September - United Mine Workers of America

September–
October 2008
119th Year,
No. 5
He’s on
our
Obama
SIDE
Vote Obama/Biden Nov. 4 th

United Mine Workers
journal
letters
Campaign 2008...................................4
As the presidential campaign enters the
homestretch, the UMW Journal takes a
final look at the candidates for President—their
records, their stands on the
issues and what kind of campaign each
is running. Plus, a report on the activities
of UMWA leaders and members
who are working throughout the nation
on behalf of the Obama-Biden ticket.
UMWA COMPAC Voter’s Guide............8
State-by-state lists of candidates
endorsed by UMWA COMPAC. These
candidates have demonstrated their
commitment to fighting for UMWA
members and all working families. Take
the list with you when you go to vote on
Nov. 4!
Departments
Around Our Union.........................16
Actively Retired.............................. 19
Our Health and Safety................... 20
Districts in Action.......................... 22
Cover: Democratic presidential candidate
Sen. Barack Obama speaks to the
thousands gathered at a coalfields rally in
Lebanon, Va. Photo by Phil Smith
Back Cover: L.U. 2300 members Paul
Boroski and Bill Speshock show their
support for Sen. Obama. Photo by Molly
Theobald.
Retiree reflects on life and politics
I am a disabled UMWA member and am very proud of my union. As this
heated political season progresses, I reflect back on my life and political views.
My dad was a UMWA coal miner in Boone County, W.Va., until 1955 when his
mine shut down. I was brought up to be a Republican.
When John F. Kennedy came along, he somehow seemed to understand
just how tough it was to be poor even though he was from a wealthy family. I
was in algebra class when we heard he was assassinated. It was sometime after
that when I realized that Kennedy was the best thing to happen to working
people since Franklin Roosevelt.
Then came Lyndon Johnson, who also cared about working families. Johnson
signed the Medicare bill into law. I only recently learned that not a single
Republican voted in favor of it.
I joined the Teamsters union in 1969 and it didn’t take me long to realize
that, as a Republican, I had been voting against myself. I joined the UMWA in
1979 and became involved in union activities, and finally became a Democrat.
Now that I’m retired, I have more free time to watch C-SPAN on television,
especially during this political season. I watched as John McCain and the
rest of the Republicans voted against the S-CHIP bill, which was supposed to
provide health care for less fortunate children. The Democrats passed it anyway,
only to have it vetoed by President Bush.
I would strongly advise working families and my fellow UMWA members
to Pay Attention and watch as the Republicans fight against you and for the big
oil companies. If you are a Republican and you do this, you will soon realize—
as I did—that you are voting against yourself.
Another Democrat, Harry S. Truman said, “The right to join a union of
one’s choice is unquestioned today and is protected by law.” That may have
been true in Truman’s day, but is far from true today because of the Bush administration’s
hate for unions. Let’s not vote against ourselves again. Let’s help
elect Barack Obama and help him lead us back to a time when we can join the
union of our choice and work for a revival of organized labor. I’m proud to be
a member of the UMWA.
Danny R. Hoover
L.U. 2286
Produced by the UMWA Communications Department: Phil Smith, Department Director, Editor; David Kameras, Communications Coordinator;
Matt Alley, Communications Specialist; Thelma Blount, Department Secretary;
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2 September/October 2008 • United Mine Workers Journal

The chance of a lifetime
It’s been nearly two years since
Barack Obama and John McCain
began tramping through the snows
of New Hampshire and the cornfields
of Iowa in search of their parties’
nomination for President. That’s
plenty of time learn what their positions
are on the issues and understand
what each would do as President.
Each candidate has also spent
time in recent months in the states and
communities where UMWA members
and our families live and work. They’ve
had the opportunity to see, first-hand, what life is like
for real working families like ours—people who are the
backbone of America.
We’re not Wall Street and we’re not Hollywood. We’re
Main Street and Rural Route 20. We’re Post Office boxes
and gravel driveways. We proudly wear shirts with our
UMWA Local Union number printed
Phil Smith
If there is one thing we can be
certain about after all that’s been
said and all that’s been done
during this campaign, it’s this:
John McCain is
not on our side.
editorial
on them. We wear work boots, and
don’t mind getting them muddy.
We’re intelligent people doing
critical—and hard—work for our nation.
Coal miners, health care workers,
manufacturing workers, public
servants. We’re retirees who have never
forgotten what the work was like because
we carry the scars with us every
day—both outside and inside our bodies.
Retired or working, we understand what life would
be like without our union. No health care, no pension.
No certainty about what we would be paid from week to
week. No security for our families, and no security on the
job either.
That’s a life that none of us wants. But it’s exactly the
kind of life promised to us by John McCain.
If there is one thing we can be certain about after all
that’s been said and all that’s been done during this campaign,
it’s this: John McCain is not on our side. He wants
to tax our health care and put our retirement security at
risk. He thinks it’s just fine for employers to keep on intimidating
workers who want to join a
union. And for those of us who are already
in the union, he wants to weaken
what laws and rights we have left that
enable our union to stay strong.
But most people haven’t heard
John McCain talking about this. They
haven’t heard him talking about his
votes in favor of bills that created the
atmosphere of greed on Wall Street
which eventually led to the economic
meltdown that has struck our nation
in just the last few months.
People haven’t heard John McCain repeating the
statements he’s made in the past about how he and
President Bush agree on most everything. About how the
“fundamentals of our economy are strong.”
He’s running away from that record now, because it’s
a shameful record and he knows the vast majority of the
American people don’t agree with his
positions on issue after issue. So he’s
talking about other things. Things
that don’t matter to the well-being of
working American families.
But those anti-union, antiworker
positions are the real John
McCain. And they show us very
clearly how he would govern.
This Nov. 4, we have a chance—
one that doesn’t come around very often—to change the
course of our nation for the better. We can elect a leader
who is on our side, and who will stand up and fight for
good jobs in America instead of China, for strong unions,
for health care for all Americans, for retirement security
we can count on and for safe and healthy workplaces.
That leader is Barack Obama.
None of us can afford to let this opportunity be wasted.
Join with your UMWA brothers and sisters and the
millions of working families from all corners of America
who are voting for Barack Obama. A better future for all
we hold dear rests in your hands. Don’t let it slip through
your fingers.
United Mine Workers Journal • September/October 2008 3

