It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
A group of coal miners in Ohio feel they would have been fired if they did not attend an Aug. 14 event with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and contribute to his campaign — and to make matters worse, they lost of day of pay for their trouble.
In phone calls and emails to WWVA radio host David Blomquist, employees at the Century Mine in Ohio said they feared retaliation if they did not attend the Romney event.
“Yes, we were in fact told that the Romney event was mandatory and would be without pay, that the hours spent there would need to be made up my non-salaried employees outside of regular working hours, with the only other option being to take a pay cut for the equivalent time,” the employees told Blomquist. “Yes, letters have gone around with lists of names of employees who have not attended or donated to political events.”
“I realize that many people in this area and elsewhere would love to have my job or my benefits,” one worker explained. “And our bosses do not hesitate in reminding us of this. However, I can not agree with these callers and my supervisors, who are saying that just because you have a good job, that you should have to work any day for free on almost no notice without your consent.”
“I realize that many people in this area and elsewhere would love to have my job or my benefits,” one worker explained. “And our bosses do not hesitate in reminding us of this. However, I can not agree with these callers and my supervisors, who are saying that just because you have a good job, that you should have to work any day for free on almost no notice without your consent.”
At the time, conservative blogs and websites like The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit and Townhall trumpeted the fact that “hundreds of Ohio coal miners attended” the event. Even though the mine was closed on Aug. 14, soot-covered miners were staged behind the GOP hopeful as he spoke.
Murray Energy Chief Financial Officer Rob Moore told Blomquist that the charges were untrue. "We had managers that communicated to our work force that the attendance at the Romney event was mandatory, but no one was forced to attend the event..."
“But why not still pay then their wage for that day?” Blomquist pressed.
“By federal election law, we could not pay people to attend the event,” Moore replied. “And we did not want anyone to come back and see where anyone had been paid for that day.”
“I’m not saying pay then to attend the event, I’m saying, ‘Hey look, we have to close down the mine, if you want to attend this event, that’s fine, but you’re still going to get a day’s pay for the work that you would have done,’” Blomquist pointed out. “Why not do that?”
“As a private employer, it was our decision and we made the decision not to pay the people,” the Murray chief financial officer said.
Originally posted by Chrisfishenstein
reply to post by Blackmarketeer
I don't know how many of you have ever been in a coal mine, but I have!!
There is absolutely NO black soot anywhere!! Everywhere in a coal mine is COVERED in limestone, which is non flammable so the mine doesn't explode from a spark.....
You look more like a snowman coming out of a coal mine........There are parts of the mine by the conveyor belts that have a foot or so deep of limestone because of the fans blowing from one end to the other.....To keep the limestone moving to coat everything possible!!!
I had fun in the coal mines, but this is rediculous!!! There is no BLACK soot that you can be covered with......Maybe at the drilling point, but even there, by the time you get back on the rail car and drive 40 minutes plus back to the entrance, you are covered in white again!!!
What a joke!!! This stuff makes me sick.............So does ROMNEY!!!
Originally posted by Blackmarketeer
This rally stunt was offensive on two levels. The first was the absurdity of the miners, covered in soot, arranged behind Romney. Did they just crawl out of a mine? If anything, it just looked comical.
The second is a little more serious. Where were their rights? Forced to attend a rally by their employer, and not paid for it. Obviously, we used to have unions to protect against these sorts of abuses. But that was then. Circulating memos that named those miners who refused to partake is disgusting.
Originally posted by VaterOrlaag
reply to post by TheGreatDivider
What are you talking about?
If these miners had an union, the company could not force them to vote for a candidate nor stage a fake rally in support of one.
I fail to see the logic in blaming unions.