Blog Stage Four: Substantial commentary or criticism #2

According to Crooks and Liars blogger Heather, something must be done to improve the current situation of safety in mining. In her post, What Can Be Done to Improve Mining Safety While Ignoring Unionization, she points out that from 2002-2006 there were 19,282 injuries and only 27.8% of them occurred in union mines. Also during the same five-year period there were 109 deaths but only 20.2% of them occurred in union mines. Then in 2007-2009 there were 45 deaths and just six were in unions. Union mines consistently have fewer deaths and injuries of mine workers.

According to Heather the reason for that because the union watches out for the safety issues rather than looking the other way like other mining companies do. Mining companies’ priority is getting the job done fast and efficiently. They don’t want to have to shut done for inspections or to fix problems. Workers are discouraged from speaking up about potential hazards. According to Meteor Blades’ article Want Safer Mines? Unionize Them,” Anyone who talks too much about them not only gets fired, they also can be blackballed by the whole industry… There is a grin-and-bear-it culture. Miners have no one to turn to and see no options in their lives.”

Heather believes that the solution is simple; miners need unions that care about them. Miners need to be properly educated and they need to be comfortable to speak up about safety concerns and potential hazards the notice. They need to know that they won’t be fired for it. Unions would help with that, that’s the reason unions were invented in the first place, to look out for the people. Heather says, “When a company does not care about the safety of its workers, a union is the only other organization that's going to fill that gap in a manner that truly protects their workforce."

It’s hard to argue with her logic, she makes too much sense. There are too many deaths and injuries to miners each year, and for years the numbers has been much smaller among union miners. Safety issues and injuries are ignored because workers need to work and they don’t want to lose their job. If you are going to be fired for saying something and you need the job, you learn to keep your mouth shut but it doesn’t make it right. Unions were created to protect workers from issues exactly like it yet there are too few unions out the protecting them. We need to create more unions to look out for our miners so that when they go to work they come home at the end of the day.

Everybody needs to understand the problem surrounding these miners because they need the help of unions. It’s important for everyone to know what unions are because they can help everyone.