said.
Earlier last fall, Mine Safety and Health Administration inspectors had
found caved-in coal and rock blocking an escape route. Instead of
ordering Emery to clean up the cave-in, MSHA issued the company a
variance, which is a permit to keep operating despite a safety
violation. The union cannot appeal a variance.
Because the cave-in was never removed, there were only two — instead of
the normal three — exits available to miners in the area. The fire broke
out on one escape route and quickly burned through to a second exit,
blocking both. The third escapeway was blocked by the cave-in. The
miners on the longwall were thus trapped.
Such safety violations are only part of the assault on miners’ health
and safety that has been carried out by the company in recent years. The
Wilberg mine has had one of the highest accident rates in the country.
Safety jobs have been eliminated through layoffs, and a speedup “bonus”
plan has been introduced that further endangers the workers.
In spite of all the obstacles created by the company, miners did
everything they could to try to save their trapped co-workers, beginning
the day the fire started. UMWA members on the shift when the fire broke
out, as well as those who arrived soon after for the midnight shift,
volunteered to carry out whatever tasks were necessary to aid the
specially trained rescue teams that were brought in. Many miners worked
long stretches, sleeping at the mine or returning after short breaks.
Miners’ morale remained high, until everyone learned that the rescue
teams had located 25 bodies and that no hope remained for the other two.
Community solidarity
People in the coal mining communities of Carbon and Emery rallied to
meet the needs of the fire-fighting and rescue teams. Local community
organizations were flooded with offers of help.
While solidarity like this was pouring in from workers around the world,
Emery Mining showed nothing but callous disregard for the victims and
their families.
It was the UMWA and its supporters that took over the relief efforts for
the families. UMWA Local 2176 set up an information center in
Orangeville with the help of the UMWA district and volunteers. The Lady
Coal Miners of Utah joined the efforts.
On Dec. 26, a memorial service for the 27 people killed in the fire was
held in Castle Dale, Utah, sponsored by the Mormon church. It was
attended by almost 2,000 people, including miners and bosses. Miners
were urged by those on the platform to put the Wilberg disaster behind
them. One of the featured speakers was Gordon Hinckley, a high official
of the Mormon church who also sits on the board of Emery’s parent
company, Utah Power & Light. Hinckley called the mine fire an accident,
comparing it to hurricanes, volcano eruptions and earthquakes.
After the service was over, one miner said, “This was no accident. This
was manmade.”
‘No miner has to die!’
Among the workers who sent messages congratulating the Socialist Workers
Party’s campaigning effort in Utah was former miner Cecelia Moriarity.
The SWP candidates discuss how “working people can achieve safe
conditions on the job,” she wrote. “As a coal miner in Utah at the
former Wilberg Mine, the company’s disregard for safety killed 19
co-workers and eight company bosses in 1984. [See article above.]
“I am very proud of the Socialist Workers Party slogan, ‘No miner has to
die.’ Because it’s true. Being on the ballot in Utah will give miners
and all working people there the opportunity to learn there is a party
that explains the cause of the social and economic crisis and raises the
way forward for us out of the dangers we face.”
Related articles:
On the Picket Line
Join Mine Workers protest Sept. 8!
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