the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Jan 16, 2006
The only thing that the new year brought to Iraq is more death and casualties. The U.S. news reported that at least 200 Iraqis were killed in the first week of January.
That first week was also bloody for U.S. soldiers. A dozen more U.S. troops were killed. Then over the weekend, a U.S. helicopter crashed, killing all 12 U.S. soldiers. Another five Marines on patrols were also killed.
Yet, Bush continues to insist that things in Iraq are getting better. As proof, he points to the three elections in Iraq that the U.S. organized over the last year. The last one, supposedly to elect a legislature, took place on December 15.
Of course, during each election, the U.S. media presented us pictures of supposedly smiling Iraqis lining up to vote and then exiting the polls wagging their finger covered in purple ink. The politicians and news commentators insisted that the U.S. was “building democracy” and “reconstructing Iraq.” These changes were supposed to reduce the warfare and casualties.
What lies! The U.S. military is dropping five times more bombs than a year ago. At the same time, U.S. troops are ordered to invade people’s homes, drag thousands and thousands of people into prisons and torture chambers. Fearful because they are surrounded by a hostile population, the U.S. troops shoot people down for the slightest reason. In less than three years, over 100,000 Iraqis have been killed, and hundreds of thousands more have been wounded, with much of the country laid to waste.
All the talk in this country about elections and democracy is nothing but a fraud and a fake. It’s like all the stories about weapons of mass destruction, used as an excuse to invade the country.
It is a cover to hide the real reason for the war: to increase U.S. imperial domination in the Middle East and central Asia, with their vast and rich energy resources, especially oil. It is to further secure the U.S. position as the number one economic and military superpower.
“We have to stay the course in Iraq. We can’t cut and run,” says Bush over and over again. And not just Bush. The Democratic Party leaders claim to criticize Bush. But Clinton, Reid, Kerry, and Emmanuel, all support the war, just like they did from the start.
Already more than 2,200 U.S. soldiers have been killed, with another 16,000 seriously wounded. Over five billion dollars a month of our hard-earned tax dollars is being used to destroy the people of Iraq and their country, and to enrich the big military contractors at the same time.
Increasingly, the people in this country are not buying it. Opinion polls show that 60% of the people believe that Bush is lying, and they do not support the war. The U.S. soldiers are saying the same thing, and they are saying it with their feet. More and more soldiers are leaving the military the first chance they get. At the same time, recruitment is down. The military is having a harder time replacing those who leave. It is having a harder time getting new cannon fodder. And that is making it harder for the U.S. military to wage that war. There are soldiers and their families who are opposing this war, openly.
This is the beginning. And all of these activities can pave the way for bigger mobilizations.
Jan 16, 2006
Within one recent week, five women were murdered in the streets of Detroit.
In the early hours of December 27, the bodies of Cheryl Parks and Angela Jackson were found four miles apart on the city’s east side. Each woman was shot once in the head. A man said to be the boyfriend of one of the women, has been charged with these murders.
Four days later, the body of 16-year-old Dantoya White was found in an alley eight blocks from the Thomas Edison branch of the Detroit Public Library, where she was last seen alive. According to the police, the teenager was beaten, raped and stabbed.
The next day, the bodies of two women were found near the intersection of Virgil and Pilgrim on Detroit’s west side. The women were shot several times.
These five Detroit women have joined the ranks of millions of women around the world who fall victim to violence on a daily basis. A study titled “Women in an Insecure World,” published in late December by an agency sponsored by the Swiss government, listed violence against women as one of the four leading causes of death in the world today, along with disease, hunger and war.
Based on population data, the study estimates that there are about 200 million fewer women in the world than there should be. “...The reason why they are not here is simply that they have been killed,” said Swiss ambassador Theodor Winkler, director of the Geneva Center for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces, the agency that published the study.
This figure, 200 million, is greater than the number of people killed in ALL the wars of the 20th century–by far the bloodiest century in history. The study found that women between the ages of 15 and 44 are more likely to die as a result of male violence than through cancer, traffic accidents, malaria and war–combined!
As horrific as these figures are, they still don’t tell the whole story. For every woman who is killed because of her gender, there are scores who survive male violence and continue to live with its scars, both physical and psychological. The World Heath Organization estimates, for example, that one woman in five will be subject to rape or attempted rape, and one in three will be subjected to male violence during her life.
The precise reasons for the murder of, or generally violence against women are many. They include the killing of baby girls because their gender is “not desired”; so-called “honor killings,” usually because a woman had sex with, or judt dated someone not “approved” by men in the family; domestic violence; and attacks specifically on women in war situations.