Campaign 2008
A clear
choice
for President
“Obama’s on the union’s side, McCain’s on the company’s side.
I’m sticking with the union.”
As the presidential campaign entered the final
stage after Labor Day, the candidates of both
parties charged out of their respective conventions
with sharpened messages and sometimes
even sharper elbows. Sen. John McCain, the Republican
nominee, and his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of
Alaska, immediately took to the road and continued to
repeat a series of misleading distortions and half-truths
about Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama and his
vice presidential running mate, Sen. Joe Biden.
Twisting the truth
For example, McCain continues to say that Obama will
raise taxes for working families, an out-and-out lie.
Obama’s plan to allow the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest
Americans to expire will only affect those making
over $250,000 a year, which is a far cry from the average
income earned by ordinary working families.
The truth is that under Obama’s plan, average
working families would receive a tax cut, not a tax
increase. McCain and Palin know this, yet they continue
to spread the big lie that Obama would raise the taxes
of working families.
A recent report by CNN told the truth: “According
to a CNN fact check, Obama’s tax plan would increase
taxes in 2009 on the wealthiest 20 percent of households
while offering tax cuts for the other 80 percent.
The largest increases would be on the top 1 percent
of earners, according to an analysis by the Tax Policy
Center, a nonpartisan research group
whose staff of experts includes former
economic advisers to the White
House and Congress under both
Republicans and Democrats.”
Gov. Palin continued to use
a lie about her support for
a funding “earmark” for a
bridge in Alaska, saying that
she “told Washington, ‘thanks
but no thanks’” for the funding.
That, too, was a lie, which
she admitted in an interview with
ABC News. Yet she continued to use the
line in events, clearly showing that she and
her handlers believe the American people
are not smart enough to understand the
difference between truth and fiction.
UMWA leaders, members
standing up for Obama
Throughout America, UMWA leadership
and membership are fanning out to
get the truth out about Sen. Obama and
what he will do to help UMWA members
and all working families as President.
“We have no greater task at this point in
time,” President Roberts said. “We have
an opportunity to elect someone who will
4 September/October 2008 • United Mine Workers Journal

Campaign 2008
stand up for our jobs, our health care,
our retirement security, our children’s
education and our right to exist as a
union. We cannot sit on the sidelines
in this battle.”
In workplaces and communities
throughout the coalfields, the UMWA
presence is being felt. UMWA staff
and members are on the ground in
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia,
Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana,
Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona,
Alabama—wherever
they’re needed to hand
out leaflets, knock on
doors, make phone calls
and get the message of
change to UMWA and
other union members.
“We’re getting
really good feedback from our members,”
said International District 31
Vice President Rich Eddy. “We’re going
to bathhouses every day, talking about
Obama’s support for coal and coal miners’
jobs and McCain’s record of attacks on
coal. Members understand which candidate is
really on their side.”
“Everywhere we go, people want to talk
about the election,” said International District 2
Vice President Ed Yankovich. “When they understand
about Obama’s position on restoring the
right to organize and McCain’s plan to tax their
health care benefits, members get a pretty clear
picture of what’s at stake here. More and more of
them are saying they’re supporting Obama.”
Phil Smith
Straight talk about the real issues
President Roberts and Secretary-Treasurer Kane
spoke at a series of District conferences in August,
explaining to local union leaders and members about
the importance of voting for Barack Obama. Roberts
took the issue of Obama’s race head-on, reminding
audiences about our union’s long history of leadership
in being against discrimination based on race.
“There are those who seek to
divide working people based
on race and the prejudices and
suspicions people have. The UMWA
has always risen above that
and we must be the leaders
in rising above it today.”
Phil Smith
“Those who founded our union
understood that the bosses used the
differences between us to divide us,”
Roberts said. “It wasn’t just the difference
between white and black. It was
the difference between Germans and
Polish, Italians and Irish, everybody.
Anytime they could cause one group
to be suspicious of another, they took
advantage of that.
“But the founders of the UMWA
got past that right from the beginning
when they wrote our constitution,”
Roberts said. “They said you couldn’t
discriminate in our union based on
race, creed, color or national origin.
They understood this was a tool the
bosses were using to keep them down.
“The same holds true today,”
Roberts said. “There are those who
seek to divide working people based on race and the
prejudices and suspicions people have. The UMWA has
always risen above that and we must be the leaders in
rising above it today. If people are going to vote against
Barack Obama just because he has a funny name or because
he happens to be African-American, then they’re
just killing themselves and the chance for a better future
for their families.”
“We need to stop talking about the lies the other side
puts forward about Sen. Obama and start talking about the
real issues,” Secretary-Treasurer Kane said. “We need to talk
about who will be enforcing mine safety and health laws at
the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Will it continue
to be company hacks who care more about production
than about safety? Or will it be someone who will stand up
first and foremost for the health and safety of miners?
“We need to talk about who will be in charge at the
National Labor Relations Board and the Department of
Labor,” Kane said. “These agencies are supposed to be
making sure America’s labor laws are enforced so that
workers have a measure of protection. Yet for the last eight
years, they’ve been watching out for the bosses’ interests,
not workers. That won’t change with John McCain as
President. The only way to get the change we need is to
elect Barack Obama.”
United Mine Workers Journal • September/October 2008 5

