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COURT RULES MASSEY MUST REHIRE FIRED UNION WORKERS |
| (07/06/2009) |
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Massey Energy fired all the workers of a company they purchased based on their union membership and their "pro-union sediments." The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, Va., upheld an August 2008 ruling that said Massey's action was illegal, they "violated federal labor law by refusing to keep union coal miners on its payroll after it bought Cannelton Industries in October 2004. Following Massey's purchase of the company, they set up two new non-union companies, Spartan Mining Co. and Mammoth Coal Co., to operate Cannelton's mines and coal preparation plant in Kanawha County. "We look forward to the day when miners who were illegally discriminated against get their rightful jobs back, and to all the miners at the Mammoth mine having the benefit and protection of working under a UMWA contract," said UMMW president Cecil Roberts. Massey Energy says it did make offers to some 85 Mammoth Coal miners, with only a few accepting. The court, in its' ruling said Mammoth refused to offer jobs, or even interviews for jobs, to Cannelton workers who already belonged to the UMW. "The record also provides substantial evidence that Mammoth made overt efforts to block reasonable collective bargaining, the vehicle that Congress has determined best achieves 'industrial peace,'" the Fourth Circuit stated. In his earlier ruling, Bogas ordered Massey to offer jobs to all 85 union miners at Cannelton. Bogas also ordered Massey officials to bargain with the UMW. Massey's appeal of that order is still pending before the full NLRB. Roberts contends "Not only will that mean the miners will get their rightful jobs back. They will also receive back pay going back to the time Massey bought the mine and reopened it in 2004." Skeptics of previous legal battles do not believe the re-hire will happen.
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