But in the end, these reasons all boil down to one underlying cause: a male-dominated culture that implicitly accepts and encourages violence against women, by placing women below men in the social hierarchy.
Just consider the major religions, all of which declare the man “the head of the household” and order the woman to “obey her husband.” The Islamic Law, the Sharia, explicitly describes the punishment–which includes beating–that a husband is to exact on a “disobedient” wife. Both the Sharia and Jewish religious law sanction the stoning of women for “infidelity.” They also order women to cover themselves so that men are not “tempted to sin.” In other words, when it comes to sexuality, all these religions treat women as the source of everything “dirty,” and men as the helpless, indeed childlike, victims of evil women!
If anyone thinks that our modern western culture has risen above this archaic garbage, think about how many people in this country still subscribe to the story of Adam and Eve–complete with the “snake” and “apple” and “original sin.” And that, of course, is part of Genesis, which religious fanatics want to bring back to replace the scientific theories of the Big Bang, plate tectonics and evolution!
Or visit the internet web sites of Christian fundamentalist ministers like James Dobson, who sets out to “defend families and promote biblical values” and gives advice toward establishing a “godly marriage,” in which the man has to be the dominant figure.
Or consider all those politicians, both Republican and Democrat, who try to outdo preachers like Dobson with their endless preaching of “family values”–a code phrase for attacking women who don’t accept the role of a traditional housewife who has no means to support herself and is thus economically dependent on a man.
It’s not an accident that today these reactionary views, which originated thousands of years ago, are given so much credibility by the mass media as well as the political and judicial establishment in this country. Capitalism and modern industrial society may owe their rise to the advancement of science and technology. But capitalists, the big bosses who run society, have always used existing social patterns of discrimination–based on race, ethnicity, religion and gender–to divide their work force and pay everyone less. What better scheme than the “traditional family,” where the woman does the socially necessary work of housekeeping and raising children without being paid a penny? What better excuse to pay a woman less than a man is paid for the same job, on the pretext that “the man of the house” already provides for the family anyway?
And so it’s also not an accident that, in this supposedly “enlightened” day and age, the notion of the man being the dominant gender has not gone away. And neither has the unavoidable companion, indeed the means, of male dominance–socially condoned violence against women.
Jan 16, 2006
After a week of hearings, the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee say they are powerless to stop the confirmation of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court–because they weren’t able to trip him up and get him to say exactly what he would do.
But everyone knows where Alito stands. He has made it clear in all of his decisions, speeches and papers. He wants to repeal the right of women to an abortion; he has consistently ruled in favor of corporations and the government against working people in discrimination suits. For Judge Alito, women and working people have few rights or none when facing the government or mammoth corporations.
If the Democrats and “moderate” Republicans wanted to, they could easily block the confirmation through a filibuster.
If they did that, they’d be acting with the clear majority of the public, who in poll after poll have demonstrated their support for a woman’s right to an abortion, as well as the rights of working people.
The fact that they don’t shows that the Democrats and “moderate” Republicans are just playing a cynical game. They want to say they’re for a woman’s right to choose. But in reality, they’re just as much against women’s rights as the most reactionary Republicans are.
They’re just more slimy about it.
Jan 16, 2006
Some weeks ago, an international congress devoted to the struggle against malaria was held in Cameroon.
The organization Doctors Without Borders explained, “Today there are four times more cases and three times more deaths due to malaria than in the 1970s.” Nevertheless, it’s been known how to combat this disease for more than a century. Malaria is spread by a parasite transmitted by the bite of a female mosquito. In rich countries, where the disease had been a serious problem some decades ago, it was successfully eradicated by building drains, by drying out swamps and by the massive use of insecticides.
But such expensive efforts are never carried out in underdeveloped countries. As a result, malaria threatens 40% of the world’s population, almost 2½ billion people. It is the most widespread disease in the world. Almost three million people die of malaria each year, more than die from any other disease, including AIDS.
And the people in the poorest countries suffer the most. For example, malaria kills many in Haiti, the poorest country in the Caribbean. Ninety% of malaria cases in the world are found in sub-Saharan Africa. The European and U.S. colonial powers only took action against malaria when it affected their own interests. During the building of the Panama Canal, malaria killed so many workers, even some engineers, that it threatened the completion of the project. Massive cleanup works were able to combat the disease, allowing the canal to be finished. Later, when U.S. soldiers faced malaria in Viet Nam and in the Far East, a great deal of money was put into research against malaria.