Campaign 2008
6 September/October 2008 • United Mine Workers Journal

Campaign 2008
Charleston Daily Mail
McCain no friend of coal
By Cecil E. Roberts, International President, United Mine Workers of America
John McCain sure surprised a lot of people when
he came out the other day against mountaintop
removal mining. You could almost hear the backpedaling
and side-stepping going on in coal operators’
boardrooms and Republican party headquarters all the
way up Cabin Creek. They thought they had a friend
of coal in John McCain, only to find out that maybe he
wasn’t so friendly after all.
It should have come as no surprise. John McCain
has been on the attack against the coal industry for years,
starting with legislation he proposed in 2003—Senate
Bill 139, the Climate Stewardship Act of 2003—that
would have just about wiped out the coal industry in
southern West Virginia and elsewhere in Appalachia.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration
released an analysis of S. 139 in May 2004, which said
the reductions in coal production under the McCain
legislation was estimated to be 78 percent by 2025. Since
it takes coal miners to produce coal, that would mean a
drastic reduction in employment, most of which would
have fallen heavily on more labor-intensive mines like we
have in Appalachia, especially West Virginia.
But Sen. McCain was just getting warmed up. He
teamed up with Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) just last
year and proposed climate change legislation—Senate
Bill 280—that once again took a meat-axe approach to
Appalachian coal. In that bill, McCain specifically targeted
Appalachian coal production for cuts of 30 percent
or more, while encouraging production of coal from
Wyoming, according to an analysis done of the legislation
by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
During the current campaign, both candidates have
proposed a variety of solutions to dealing with energy
issues. They both say that they want to reduce reliance on
foreign sources of energy and build an infrastructure in
America that relies on a mix of sources to meet the everexpanding
energy needs of our nation, while at the same
time reducing greenhouse gases. The UMWA agrees that
we need to do that.
But the devil is in the details, and once again Sen.
McCain doesn’t measure up when it comes to the
potential for coal—our nation’s most abundant energy
resource—to continue to be the major contributor to
meeting our future energy needs.
The lynchpin of McCain’s energy plan is to build
45 new nuclear plants across America by 2025, the first
wave of 100 new nuclear plants he foresees. The negative
impact on coal production and jobs from these
plants will be extremely significant. And let’s face it—
no matter what happens with respect to climate change
over the next 50 to 100 years, the waste generated by
a nuclear plant tomorrow will still be deadly to all life
10,000 years from now. Our distant descendants will
likely be worrying about staying warm during the next
ice age about then.
With the coming development of clean coal technologies
like carbon capture and storage (CCS), America
is on the brink of being able to use coal to generate
energy without contributing any more greenhouse gases
to the environment. Sen. McCain pays lip service to CCS,
but the record shows that coal has a very limited future
in John McCain’s vision of America. And that’s a direct
threat to tens of thousands of West Virginia families.
Sen. Barack Obama, on the other hand, is from a
coal state and clearly understands the long-term role coal
must play in our nation’s energy future. He has pledged
to fund development of CCS technology so that it can be
deployed as soon as possible. He has said that America
is the “Saudi Arabia of coal” and that we ought to be
working as hard as we can to figure out how to use it for
decades to come.
So the choice for coal miners, their families, their
neighbors and everyone living in the coalfield communities
throughout Appalachia and especially in West Virginia
is clear. Barack Obama is for the long-term future
of your job and John McCain is not. Keep that in mind
when you vote on Nov. 4.
United Mine Workers Journal • September/October 2008 7

UMWA COMPAC
voter’s guide
This year’s election is the most important in a generation, with voters
facing a stark choice between two directions in which our country may go:
peace, prosperity and social justice, or war, recession and reaction.
In addition to the contest for the White House, UMWA members
United States
President
Barack Obama (D)
Vice President
Joe Biden (D)
will be voting in congressional and statewide races across
the nation. After reviewing the positions and records of those
seeking office, the UMWA Coal Miners Political Action Committee
(COMPAC) has endorsed the following federal, state and local
candidates. COMPAC based its selections on where the candidates
stand on issues concerning the UMWA membership.
Here is a state-by-state guide for this Election Day, Nov. 4, 2008.
Phil Smith
West Virginia
Seeking to unseat U.S. Rep. Shelley
Moore Capito (R-2nd), Anne
Barth (D) is uniquely skilled in how
to get results for West Virginians in
Washington, having recently completed
21 years of service as a senior
aide to U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D),
including State Director since 1992.
Her commitment to creating and saving
coal mining jobs is exceptional.
Anne Barth (D)
“Coal is a major engine of West
Virginia’s economy, and will be for
the foreseeable future,” she said. “The
best way to protect coal mining jobs
is to begin strict enforcement of the
safety and environmental regulations
that are already on the books, while
making appropriate investments in
clean coal technologies. Good mining,
reclamation and the use of technologies
are good for coal, good for
West Virginia and good for America.”
Margaret Workman (D) has
served on the Supreme Court of Appeals
for almost 12 years, becoming
the court’s first female Chief Justice.
As a judge, Workman developed
a strong record of protection for
abused and neglected children. As
Chief Justice, Workman fostered a
close working relationship between
the court system and the domestic
violence programs in the state. She
formed the Task Force on Gender
Fairness in the Courts, which focused
on ways the court system could be
more fair and neutral to both genders.
She also created the Task Force
on the Future of the Judiciary, which
formulated proposals for moving the
court system into this century.
Another candidate for the Supreme
Court, Menis Ketchum (D),
has been recognized continuously
since 1989 in The Best Lawyers in
America. Throughout his 40-year
legal career, he has litigated various
types of cases, including insurance
defense, personal injury, criminal
prosecution and defense and Federal
Employers’ Liability Act. He has
served on the Huntington Urban
Renewal Authority, participated in a
statewide program to develop a focus
team aimed at reducing the number
of medically uninsured and was appointed
by Gov. Manchin to the Mine
Safety Task Force.
U.S. Senate
John D. “Jay” Rockefeller (D)
U.S. House of Representatives
Dist. 1 Alan B. Mollohan (D)
Dist. 2 Anne Barth (D)
Dist. 3 Nick Rahall (D)
Governor
Joe Manchin, III (D)
8 September/October 2008 • United Mine Workers Journal

