We had a little item in the Gazette today, based on a press release from West Virginia’s delegation, about a congressional resolution to create a National Miner’s Day. But the article and the press release both left out the most interesting part: The resolution calls for the National Miner’s Day to be Dec. 6, the anniversary of the Monongah Mine Disaster, the worst coal-mining disaster in U.S. history.
Here’s the text of the congressional resolution:
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
November 4, 2009
Mr. RAHALL (for himself, Mr. MOLLOHAN, and Mrs. CAPITO) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Supporting the goals and ideals of a National Miner’s Day to celebrate and honor the contributions of miners and encouraging the people of the United States to participate in local and national activities celebrating and honoring the contributions of miners.
Whereas miners daily risk life and limb in their labors;
Whereas the foundations of civilization are constructed from, advanced by, and sustained with, the materials procured with miner’s sweat and blood;
Whereas the miners of the United States have labored long and hard over our country’s existence to make it the economically strong, military secure Nation that it is today;
Whereas miners and their families have achieved, provided, and sacrificed so much for the betterment of their fellow Americans;
Whereas the great mining tragedy at Monongah, West Virginia, that occurred on December 6, 1907, is recognized to this day for causing the greatest loss of lives in American industrial history;
Whereas that tragedy helped to launch the national effort to secure the safety and health of our miners that continues to this day; and
Whereas December 6 would be an appropriate date to observe a National Miner’s Day: Now, therefore, be it
- Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That the House of Representatives–
1) supports the goals and ideals of National Miners’ Day to celebrate and honor the contributions of miners; and 2) encourages the people of the United States to participate in local and national activities celebrating and honoring the contributions of miners.
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Next would be farmers’ day, reporters’ day, machinists’ day, climatologists’ day, … Are miners actually that separate and special?
Yes, Jim, they are. Farmers, reporters, machinists, climatologists and every other profession does important and valuable work. But none of them puts their lives and limbs at risk each day they go to work and few other professions have had and continue to have such a profound impact on the nature of our country’s industry, infrastructure and energy independence.
More than 200,000 miners have died as a direct result of the injuries received at — or diseases contracted as a result of — the very work they do every day over the last century. Name one other profession outside of the military that comes close to such sacrifice on behalf of their country.
How many millions of Americans have flipped on a light switch or turned on their computer and never thought about — or even known about — the sacrifices coal miners have made to make that simple action possible? This day will perhaps help to remind them.
The sacrifices coal miners have made up to this point justify a day in their honor. The contributions they will continue to make to our nation will only serve to reinforce it.
Phil,
It’s unfortunate that Jim Sconyers (of the Sierra Club) has that attitude, and that lack of understanding of the dangers miners face every day.
Certainly, one of the goals of Coal Tattoo is to provide more coverage of mine safety issues. My paper was covering that matters long before Sago reminded everybody that coal mining was dangerous.
However, farming is pretty dangerous, actually … and so is logging and so is commercial fishing. I don’t have figures right here handy to compare one job to another going back 100 years — I’m not even sure such figures are available in any reliable way. But I’d wonder if construction workers would rank pretty high up there, and perhaps even record more workplace deaths than coal miners over such a long period of time.
Machinists have a pretty dangerous job, as well.
And not for nothing, but 33 journalists around the world have been killed on the job in 2009, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, http://www.cpj.org/killed/2009/
Ken.
Readers,
Also, I wanted to post the entire press release issued by the West Virginia Congressional delegation about this:
“We owe a profound thanks to the miners who risk their lives every day to help to ensure that the lights glow brightly in our homes each and every night. Miners today must contend not only with health and safety hazards in the field, but with uncertainty about their future. We owe them our earnest hard work to shape a national energy policy that will ensure their gainful employment in the coalfields for many years to come,” said Sen. Byrd, the primary sponsor of the Senate resolution.
“Coal is part of our heritage – our West Virginia soul – and it’s important that we do everything possible to protect and recognize our miners and coal industry workers. Our hard-working miners show up to work every day to make sure that the lights turn on all across America. I am proud to join with the rest of the West Virginia delegation in introducing this resolution and I will fight for the future of coal jobs in our state for decades to come,” said Sen. Rockefeller.
“The government has long recognized that it has an obligation to do all that it can to ensure that our coal miners have safe, healthy workplaces. But I contend that we also have an obligation to do all we can to ensure that our miners simply have work. We need to pay acute attention to the effects that the decisions we make in Washington will have on the men and women, the families, and the communities back home who have, for generations, provided the natural energy resources that fuel America. These hard-working, selfless, earnest men and women, their livelihoods, their way of life, and the future of their families and their communities are at stake,” said Rep. Rahall.