In the 1950s, anti-malaria medicines appeared. They are less effective today since the emergence of resistant strains of the parasite. But another medicine, ACT (Artemisinin Combination Therapy), based on a Chinese plant, assures recovery in 90% of cases. The World Health Organization recommended its use in 2002.
Artemisinin is marketed by Novartis, a pharmaceutical company that makes only small quantities of it, explaining it takes six month to produce. But according to professor Yu Youyou, the inventor of ACT, Novartis has a very different reason: “The slowness of recognition of my discovery is explained by the fact that malaria is a disease of the poor.” The poor don’t have the means to pay for this medicine, because it costs about two dollars compared to fifty cents for the old treatment. In sub-Saharan Africa, half of the population lives on less than a dollar a day. For these millions of Africans, this difference is the price of life. Given the cost, ACT remains virtually unused in African hospitals.
But as the CEO of Novartis said, “Profit is absolutely essential. It’s like the air we breathe.” This statement completely explains why malaria continues to kill in the poor countries.
Jan 16, 2006
“At 6 AM on December 22, 2005 Information Ministry personnel produced a search warrant at the home of Mr. Mansour Ossanlou (the leader of the Steering Committee of the Vahed Bus Company Trade Union). After carrying out a search, they arrested Mr. Ossanlou and took him to an undisclosed place. At the same time, other members of the Steering Committee were also arrested and are still in custody.
We strongly condemn this anti-trade union and anti-working class act by the Iranian authorities who have yet again targeted this pioneering trade union. Not satisfied with using their thugs from the Islamic Labor Council to beat up these trade unionists and smash their offices, the regime is using all official and ‘legal’ means at its disposal to stop the unyielding drive by the Vahed workers to build an independent union.”
Jan 16, 2006
Evo Morales, candidate of the MAS (Movement Toward Socialism) won the Bolivian presidential election with 54% of the votes. He will take office on January 22nd.
Morales’ victory came from a wave of protests among the poorest layers of the working class.
Since 2000, the poorest part of the population has erupted on the Bolivian political scene. Cochabamba, the second largest city, was the scene of the mobilization of workers’ neighborhoods against the extortion racket of the U.S. company Bechtel over water distribution. In 2004, this “water war” reached El Alto, a workers’ neighborhood of La Paz, the capital. There a French water company deprived 200,000 people of water. Again, a massive mobilization forced the water corporations to leave.
Mobilized workers also demanded that natural gas, the country’s chief resource, be used to satisfy the population’s needs, rather than selling it cheaply to giant international oil companies. In October 2003, the poor people in the El Alto neighborhood led a struggle over this issue that spread throughout the country. Government forces killed dozens of people, but the social mobilization didn’t end. On the contrary, the issue forced President Sanchez de Losada to resign. It also forced out the two politicians who succeeded him as president.
What the Bolivian ruling classes, and behind them the giant international corporations, want is for the new government of Morales to quiet down the population. But the poor classes who voted for Morales hope that he will meet their long-time demands.
Morales comes from the peasants who grow coca. In 1997, he created the MAS, a political grouping without a precise ideology, appearing as the spokesman of the popular revolts. The MAS did not support the corrupt traditional political class, which owes its position to the giant foreign companies that take most of the country’s wealth and leave crumbs for the politicians. Despite Bolivia’s immense oil resources and natural gas, it remains the second poorest country in the Americas.
In 2003, faced with an ongoing popular uprising, Morales helped to cool down the situation. The MAS, along with the other parties, agreed to raise taxes from 20% to 50% on companies exploiting Bolivian natural gas.
But even though a little more money came to Bolivia, the workers still need jobs and the peasants demand land. Many want the giant corporations to be nationalized, so that these demands can be met.
Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. Secretary of State, expressed U.S. concerns: “The question for us is will the Bolivian government be democratic?” In fact, by “democracy” she refers to the treatment of U.S. corporations in Bolivia. Morales responded by saying he didn’t need a lesson in democracy, pointing to what the U.S. is doing in Iraq. But he also reassured the foreign oil companies that his government “wouldn’t expropriate or confiscate [their] property.”
On the one hand, Morales in his speeches to the population talks of the “nationalization” of the country’s wealth, and on the other, he reassures foreign diplomats by asking that the foreign companies pay a little more for what they take out of the country.
