UMWA holds vigil for dead workers at Massey Headquarters

RICHMOND, VA- A couple of hundred people braved cold rain to light candles in memory of dozens of miners who have perished while working in mines owned by Massey Energy. The vigil was held the night before a Massey stockholders meeting on May 18.

Members of the United Mine Workers of America and other unions, relatives of the fallen and community members prayed for the dead and read the names of 52 workers who have died in the last ten years at Massey mines. In April of this year, 29 miners died at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia, a mine that had been cited for more than 500 safety violations in the months leading up to the tragedy.
Speakers at the vigil called for accountability for those responsible at Massey Energy, especially CEO Don Blankenship, a notoriously anti-union executive. Protests the next day planned to call on stockholders to vote Blankenship out of office.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Massey Energy
• UMWA
• miners
• mountaintop removal
• coal

[pdsvadc]

Thanks for making this! It was a very moving experience.