UMWA COMPAC
voter’s guide
West Virginia continued
Secretary of State
Natalie Tennant (D)
Auditor
Glen B. Gainer, III (D)
State Treasurer
John Perdue (D)
Commissioner of Agriculture
Gus R. Douglas (D)
Attorney General
Darrell V. McGraw (D)
Justice of the Supreme Court
of Appeals
Margaret Workman (D)
Menis Ketchum (D)
State Senate
Dist. 1 Jack Yost (D)
Dist. 2 Jeff Kessler (D)
Dist. 4 Rocky Holmes (D)
Dist. 5 Robert Plymale (D)
Dist. 6 John Pat Fanning (D)
Dist. 10 James McNeely (D)
Dist. 11 William R. Laird, IV (D)
Dist. 12 Douglas E. Facemire (D)
Dist. 15 Clark Barnes (R)
Dist. 17 Dan Foster (D)
State House of Delegates
Dist. 1 Benton Manypenny (D)
Randy Swartzmiller (D)
Dist. 3 Tal Hutchins (D)
Orphy Klempa (D)
Dist. 4 Michael Ferro (D)
Dist. 5 Dave Pethel (D)
Dist. 7 Ron Nichols (D)
Dist. 8 Charley Webb (D)
Dist 10 Brenda Brum (D)
Dan Poling (D)
John Ellem (R)
Dist. 12 Jo Boggess Phillips (D)
Dist. 13 Dale F. Martin (D)
Brady R. Paxton (D)
Dist. 14 Karen Coria (D)
Dist. 15 Carl Eastham (D)
Jim Morgan (D)
Dist. 16 Doug Reynolds (D)
Dale Stephens (D)
Dist. 17 Don Perdue (D)
Richard Thompson (D)
Dist. 18 Larry W. Barker (D)
Dist. 19
Dist. 21
Dist. 23
Dist. 24
Dist. 25
Dist. 27
Dist. 28
Dist. 29
Dist. 30
Josh Stowers (D)
Greg Butcher (D)
Jeff Eldridge (D)
Ralph Rodighiero (D)
Harry Keith White (D)
Cliff Moore (D)
Mike Vinciguerra, Jr. (D)
John Frazier (D)
Bill Wooten (D)
Louis Gall (D)
Virginia Mahan (D)
Rick Moye (D)
Sally Susman (D)
Ray Canterbury (R)
Tom Louisos (D)
David G. Perry (D)
Margaret Anne Staggers (D)
Bonnie Brown (D)
Nancy Guthrie (D)
Barbara “Bobbie” Hatfield (D)
Mark Hunt (D)
Doug Skaff (D)
Sharon Spencer (D)
Danny Wells (D)
Ohio
U.S. House of Representatives
Dist. 1 Steve Driehaus (D)
Dist. 2 Victoria Wells Wulsin (D)
Dist. 3 Jane Mitakides (D)
Dist. 6 Charlie Wilson (D)
Dist. 13 Betty Sutton (D)
Dist. 14 William O’Neill (D)
Dist. 15 Mary Jo Kilroy (D)
Dist. 16 John Boccieri (D)
Dist. 17 Tim Ryan (D)
Dist. 18 Zack Space (D)
Attorney General
Richard Cordray (D)
State Supreme Court
Peter Sikora
Joseph Russo
State Senate
Dist. 18 Rick Shriver (D)
Dist. 28 Tom Sawyer (D)
Dist. 30 Jason Wilson (D)
Dist. 32 Capri Cafaro (D)
Dist. 31
Dist. 32
Dist. 33
Dist. 34
Dist. 35
Dist. 36
Dist. 39
Dist. 40
Dist. 41
Dist. 42
Dist. 43
Dist. 44
Dist. 50
Dist. 52
Dist. 54
Dist. 58
Carrie Webster (D)
Charles Black (D)
Camella Ryan-Thompson (D)
David Walker (D)
Brent Boggs (D)
Sam Argento (D)
Joe Talbott (D)
Bill Hamilton (R)
Mary M. Poling (D)
Ron Fragale (D)
Richard J. Iaquinta (D)
Tim Miley (D)
Mike Manypenny (D)
Mike Caputo (D)
Linda Longstreth (D)
Timothy Manchin (D)
Barbara Fleischauer (D)
Charlene Marshall (D)
Alex Shook (D)
Ruth Rowan (R)
Mike Roberts (D)
Walter Duke (R)
Tiffany Lawrence (D)
State House of Representatives
Dist. 1 Linda Bolon (D)
Dist. 9 Barbara Boyd (D)
Dist. 16 Jennifer Brady (D)
Dist. 25 Dan Stewart (D)
Dist. 47 Peter Ujvagi (D)
Dist. 56 Joe Koziura (D)
Dist. 59 Ron Gerberry (D)
Dist. 60 Bob Hagan (D)
Dist. 89 Todd Book (D)
Dist. 91 Dan Dodd (D)
Dist. 92 Debbie Phillips (D)
Dist. 93 Jennifer Garrison (D)
Dist. 94 Jennifer Stewart (D)
Dist. 95 John Domenick (D)
Dist. 97 Allan Sayre (D)
Court of Appeals
Dist. 7 Joe Vukovich
Cheryl Waite
United Mine Workers Journal • September/October 2008 9

UMWA COMPAC
voter’s guide
Kentucky
Kentuckians, who have suffered
under the misrepresentation of
U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) for 24
long years, now have a champion in
Bruce Lunsford (D), who will fight to
reverse the anti-union policies of Mc-
Connell and his wife, Labor Secretary
Elaine Chao. “I support employee free
choice to facilitate fair organizing for
workers,” he said. “Kentucky’s working
families have earned the right to a living wage and safe
working conditions. In addition, we must ensure that all
trade agreements include significant worker protections.
It shouldn’t be too much to ask to have trade agreements
that open up new markets for American products and
protect quality American jobs.”
Lunsford is passionate about promoting coal as a
vital part of America’s energy plan. “Kentucky is a na-
As UMWA members and leadership looks on, UMWA Director of Governmental
Affairs Bill Banig hands U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Lundsford a contribution from
UMWA COMPAC to help in his campaign to defeat the anti-worker incumbent,
Mitch McConnell.
tional leader in coal, and currently, about half the nation’s
electricity comes from coal,” he noted. “The Bush administration
recently backed off a major program piloting
new clean coal technology, but under the Lunsford Plan,
the federal government would increase clean coal research
and development. From the miners to the technicians to
the communities that it would support, boosting the coal
industry is vital to Kentucky’s economic future.”
Taylor Coots
U.S. Senate
Bruce Lunsford (D)
U.S. House of Representatives
Dist. 1 Heather A Ryan (D)
Dist. 2 David E. Boswell (D)
Dist. 3 John Yarmuth (D)
Dist. 5 Jim Holbert (I)
Dist. 6 Ben Chandler (D)
State Senate
Dist. 1 Carroll Hubbard (D)
Dist. 3 Joey Pendleton (D)
Dist. 13 Kathy W. Stein (D)
Dist. 17 Robert Powell (D)
Dist. 19 Tim Shaughnessy (D)
Dist. 23 Kathy Groob (D)
Dist. 27 Walter “Doc” Blevins (D)
Dist. 29 Johnny Ray Turner (D)
Dist. 31 Ray Jones (D)
Dist. 33 Gerald A. Neal (D)
Dist. 35 Denise Harper Angel (D)
Dist. 37 Perry B. Clark (D)
State House of Representatives
Dist. 1 Mike Lawrence (D)
Dist. 2 Fred Nesler (D)
Dist. 3 Zana Renfro (D)
Dist. 4 Mike Cherry (D)
Dist. 5 Melvin Henley (D)
Dist. 6
Dist. 7
Dist. 9
Dist. 10
Dist. 13
Dist. 14
Dist. 15
Dist. 16
Dist. 17
Dist. 18
Dist. 19
Dist. 20
Dist. 21
Dist. 23
Dist. 25
Dist. 26
Dist. 27
Dist. 28
Dist. 29
Dist. 30
Dist. 31
Dist. 33
Dist. 34
Dist. 35
Dist. 36
Dist. 37
Dist. 38
Dist. 39
Dist. 40
Will R. Coursey (D)
John A. Arnold, Jr. (D)
Travis Neal Calhoun (D)
Eddie Ballard (D)
Jim Glenn (D)
Tommy Thompson (D)
Brent Yonts (D)
Martha Jane King (D)
C.B. Embry, Jr. (R)
Dwight D. Butler (R)
Dottie J. Sims (D)
Jody Richards (D)
Charlene Rabold (D)
Johnny W. Bell (D)
Jimmie Lee (D)
Mike Weaver (D)
Jeff Greer (D)
Charles W. Miller (D)
Kevin D. Bratcher (R)
Tom Burch (D)
Steve Riggs (D)
Greg Galbraith (D)
Mary Lou Marzian (D)
Jim Wayne (D)
Lonnie Napier (R)
Ron Weston (D)
Tim Firkins (D)
Robert R. Damron (D)
Dennis Horlander (D)
Dist. 41
Dist. 42
Dist. 43
Dist. 44
Dist. 46
Dist. 47
Dist. 48
Dist. 49
Dist. 54
Dist. 55
Dist. 56
Dist. 57
Dist. 58
Dist. 61
Dist. 62
Dist. 63
Dist. 65
Dist. 67
Dist. 69
Dist. 71
Dist. 72
Dist. 73
Dist. 74
Dist. 75
Dist. 76
Dist. 77
Dist. 78
Dist. 79
Dist. 81
Tom Riner (D)
Reginald K. Meeks (D)
Darryl T. Owens (D)
Joni Jenkins (D)
Larry Clark (D)
Rick W. Rand (D)
David M. Watson (D)
Larry Belcher (D)
David C. Sparrow (D)
Kent Stevens (D)
Carl P. Rollins, II (D)
Derrick W. Graham (D)
Bill Young (D)
Royce W. Adams (D)
Charlie Hoffman (D)
Ken Padgett (D)
Arnold R. Simpson (D)
Dennis Keene (D)
Merrick S. Krey (D)
John Will Stacy (D)
Sannie Overly (D)
Don Pasley (D)
Richard D. Henderson (D)
Kelly Flood (D)
Ruth Ann Palumbo (D)
Jesse Crenshaw (D)
Thomas M. McKee (D)
Susan Westrom (D)
Harry Moberly, Jr. (D)
10 September/October 2008 • United Mine Workers Journal