No politician could easily escape the dictatorship of the 26 foreign oil companies that appropriate the riches of Bolivia. However, Morales does not even appear as if he wants to try to defend the poor classes in the face of their local and foreign exploiters.
Still, Bolivian workers have a long tradition of struggle. In 1952, the rulers of Bolivia showed their fear of a working class whose enthusiasm for change was stopped by the betrayals of reformist leaders. Perhaps today’s Bolivian proletarians of the cities allied with those of the countryside will avoid the traps not only of their enemies but also of their false friends.
Jan 16, 2006
Prime Minister Sharon was favored to win the March 28th election, but his massive stroke removed him from the political scene. Sharon had created the political party named Kadima (Forward) for these elections, based only on himself. This party, which currently leads in the polls, has pulled a number of politicians from the right who are close to Sharon as well as those from the Labor Party who are also close.
Sharon and his party are supposed to have gone from a right-wing to a centrist position. Since the Israeli government under Sharon evacuated the Gaza Strip, the news media says that Sharon now stands for peace. Bush also called Sharon “a man of courage and peace.”
This is not what the Palestinians are saying. They continue to suffer the violence of Sharon’s government and of their own government.
Sharon has attacked the Palestinians for more than half a century. In 1953, he led a special military unit that carried out deadly operations, such as dynamiting 40 homes in the village of Qibiya, which killed 69 Palestinians. During the 1970s, Sharon led violent attacks on the fedayin in the Gaza Strip. More than 100 people were killed. During the same period, he expelled thousands of Bedouins from the Rafah region, destroying their homes and capping their wells.
Then followed the years of Israeli colonization of the Palestinian territories by building settlements. Sharon’s zeal was so strong it earned him the nickname of “the emperor of the settlements.”
As Minister of Defense, Sharon both sought and then led the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982. More than 15,000 civilians, both Lebanese and Palestinian, paid with their lives. Sharon was responsible for the September ’82 slaughters at Sabra and Shatila, two Palestinian refugee camps. These murders were carried out by the Phalangists, the military arm of the extreme right in Lebanon, supported and protected by Israeli special QC forces, who oversaw the operation. At the time, even Philip Habib, President Reagan’s special envoy said, “Sharon is an assassin, driven by a hatred of the Palestinians. I gave Arafat guarantees that the Palestinians (who were in Beirut) would not be touched, but Sharon did not honor his agreements. A promise from this man is worth nothing.”
At the end of 2000, at the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, Sharon intentionally provoked the revolt that became the second Intifada. The following year, Sharon swept the legislative election by presenting himself as the answer to the terrorism he had provoked. A new war by Israel against the Palestinians began. Sharon promised that the war would last 100 days. But it is still not over.
In that war, the Israeli military murdered thousands of Palestinians. They also carried out the massacre in the town of Jenin. They used walls and fences to cut Arab neighborhoods apart. The most disgusting was the “Wall of Separation,” 25 feet tall, that cuts through the Palestinian West Bank. Day after day, Jewish settlements were expanded and new ones built as Israel absorbed Palestinian territory. Fields were destroyed or stolen in order to build roads exclusively for Israeli use.
The Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip should not create any illusions about Sharon’s intentions. Most of the Israeli population had called for the withdrawl for a long time, because the occupation of Gaza by the Israeli army was expensive and there were more soldiers there than settlers to protect. But no previous Israeli government had dared to proceed with this evacuation. And the so-called opposition Labor Party fully supported the evacuation, explaining that Sharon had finally carried out their policy!
Sharon stated clearly that the evacuation of Gaza was a minor concession. The idea of evacuating the West Bank will certainly not be considered. And when it comes to East Jerusalem, or the other areas with large settler implantations, Israeli settlers will be completely supported. Today in the West Bank, there are more than 250,000 settlers outside Jerusalem. Only 8,475 settlers were evacuated from the Gaza Strip and a few colonies in the area of Jenin. At the very same time, the number of settlers in the West Bank increased by 15,800. The Israeli Bureau of Statistics reported that new construction of housing in the West Bank was up in 2005, while construction of housing in Israel fell.
So does the evacuation of Gaza prove Sharon’s policies are flexible? Perhaps, but certainly not in order to make concessions that would allow the creation of a viable Palestinian state.
The realities are so horrible that there should be no illusions about Sharon. It is certainly not the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip that represents his policies, past and present.
Thanks to political maneuvers by the right and the left, a right-winger with blood on his hands is presented as one with a policy for the future of the peoples of the Middle East, for the Israelis as the well as the Palestinians. A true mystification!
