RE: 25 lives lost. (Full Version)

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sirsholly -> RE: 25 lives lost. (4/10/2010 5:36:20 AM)

quote:

May they rest in peace and my thoughts and prayes go out in sympathy to their families and friends.
Mine too, but also to the extraordinary rescue workers who refused to give up. There is a great deal of healing that needs to happen.



divi -> RE: 25 lives lost. (4/10/2010 5:48:43 AM)

very sad indeed my thoughts and prayers are with them



pahunkboy -> RE: 25 lives lost. (4/10/2010 8:40:45 AM)

The last 4 are dead.



sirsholly -> RE: 25 lives lost. (4/10/2010 9:28:28 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: pahunkboy

The last 4 are dead.
it may not end there. This was just released...

"Massey Energy Co. said Friday it plans to produce more coal from other mines to help recover from the business damage caused by the deadly West Virginia mine explosion. The Upper Big Branch mine was expected to produce 1.6 million tons of coal over the final nine months of the year. Most of it can be replaced by transferring miners from Upper Big Branch and spare equipment to other mines, Massey said in a regulatory filing."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MINE_EXPLOSION_COAL_SALES?SITE=PAPIT&SECTION=BUSINESS&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

How neglected are Masseys other mines?


But...perhaps i am too judgemental. A quote from the CEO of Massey, whose greed imho, caused the death of 29 miners...

"Also Friday, Massey Energy, the mine owner and operator, said it is paying for the funerals of the miners killed in the explosion Monday."

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/09/w.virginia.mine/index.html?hpt=T2

So Massey is finally showing some level of compassion for the damage they have caused? They are going to open their respective wallets and do the right thing? I am impressed.

But...just a second here. Don't most mining companies carry coverage on their employees? Yes...i think they do! Well dayyyy-umm, imagine that.

So when Massey says they are going to pay for all 29 funerals, what they really mean is they are going to cash in 29 policies.

That leads to the question of any funds left over after the funerals have been paid for. Let's take a wild ass guess as to who is going to pocket the difference.







slvemike4u -> RE: 25 lives lost. (4/10/2010 10:10:05 AM)

May they all rest in peace...and may this tragedy serve some higher purpose where safety practices are concerned.My heart goes out to all of the families and the loved ones of these victims.

My use of the word "victims" was intentional and to my mind significant .The news of all of the safety violations at this operation in particular equates to these men being victims of corporate greed.Plain and simple....and Holly Massey announcing they will pay for the funerals elicits nothing but scorn and derision from me.....Better for all if they had spent some money and adapted some safer practices before those lives were lost!



barelynangel -> RE: 25 lives lost. (4/10/2010 10:18:05 AM)

I wonder, if the allegations of the safety violations and the subsequent ignoring of same are actuality in the concept of legalities, could somehow translate to criminal manslaughter charges. And if the workers had a serious belief and threat that if they refused to work due to safety violations they would lose their jobs.

Hell don't most mines have unions? I despise unions as i think in most places they are simply blood suckers using ignorance and lazy people to fund them. But for once to me ths would have been a good place for one to maintain the safety regulations and unions would have a field day constantly taking the company to court.

I would be curious as to what the investigations reveal. the bitter sweet concept is however, if the explosion was a result of neglected safety of the mine, the lawsuits could bankrupt this company. While that sounds good -- what about all of the workers it will effect if same causes many of them to be out of the ONLY work they know?

angel



slvemike4u -> RE: 25 lives lost. (4/10/2010 10:25:44 AM)

An interesting concept,the bankrupting thing...but wouldn't a new entity take over the mine and the effect on employment be negligible at best?
I mean if there is coal there and it is profitable to mine it,and it certainly is...than it will be mined whether or not this particular company were to get busted over there greed and disregard for their workers safety.



barelynangel -> RE: 25 lives lost. (4/10/2010 10:37:26 AM)

I don't know, but in the interim, the employees could very well suffer due to layoffs. I don't know the corporate structure of mines, but i have seen companies go bankrupt and during the process employees do suffer because of same even if its just a restructuring and what if someone new comes in and has to close the mines to bring them up to codes -- they will not continue to pay these people out of the goodness of their hearts, they will lay them off probably indefinitely until such times the mines can be upgraded or whatever they do. It may not be that easy either to sell a company with mines that all need to be restructured for safety. Whenever bankruptcy is involved it means the company is unstable and many times employees do feel the effects.

Also, they may have to take on the lawsuits and paying the settlements as part f the whole obtaining of the company and mines. The lawsuits just don't go away. So i don't know how it would work.

angel



slvemike4u -> RE: 25 lives lost. (4/10/2010 11:05:11 AM)

Neither do I barely,but in light of the lifes just lost...any pain felt during a layoff that is due to the bringing of the mines up to safety code is pain I would think well worth it.You brought up a lot of other legitimate concerns...but losing paydays(wouldn't some form of unemployment benifit help ease this somewhat?) to any effort to make their jobs safer is not one of them,as I said an effort well worth it...if not way too late for the miners who just died.



barelynangel -> RE: 25 lives lost. (4/10/2010 1:13:25 PM)

Please call me angel (as i sign my posts) or barelynangel (as is my actual nickname) thank you.

These are people who went to work in unsafe conditions because they, i presume since many seem to know about the unsafe conditions and went to work anyway and one Man presumed by leaving a note he would die soon because of unsafe conditions, losing a paycheck could very well be detrimental to these people. They could have gotten unemployment if they had to quit their jobs due to unsafe conditions and were offered no other alternative but to go to work in unsafe conditions. I don't know mining employment law but i believe they could have sued the company if they refused to enter a mine due to their knowledge that there are safety concerns the Company is responsible for fixing, and got fired for not going down in the mine because of same. So i presume going to work for them in unsafe conditions was better than losing their paycheck.

All in all, i would not want to presume many of them would be willing to sacrifice their family and go on umemployment for 6 weeks and then no income while the mines are being fixed. To me, they seem to speak loudly by going down into unsafe mines because they were worried about losing that paycheck.

angel



slvemike4u -> RE: 25 lives lost. (4/10/2010 1:35:15 PM)

Sorry about the nick thing angel,I will of course be happy to do so in the future.
.....I hear what you're saying about the financial needs....but I tend to think life trumps the pursuit of happiness every time.I fully realise it is not for me to presume but given the severity of the tragedy I do think the authorities will in fact so presume.I would have no problem if the Corp.was forced to carry these workers,if need be till they were bankrupted,till these conditions are brought up to code.
Which still leaves this work as awful dangerous both short term and long term(health wise).



pahunkboy -> RE: 25 lives lost. (4/10/2010 1:52:26 PM)

http://ecopolitology.org/2010/04/09/westboro-baptist-church-gets-out-protested-in-west-virginia/

well- then there are protests.   wanna vomit?



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