“There are few professions more central to the history of our country than coal mining. Coal powered our industrial revolution, fueled our trains and ships, continues to give us plentiful supplies of affordable electricity, and holds the key to our energy future. Coal mining has never been an easy job, but it has always been one to take great pride in. National Miner’s Day is an opportunity for all of America to share that recognition,” said Rep. Mollohan.
“At a time when coal is under fire in Washington, it’s even more important that we recognize the important contribution coal miners continue to make across our state and nation. Our miners work hard to provide the nation with a reliable energy resource, and they deserve a united front of support from their congressional delegation. I was proud to join my state colleagues in the House as we stood together in opposition to the troublesome cap-and-trade bill, and I hope we can continue to work in unison in the weeks and months ahead to ensure that West Virginia miners get a fair shake,” said Rep. Capito.
Ken:
I’m certainly not arguing that there aren’t other dangerous jobs out there. Indeed, since the passage of the Mine Safety and Health Act, the creation of MSHA and the implementation of safety enforcement language in UMWA contracts, the rate of injuries and fatalities has dropped dramatically in the coal industry over the last 40 years — as you’ve pointed out many times on Coal Tattoo and in Gazette stories. It’s true that workers in certain other industries — like commercial fishing — now face a more hazardous workplace than coal miners do.
I was only reacting to was the belittling comment of the Sierra Club’s leader. I recognize that the Sierra Club’s goal is to wipe out the use of coal in the world. I just hadn’t thought they would want to wipe out the heritage of coal mining as well.
This is probably a good place to plug Davitt McAteer’s excellent book on the Monongah disaster. It’s not only an important look at a tragic episode in WV history, but also a reminder of how little human life means to those who still call the shots in West Virginia.
Gordon,
In fact, if you click on the link in my post for the Monongah Mine Disaster, you go to this site:
http://wvupressonline.com/McAteer_Monongah_978-1-933202-29-7
Where anyone can get Davitt’s excellent book.
Phil,
I understand … my only point was I’m not sure that there aren’t other jobs that have suffered more deaths over the last century … I’d like to see some numbers on that if anyone has them.
Ken.
I mean, geez don’t we have Secretary’s/Administrative Professionals’ Day already?
I love secretaries but I think that’s justification enough for miners day. This is a fine idea and it doesn’t take hardly any of our legislators time to bounce something like this through. The timing may be politically motivated, but that doesn’t mean miners don’t deserve this respectful gesture. Aside from the Industrial Revolution in general, we can also thank miners for modern unions. FYI, this doesn’t seem to be about coal miners, but all miners.
The only thing surprising to me is that there isn’t one already.
This is nicely done:
The Westray mining disaster
Broadcast Date: May 17, 1992
“…you mine it with blood.”
http://archives.cbc.ca/environment/natural_disasters/clips/14307/ (The “Did you know?” is worth reading.)
—
It’s an interesting archive: http://archives.cbc.ca/environment/
Hi Folks,
Here, as an FYI, are the links to two websites concerning the effort to create “National Miner’s Day”.
http://www.minersday.org/
http://www.rallycongress.com/minersdaymemorialassociationofwestvirginia/951/
Best regards,
Creed
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I don’t have a problem with having National Miner’s Day. Through our history the miners have endured more casualties and injuries than any other occupation I can think of over the years. In our community alone I counted 5 men who have lost their lives inside the mines since I was a young girl, that doesn’t count the many, many more who suffered disabling injuries and black lung.
In my opinion that is a lot of suffering for just one small community, and I was thinking that if you figure how many communities there are just like mine, how many casualties that would be. All these men took this danger upon themselves, they went underground knowing that they may never come home. I have the utmost respect for these underground miners
Ken,
See. p. 13
http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cfch0007.pdf
In 2008, mining had the second highest fatality rate in the private sector, after the combined rate for agriculture/forestry/fishing/hunting. Even though construction has half the fatality RATE as mining, the absolute numbers for construction are much greater than either A/F/F/H or mining –just because there are so many more construction workers than miners or farmworkers. I’m unsure if those trends hold across the past century.
Regardless of people’s issue with the coal industry, it’s cruel to belittle a gesture honoring the actual folks who go to work every day fully conscious that they might never come home again. It’s like hating war veterans when you disagree with the war. But that kind of attitude is often based on ignorance. To “meet” and learn more about real coal miners who lost their lives in an American coal mine, I humbly recommend the book Goodbye Wifes and Daughters.