UMWA COMPAC
voter’s guide
Kentucky State House of Representatives continued
Dist. 82
Dist. 84
Dist. 85
Dist. 86
Dist. 87
Indiana
U
.S. Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-8th) has serious concerns about the future
of the nation’s health and retirement systems. “Despite the successes of
children’s health care programs, there are still too many children without access
to health care,” he said. “I support efforts to provide coverage to uninsured children
who already qualify for these programs.” In addition he noted that Social
Security faces financial challenges that threaten the program’s solvency and benefits
for future generations. “However, I don’t believe privatizing the program is
the answer. Not only would privatization cut gaping holes in the Social Security
safety net, it is projected to increase our national debt by $5 trillion over just 20
years. Congress must pass bipartisan, common-sense reforms that protect the
guaranteed benefit and ensure Social Security’s sustainability.”
U.S. House of Representatives
Dist. 1 Peter Visclosky (D)
Dist. 2 Joe Donnelly (D)
Dist. 3 Michael Montagano (D)
Dist. 4 Nels Ackerson (D)
Dist. 5 Mary Etta Ruley (D)
Dist. 6 Barry Welsh (D)
Dist. 7 Andre Carson (D)
Dist. 8 Brad Ellsworth (D)
Dist. 9 Baron Hill (D)
Governor
Jill Long Thompson (D)
Lt. Governor
Dennie Oxley (D)
Charles L. Siler (R)
Fitz Steele (D)
Tommy Turner (R)
Jim Stewart, III (R)
Rick Nelson (D)
Attorney General
Linda Pence (D )
Superintendent of Schools
Richard Wood (D)
State House of Representatives
Dist. 1 Linda Lawson (D)
Dist. 2 Earl Harris (D)
Dist. 3 Charlie Brown (D)
Dist. 5 Craig Fry (D)
Dist. 6 Patrick Bauer (D)
Dist. 7 David Niezgodski (D)
Dist. 8 Ryan Dvorak (D)
Dist. 90
Dist. 91
Dist. 92
Dist. 93
Dist. 94
Tim Couch (R)
Ted “Teddy” Edmonds (D)
Ancel “Hard Rock” Smith (D)
W. Keith Hall (D)
Leslie A. Combs (D)
Dist. 9 Scott Pelath (D)
Dist. 10 Charles Moseley (D)
Dist. 11 Dan Stevenson (D)
Dist. 12 Mara Candelaria Reardon (D)
Dist. 13 Chester Dobis (D)
Dist. 14 Vernon Smith (D)
Dist. 15 Myron Sutton (D)
Dist. 16 Bill Reutebuch (D)
Dist. 17 Nancy Dembowski (D)
Dist. 19 Shelli VanDenburgh (D
Dist. 22 Larry Rensberger (D)
Dist. 25 Jeb Bardon (D)
Dist. 26 John Polles (D)
Dist. 27 Sheila Klinker (D)
Dist. 30 Ron Herrell (D)
Dist. 31 Joe Pearson (D)
Dist. 33 Andy Schemenaur (D)
Dist. 34 Dennis Tyler (D)
Dist. 35 Lee Mengelt (D)
Dist. 36 Terri Jo Austin (D)
Dist. 37 Scott Reske (D)
Dist. 38 Bob Snow (D)
Dist. 40 Nicholas Schmutte (D)
Dist. 42 Dale Grubb (D)
Dist. 43 Clyde Kersey (D)
Dist. 44 Nancy Michael (D)
Dist. 45 Rick Marshall (D)
Dist. 46 Vern Tincher (D)
Dist. 56 Phillip Pflum (D)
Dist. 97
Dist. 98
Dist. 99
Dist. 100
Dist. 60
Dist. 61
Dist. 62
Dist. 63
Dist. 64
Dist. 66
Dist. 67
Dist. 68
Dist. 69
Dist. 70
Dist. 71
Dist. 72
Dist. 74
Dist. 75
Dist. 76
Dist. 77
Dist. 78
Dist. 81
Dist. 84
Dist. 86
Dist. 87
Dist. 89
Dist. 91
Dist. 92
Dist. 94
Dist. 95
Dist. 96
Dist. 97
Dist. 98
Dist. 99
Dist. 100
Hubert Collins (D)
Tanya Pullin (D)
Rocky Adkins (D)
Kevin P. Sinnette (D)
State Supreme Court
Dist. 5 Mary C. Noble
Peggy Welch (D)
Matt Pierce (D)
Sandra Blanton (D)
John Burger (D)
Kreg Battles (D)
Terry Goodin (D)
Mike Keller (D)
Robert Bischoff (D)
David Cheatham (D)
Paul Robertson (D)
Steven Stemler (D)
William Cochran (D)
Russ Stilwell (D)
Dennis Avery (D)
Trent VanHaaften (D)
Gail Riecken (D)
James Rapp (D)
Winfield Moses (D)
Mark Wehrle (D)
Edward DeLaney (D)
Pamela Hickman (D)
John Barnes (D)
Timothy Huber (D)
Stephanie DeKemper (D)
Cherrish Pryor (D)
John Bartlett (D)
Gregory Porter (D)
Mary Sullivan (D)
William Crawford (D)
Vanessa Summers (D)
John Day (D)
State Senate
Dist. 3 Earline Rogers (D)
Dist. 5 Larry Balmer (D)
Dist. 8 Jim Arnold (D)
Dist. 10 John Broden (D)
Dist. 12 Don Metzler-Smith (D)
Dist. 18 Linda Klinck (D)
Dist. 28 Mike Brinegar (D)
Dist. 32 Ken Kern (D)
Dist. 33 Greg Taylor (D)
Dist. 34 Jean Breaux (D)
Dist. 36 Terry Rice (D)
Dist. 37 Joseph Osborn (D)
Dist. 40 Vi Simpson (D)
United Mine Workers Journal • September/October 2008 11