Jan 16, 2006
On Sunday, January 8th, a rally and march of workers took place near the North American International Auto Show in downtown Detroit. The protest itself was originally proposed by a core of workers from Delphi, who were the first to come under the onslaught of concessionary attacks proposed, first by Delphi, then GM, and Ford in this past half year. After holding strategy meetings bringing workers from different locations together to different cities over the past several months, they brought their protest to the Bosses’ big Auto Show party under a Soldiers of Solidarity banner, to show their opposition to the attacks on health care and wages.
There may not have been as many people as the organizers had hoped. The local newspapers reported that 500 people were in attendance. But these 500 reflect changing attitudes in the plants.
A number of the protesters were people who have been active for years and years–which is not a surprise. Certainly there have continued to be unionists and revolutionary militants who have held up the workers’ banner and maintained something over the years when it has been quiet. Without them, there would be nothing today.
But now, there seem to be more people–militants from different locals throughout the country, who want to do something–as evidenced by the fact that people came from a range of places, some coming from as faraway as California and Virginia, as well as Ohio, Indiana and Michigan, to participate in this protest.
While the core of the march and rally were Delphi workers, there were also workers from Ford, GM, Chrysler, Visteon, American Axle and state and city workers.
This protest was the first time in a very long time where auto workers have publicly expressed their anger. There need to be more protests, and larger protests as well as other ways for workers to express their refusal to give up more concessions. But in order to get there, someone has to start. And this definitely was a start.
Jan 16, 2006
The ink was barely dry on the retiree health-care concessions to GM, when GM told reporters it now wanted the union to give up even more, again before the union contract ends in 2007. GM’s CEO, Rick Wagoner, specifically pointed to doing away with the Jobs Bank program, which temporarily provides for workers when GM eliminates their jobs.
In fact the UAW already allows GM to pay much less into the Jobs Bank program. The last figures to come out showed that GM’s Jobs Bank “owed” jobs to about 6,800 workers–who had not been provided the work that was promised.
One would think from all the talk that GM was in really bad shape. Yet, on the same day that Wagoner spoke of a new round of concessions, GM announced it had really set a record for worldwide sales in 2005! GM’s worldwide sales in 2005 were its second best in history, 9.17 million units. And CEO Wagoner also told the press, “our core business is not at all bad.”
No, GM is demanding a second round of concessions because the UAW officials agreed to the first round. And the workers who opposed those concessions weren’t strong enough to force an open discussion about them, nor to monitor and control the vote, to make sure the voting really reflected their interests.
To stop the attacks, the workers will need to rise to the occasion and fight back. Workers can trust only themselves.
Before the first round of concessions, the UAW pretended to do an “independent” accounting by hiring the investment firm of Lazard Ltd. In fact, Lazard is one of the big, old Wall Street investment houses that has every interest in getting the workers to take more concessions.
If there are company books to be audited–and there are!–only workers’ own committees can be trusted with the job. Committees in each plant could document plant production and expenses. Delegates from each plant could meet to compare figures, to see how much is really spent and made on production–and how much is wasted and spent on other things!
No, it’s only workers who can be trusted to make a true examination of the state of any corporation.
In the same way, no one but the workers themselves can be trusted to make sure their interests are represented when any talks go on with the companies. Any negotiations should be done in the open, monitored by workers and workers’ delegates, everything taken down word for word and reported.
And when decisions are to be made by the union, those decisions need to be made openly. Workers can gather in local halls to examine their options and talk it all over, face to face. They can make decisions together, so that everyone can see for themselves how things really stand.
We’re going to have to fight against giant companies like GM if we want to stop the concessions. The first thing we need to do is to make our own decisions, learn who we can trust, and learn to fight together as one.
Jan 16, 2006
IBM announced they will freeze employees pensions at current levels and change completely to a 401(k) plan. Those workers who have not retired by 2007 will get what they have thus far, but the rest of the money for their retirement will have to come from their 401(k).
This is a signal that the bosses want to eliminate pensions entirely, if they have it their way. IBM is a hugely profitable company. They made almost nine billion dollars in profit in 2004. Their pension plan is fully funded at 48 billion dollars.
They can’t even pretend financial hardship as the reason for this move. If they get away with this, you know the rest of the money-hungry bosses will try to take it from the rest of us.
Jan 16, 2006
International Coal Group, headed by Wilbur Ross, owns the Sago mine. The deal was completed a few weeks before the deaths of the twelve miners. During these weeks, there were three major cave-ins, three citations for serious violations of roof controls and six other serious safety violations.
