The Liberal Patriot

Fear Them Not, For They Fear You

J.G. Schwam - February 2, 2006

Fear not your masters for be you organized, they have reason to have greater fear of you. This did not come from the bible but perhaps it should have. Had there been unions in Egypt and a rule of law that would prevent the Pharaohs from slaughtering those they had enslaved if they fled their bonds. I think God would have certainly echoed such a phrase.

Certainly there is little Wal-Mart, the International Coal group and other big businesses that look upon their workforces as little more than slaves to the meager wages they pay, fears more than an organized workforce. They fear exposure of the truth about the working conditions they create and the laws they ignore.

Evidence the actions of ICG, the owner of the Sago mine in Tallmansville, WV where 12 coal miners died a few weeks ago. They so fear exposure of their violations of the law and being forced to treat their workers fairly and view them as something other than expendable that on Jan. 25, the U.S. Department of Labor had to request a restraining order and injunction against the International Coal Group (ICG) for interfering with the investigation of the disaster that killed 12 workers there.

But ICG, instead of cooperating, sent security guards to block United Mine Workers of America safety experts from entering the mine. What's more, ICG demanded to know the identity of the workers who requested UMWA representation, a clear attempt to intimidate their workforce. Though a federal judge later granted the Labor Department’s request and ordered the mine’s owner to let the UMWA join the investigation team. The company has appealed the decision.

MSHA does not allow employers to bar unions from participating in safety investigations or to learn which employees request union representation. The Labor Department was forced to act because ICG, by refusing the UMWA access to the mine, was impeding an investigation that was already behind schedule in getting into the mine.

The Bush administration supports business to the extent that will not even stand up for Americans that die on the job as a result of unsafe conditions or worse, it defends companies that ignore existing laws by appointing regulators that see no problem with this practice.

Just weeks after 15 West Virginia and Kentucky coal miners were killed in three separate underground disasters, President George W. Bush’s nominee to run the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) says today’s mine safety laws are adequate. In a confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Jan. 31, former coal company executive Richard Stickler declined to endorse new mine safety rules, such as those passed by the West Virginia legislature in January.

The arrogant acts of appointees like stickler and his predecessors are borne of a belief that their arrogance bears neither price nor consequence. In the end this is wrong. The work must be done. Those that do it should not; and ultimately will not bear unlimited risk to keep their jobs. While bureaucrats can if they choose to see themselves as removed from a responsibility to those impacted by the policies, if they do so they become responsible to those whose motives they protect. This is the mentality we see today in the Department of Labor. They have begun to regulate against the interests of those they were chartered to protect. Since by this policy they must defend those that offer some unknown recompense or promise that they do not do their jobs, they must therefore fear those angered by this abdication of the responsibility there are assumed to have.

Therefore they must defend the indefensible and thus be fearful of the repercussions. So fear not workers for they fear you. As has always been the case the oppressors fear those more than the oppressed need fear them. They must retain their power by being disingenuous. Being that there many more workers being harmed by this stance ultimately they will fail.

So remember this, fear not the oppressor for they must fear the oppressed more than the oppressed fear them. For without perpetuating their fear of those they oppress they will loose their power over them.

Organize, stand firm and do not give up. The UMWA has won a victory legal victory and opened the door for unions in other industry to demand their right to enforce workplace safety laws.

Organize and stand firm. In America today at they can no longer beat you or mow you down like animals. Demand your rights and you will win. The door has been opened.

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