UMWA COMPAC
voter’s guide
Illinois
U.S. Senate
Richard J. Durbin (D)
U.S. House of Representatives
Dist. 1 Bobby Rush (D)
Dist. 2 Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D)
Dist. 3 Dan Lipinski (D)
Dist. 4 Luis Gutierrez (D)
Dist. 5 Rahm Emanuel (D)
Dist. 6 Jill Morgenthaler (D)
Dist. 7 Danny Davis (D)
Dist. 8 Melissa Bean (D)
Dist. 9 Jan Schakowsky (D)
Dist. 10 Dan Seals (D)
Dist. 11 Debbie Halvorson (D)
Dist. 12 Jerry Costello (D)
Dist. 13 Scott Harper (D)
Dist. 14 Bill Foster (D)
Dist. 16 Robert Abboud (D)
Dist. 17 Phil Hare (D)
Dist. 18 Colleen Callahan (D)
State Senate
Dist. 2 Willie Delgado (D)
Dist. 3 Mattie Hunter (D)
Dist. 5 Rickey Hendon (D)
Dist. 6 John Cullerton (D)
Dist. 7 Heather Steans (D)
Dist. 8 Ira Silverstein (D)
Dist. 9 Jeff Schoenberg (D)
Dist. 11 Lou Viverito (D)
Dist. 12 Martin Sandoval (D)
Dist. 14 Emil Jones, III (D)
Dist. 15 James Meeks (D)
Dist. 17 Donne Trotter (D)
Dist. 18 Edward Maloney (D)
Dist. 20 Iris Martinez (D)
Dist. 23 Thomas Cullerton (D)
Dist. 26 Bill Gentes (D)
Dist. 29 Susan Garrett (D)
Dist. 30 Terry Link (D)
Dist. 33 Dan Kotowski (D)
Dist. 35 Ryan Gailey (D)
Dist. 36 Mike Jacobs (D)
Dist. 38 Steve Stout (D)
Dist. 39 Don Harmon (D)
Dist. 41 Audrey Manley (D)
Dist. 42 Linda Holmes (D)
Dist. 45 Marty Mulcahey (D)
Dist. 47 John Sullivan (D)
Dist. 56 Bill Haine (D)
Dist. 57 James Clayborne, Jr. (D)
Dist. 59 Gary Forby (D)
State House of Representatives
Dist. 1 Susana Mendoza (D)
Dist. 2 Edward Acevedo (D)
Dist. 3 Luis Arroyo (D)
Dist. 4 Cynthia Soto (D)
Dist. 5 Kenneth Dunkin (D)
Dist. 6 Esther Golar (D)
Dist. 7 Karen Yarbrough (D)
Dist. 8 LaShawn Ford (D)
Dist. 9 Arthur Turner (D)
Dist. 10 Annazette Collins (D)
Dist. 11 John Fritchey (D)
Dist. 12 Sara Feigenholtz (D)
Dist. 13 Gregory Harris (D)
Dist. 14 Harry Osterman (D)
Dist. 15 John D’Amico (D)
Dist. 16 Lou Lang (D)
Dist. 17 Daniel Biss (D)
Dist. 18 Julie Hamos (D)
Dist. 19 Joseph Lyons (D)
Dist. 20 Michael McAuliffe (R)
Dist. 21 Michael J. Zalewski (D)
Dist. 22 Michael Madigan (D)
Dist. 23 Daniel Burke (D)
Dist. 24 Lisa Hernandez (D)
Dist. 25 Barbara Flynn Currie (D)
Dist. 26 Will Burns (D)
Dist. 27 Monique Davis (D)
Dist. 28 Robert Rita (D)
Dist. 29 David Miller (D)
Dist. 30 Will Davis (D)
Dist. 31 Mary Flowers (D)
Dist. 32 Andre Thapedi (D)
Dist. 33 Marlow Colvin (D)
Dist. 34 Connie Howard (D)
Dist. 35 Kevin Joyce (D)
Dist. 36 James Brosnahan (D)
Dist. 37 Kevin McCarthy (D)
Dist. 38 Al Riley (D)
Dist. 39 Maria “Toni” Berrios (D)
Dist. 40 Deborah Mell (D)
Dist. 43 Keith Farnham (D)
Dist. 44 Fred Crespo (D)
Dist. 45 Jim Haggerty (D)
Dist. 46 Gary Nowak (D)
Dist. 49 Rachel Shattuck (D)
Dist. 50 Mary Schneider (D)
Dist. 51 Amanda Howland (D)
Dist. 53 Carol Javens (D)
Dist. 56 Paul Froehlich (D)
Dist. 57
Dist. 58
Dist. 59
Dist. 60
Dist. 63
Dist. 64
Dist. 65
Dist. 66
Dist. 67
Dist. 69
Dist. 71
Dist. 72
Dist. 74
Dist. 75
Dist. 76
Dist. 77
Dist. 78
Dist. 79
Dist. 80
Dist. 81
Dist. 83
Dist. 85
Dist. 86
Dist. 87
Dist. 89
Dist. 91
Dist. 92
Dist. 96
Dist. 98
Dist. 101
Dist. 103
Dist. 104
Dist. 106
Dist. 107
Dist. 108
Dist. 111
Dist. 112
Dist. 113
Dist. 114
Dist. 115
Dist. 116
Dist. 117
Dist. 118
Elaine Nekritz (D)
Karen May (D)
Kathleen Ryg (D)
Eddie Washington (D)
Jack Franks (D)
Robert Kaempfe (D)
Aurora Austriaco (D)
Mark Walker (D)
Chuck Jefferson (D)
Greg Tuite (D)
Mike Boland (D)
Pat Verschoore (D)
Donald Moffitt (R)
Careen Gordon (D)
Frank Mautino (D)
Angelo “Skip” Saviano (R)
Deborah Graham (D)
Lisa Dugan (D)
George Scully (D)
Rich Kelly (D)
Linda Chapa Lavia (D)
Emily Klunk-McAsey (D)
Jack McGuire (D)
Bill Mitchell (R)
Walter Johnson (D)
Mike Smith (D)
Jehan Gordon (D)
Dianne McGuire (D)
Gary Hannig (D)
Robert Flider (D)
Naomi Jakobsson (D)
Lori DeYoung (D)
Tom Shrier (D)
Patti Hahn (D)
Jason Warful (D)
Daniel Beiser(D)
Jay Hoffman (D)
Tom Holbrook (D)
Wyvetter Younge (D)
Cheryl Graff (D)
Dan Reitz (D)
John Bradley (D)
Brandon Phelps (D)
Judicial
1 st Supreme McMorrow vacancy
Anne Burke
1 st Appellate Burke vacancy
Sharon Johnson Coleman
1 st Appellate Campbell vacancy
John O. Steele
5 th Appellate Hopkins vacancy
James M. Wexstten
12 September/October 2008 • United Mine Workers Journal