Ross specializes in buying up bankrupt companies, attacking the pay and benefits of workers and retirees. When Ross’s International Coal Group bought mines in Kentucky, it closed six union mines and kept the non-union mines open. He made sure that retirees were stripped of their health benefits before completing the purchase.
Ross put together the International Steel Group, acting in the same fashion. He bought up five steel companies, including Bethlehem, LTV and Weirton, after massive layoffs, pay cuts, the elimination of pensions and the ending of health care for 150,000 retirees and widows. Ross then sold the International Steel Group, clearing a profit of 300 million dollars for himself.
Ross did the same thing with his International Textile Group, buying the giant Burlington Industries and Cone Mills. He imposed union concessions, laid off thousands and dumped the pensions onto the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation.
The Sago mine disaster that killed 12 miners is not an accident. It is a consequence of all the attacks that have been carried out against the workers.
Jan 16, 2006
The disaster that occurred at the Sago Mine in West Virginia could easily happen at many other mines. The lack of safety at Sago is not unique.
Less and less does the U.S. government enforce mine safety. Budgets for mine safety and health agencies have been cut, along with other social safety nets. The MSHA is short on mine inspectors–its budget for 2006 was cut by $4.9 million dollars resulting in 170 job cuts.
The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is issuing fewer “high-dollar” fines of $10,000 or more than in the past–12% fewer since 2001 than in the previous five years. Companies that are fined ignore them, and the MSHA lets them get away with it.
The courts also turn a blind eye to mine safety violations. The MHSA imposed a fine of $435,000 on an Alabama mine after 13 miners were killed in an explosion there in 2001. A judge later reduced that fine to $3,000–just $230 for each miner’s life lost!
There are too few rescue teams available. In the region around the Sago Mine, there is only one rescue team for every four mines–despite the fact that federal law requires there be two rescue teams on the scene of an accident before they can start the rescue!
Many mines have inadequate communications systems like the Sago mine–most are using at least 30 year old technology. While wireless phones and computers have become widespread–technology that can be used underground is rare.
Mines are supposed to have self-rescuers–breathing machines that miners can use in an emergency–stored throughout the mines, yet many do not. The self-rescuers in use were designed decades ago–and are heavy for miners to carry, so companies often let workers store them somewhere rather than carry them.
There are fewer companies producing mine safety equipment as some of them have moved into more lucrative fields like military applications, “homeland security,” firefighting equipment, etc. Those that remain often produce shoddy equipment. Many self-rescuers have been recalled because they’ve deteriorated or leaked.
All mines are supposed to have two escape-ways. Yet these escapes often are in disrepair or get damaged in an accident–which could be prevented by better construction.
Under these conditions, many of the country’s mines are accidents waiting to happen. Unless workers impose safer conditions–it may take more disasters like Sago before we see better saftey measures put in place.
Jan 16, 2006
The Sago Mine in West Virginia, where 12 miners died after a mine explosion, never should have been in operation.
The federal Mine Safety and Health Administrations (MSHA) had cited the Sago Mine for 208 safety violations in 2005. The state of West Virginia cited the company another 144 times last year. Yet neither the federal government nor the state of West Virginia forced the company to correct the problems. In only 18 instances did the MSHA close down even part of the mine.
The highest fine the government agencies levied against the company for any single violation was $440, hardly more than the cost of a speeding ticket. Many of Sago’s violations involved the lack of an adequate ventilation plan and not conducting safety inspections before each shift–exactly the kind of failures that probably led to this explosion!
The federal and state agencies now promise to investigate the causes of the accident. Too little, too late!
Most of the miners might have survived, if the mine had adequate rescue plans and equipment in place. All but one miner lived for hours after the explosion.
The miners almost reached safety in a rail car, but turned back when their path was blocked. Mines are supposed to have self-rescuers–breathing apparatuses like those carried by the Sago miners–stored throughout the mines. With better communication systems, rescuers could have directed the miners to additional self-rescuers–or even completely out of the mine.
Rescue efforts did not get underway for eleven hours after the explosion. Federal law requires that two rescue teams be on hand before a rescue can begin. The nearest federal rescue team had to be called from another mining company 70 miles away, and even that company could not locate all the rescue team members immediately. The first one did not arrive until seven hours after the explosion. The second team did not arrive for four more hours. A note left by one of the miners indicated they were still alive until an hour before the rescue began.
The Sago Mine operators and federal and state government all have blood on their hands from this disaster.