UMWA COMPAC
voter’s guide
Virginia
U
.S. Senate candidate Mark Warner (D) brings with him his legacy, as
Governor from 2002 to 2006, during which time he eliminated an
inherited $6 billion in budget shortfalls and produced a surplus that allowed
the largest single investment in K-12 education in Virginia history, a reinvestment
in the commonwealth’s system of higher education and a record
investment in cleanup of the nation’s largest estuary, the Chesapeake Bay.
He put a focus on economic development in areas hard hit by job losses,
turning around jobless rates in those regions.
Warner believes that the U.S. should significantly increase research and
development of alternative energy sources, including clean coal, and make
the tax credit for such research and development permanent, citing ongoing
research in carbon sequestration technology at Virginia Tech as an example
of initiatives that would be beneficial.
Alabama
Rep. Artur Davis (D)
Rep. Artur Davis (D-7th),
a longtime proponent
of good jobs at livable
wages, sees education and
health care as key elements
in achieving a better quality
of life for working families.
“Investing in education is investing
on the front end for a
status of independence rather
than dependence,” he said.
“Investing on the back end
means more money for jails,
social workers and public
assistance. Simply, if we fail to
repair our education system,
we all lose.”
Davis noted that those
most affected by the absence
of health care are the young
and the old—those least equipped to fix the problem. “We have a moral imperative
to think outside the box when considering how to offer health care
to the poor. We will work to identify federal programs and cooperate with
community leaders to open the door to health care in communities throughout
this district.”
David Kameras
Mark Warner (D)
U.S. Senate
Mark Warner (D)
U.S. House of Representatives
Dist. 2 Glenn Nye (D)
Dist. 9 Rick Boucher (D)
Dist. 10 Judy Feder (D)
Dist. 11 Gerald Connolly (D)
U.S. Senate
Vivian Davis Figures (D)
U.S. House of Representatives
Dist. 2 Bobby Bright (D)
Dist. 3 Joshua Segall (D)
Dist. 4 Robert Aderhold (R)
Dist. 5 Parker Griffith (D)
Dist. 6 Spencer Bachus (R)
Dist. 7 Artur Davis (D)
State Supreme Court
Deborah Bell Paseur
Court of Criminal Appeals
Place 1 Clyde Jones
Place 2 Aimee Cobb Smith
Public Service Commission
President Lucy Baxley
State Board of Education
Place 1 Kenyon Berry
Place 2 Judy West Bell
Place 3 Ella B. Bell
Place 4 Earl Gardner
Tuscaloosa County Commission
Dist. 2 William L. “Bubba” Englebert, Jr.
Walker County Constable
Dist. 24 Terry L. Hunter, Sr.
United Mine Workers Journal • September/October 2008 13

UMWA COMPAC
voter’s guide
Pennsylvania
longtime friend of mining families in western Penn-
A sylvania, U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha (D-12th) supports
accelerating the development of carbon capture and
storage programs, which would expand the use of clean
coal while reducing carbon emissions. Further, “We need
to enact laws to protect jobs against unfair, subsidized
imports that have battered our steel and manufacturing industries,
help small business compete in a global economy
and assure safe working conditions in our factories, mills,
mines and offices.”
A highly respected expert on military matters, Murtha
backs expanding veterans benefits, improving their health
care access and treatment and finding them jobs within
their local communities. With many retirees in his district,
he recognizes the need “to ensure the long-term stability of
Social Security, and the first step is to defeat the proposals
to privatize the system. At the same time, we need to shore
up the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp. and provide incentives
for companies to
provide better retirement
programs.”
Majority Leader
of the State House of
Representatives Bill
DeWeese (D-50th) was
Bill DeWeese (D)
instrumental in ensuring
passage of the commonwealth’s
new mine safety legislation, the first major
update in 47 years. “Not only did Bill do what it took to get
the legislation passed in the House, he was a key player in
strengthening the language from the earlier Senate version
by rejecting intense pressure by the Pennsylvania Coal Association
and insisting on the critically needed provisions
our union wanted,” said Secretary-Treasurer Kane. “He is
a courageous and constant friend of the UMWA and its
Pennsylvania membership.”
Phil Smith
U.S. House of Representatives
Dist. 3 Kathy Dahlkemper (D)
Dist. 4 Jason Altmire (D)
Dist. 5 Mark McCracken (D)
Dist. 7 Joe Sestak (D)
Dist. 8 Patrick J. Murphy (D)
Dist. 9 Tony Barr (D)
Dist. 10 Christopher P. Carney (D)
Dist. 11 Paul E. Kanjorski (D)
Dist. 12 John P. Murtha (D)
Dist. 13 Allyson Schwartz (D)
Dist. 14 Mike Doyle (D)
Dist. 17 Tim Holden (D)
Dist. 18 Tim Murphy (R )
Auditor General
Jack Wagner (D)
State Treasurer
Robert McCord (D)
State Senate
Dist. 25 Don Hilliard (D)
Dist. 29 James J. Rhoades (R)
Dist. 35 John N. Wozniak (D)
Dist. 41 Don White (R)
Dist. 43 Jay Costa, Jr. (D)
Dist. 45 Sean Logan (D)
State General Assembly
Dist. 14 Dennis Rousseau (D)
Dist. 16 Robert Matzie (D)
Dist. 19 Jake Wheatley (D)
Dist. 20 Don Walko (D)
Dist. 21 Dom Costa (D)
Dist. 22 Chelsa Wagner (D)
Dist. 23 Dan Frankel (D)
Dist. 24 Joseph Preston, Jr. (D)
Dist. 25 Joseph Markosek (D)
Dist. 27 Daniel Deasy, Jr. (D)
Dist. 28 Brad Cline (D)
Dist. 32 Anthony DeLuca (D)
Dist. 33 Frank Dermody (D)
Dist. 34 Paul Costa (D)
Dist. 35 Marc Gergely (D)
Dist. 36 Harry Readshaw (D)
Dist. 38 Bill Kortz (D)
Dist. 39 David Levdansky (D)
Dist. 42 Matt Smith (D)
Dist. 44 Ayanna Lee (D)
Dist. 45 Nick Kotik (D)
Dist. 46 Jesse White (D)
Dist. 48 Timothy Joseph Solobay (D)
Dist. 49 Peter J. Daley, II (D)
Dist. 50 Bill DeWeese (D)
Dist. 51 Tim Mahoney (D)
Dist. 52 Deberah Kula (D)
Dist. 54 John E. Pallone (D)
Dist. 55 Joseph A. Petrarca (D
Dist. 56 James E. Casorio, Jr. (D)
Dist. 57 John Boyle (D)
Dist. 58 R. Ted Harhai (D)
Dist. 59 Michael O’Barto (D)
Dist. 63 Matt Ellenberger (D)
Dist. 66 Samy Elmasry (D)
Dist. 69 Ken Warnick (D)
Dist. 71 Bryan Barbin (D)
Dist. 72 Frank Burns (D)
Dist. 73 Gary Haluska (D)
Dist. 74 Camille George (D)
Dist. 75 Dan A. Surra (D)
Dist. 77 H. Scott Conklin (D)
Dist. 107 Robert E. Belfanti, Jr. (D)
Dist. 112 Ken Smith (D)
Dist. 113 Frank Anders Shimkus (R)
Dist. 114 Jim Wansacz (D)
Dist. 115 Edward G. Staback (D)
Dist. 116 Todd A. Eachus (D)
Dist. 118 Mike Carroll (D)
Dist. 119 John T. Yudichak (D)
Dist. 120 Phyllis Mundy (D)
Dist. 121 Eddie Day Pashinski (D)
Dist. 122 Keith McCall (D)
Dist. 123 Neal P. Goodman (D)
Dist. 124 Bill Mackey (D)
Dist. 125 Tim Seip (D)
14 September/October 2008 • United Mine Workers Journal

UMWA COMPAC
voter’s guide
Western States
U
.S. Rep. Mark Udall (D), who has represented Colorado’s 2nd Congressional
District since 1988, is currently running for the U.S. Senate. He
believes that in the push for energy security, important energy sources such
as coal must be part of the mix. “Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region
are blessed with many of these resources, including abundant natural gas and
cleaner-burning coal,” he said. “Recognizing that Colorado and the nation are
home to significant coal deposits, we have to step up national efforts to capture
and store carbon. Carbon ‘sequestration’ could enable the continued use of
coal resources without contaminating the atmosphere. That’s why I introduced
the Department of Energy Carbon Capture and Storage Research Development
and Demonstration Act of 2007, which would enable capture and underground
storage of carbon.”
In neighboring New Mexico, Mark’s cousin, Tom Udall (D), who represents
the 3rd Congressional District, is also running for the Senate. With a strong focus
on health care, he wants to allow every citizen over the age of 55 to buy into
Medicare, allow small businesses to buy into the same health care plan members
of Congress and federal employees have, invest in preventive health measures,
pass expansion of children’s health insurance, let the government negotiate
lower Medicare drug prices and expand and modernize the Veterans Administration
health care system. He also wants to provide a tax credit to companies
that maintain or increase the number of workers in America, and will end the
tax breaks for companies that outsource American jobs.
Tennessee
U.S. Senate
Bob Tuke (D)
U.S. House of Representatives
Dist. 4 Lincoln Davis (D)
State Senate
Dist. 12 Becky Ruppe (D)
State House of Representatives
Dist. 36 Roger Byrge (D)
New York
U.S. House of Representatives
Dist. 24 Michael Acuri (D)
State Senate
Dist. 51 James Seward (R)
State Assembly
Dist. 115 David Townsend, Jr. (R)
Dist. 116 RoAnn Destito (D)
Dist. 117 Marc Butler (R)
Arizona
U.S. House of Representatives
Dist. 1 Ann Kirkpatrick (D)
Dist. 3 Bob Lord (D)
Dist. 4 Ed Pastor (D)
Dist. 5 Harry Mitchell (D)
Dist. 7 Raul Grijalva (D)
Dist. 8 Gabrielle Giffords (D)
Colorado
U.S. Senate
Mark Udall (D)
U.S. House of Representatives
Dist. 2 Jared Polis (D)
Dist. 3 John Salazar (D)
Dist. 4 Betsy Markey (D)
State House of Representatives
Dist. 47 Buffy McFadyen (D)
Montana
U.S. Senate
Max Baucus (D)
Governor
Brian Schweitzer (D)
Nevada
U.S. House of Representatives
Dist. 3 Alice Costandina “Dina” Titus (D)
New Mexico
U.S. Senate
Tom Udall (D)
U.S. House of Representatives
Dist. 1 Martin Heinrich (D)
Dist. 2 Harry Teague (D)
Dist. 3 Ben Ray Lujan, Jr. (D)
North Dakota
U.S. House of Representatives
At Large Earl Pomeroy (D)
Utah
U.S. House of Representatives
Dist. 2 Jim Matheson (D)
State Senate
Brad King (D)
State House of Representatives
Dist. 69 Christine Watkins (D)
Wyoming
U.S. Senate
Nick Carter (D)
Chris Rothfuss (D)
U.S. House of Representatives
At Large Gary Trauner (D)
United Mine Workers Journal • September/October 2008 15

around
our Union
LaFarge workers
moving ahead
When workers ratified a first
contract with LaFarge North
America at its Joppa, Ill., cement plant
(see UMW Journal, July/August 2008),
they were taking the final step in a
long and often difficult process. Two
years after initial organizing began,
they achieved a voice on the job.
“After the workers voted for
UMWA representation, the atmosphere
did change for the better,”
said L.U. 3907 President Jerry
Barnett. “Management started addressing
things that had caused
problems in the past. Despite a
couple of isolated incidents of local
management’s arrogance toward
workers, the solidarity shown by local
members soon put an end to the
‘I’ll show you guys how this works’
attitude of certain managers.”
Phil Smith
Leaders of the new L.U. 3907 met with President Roberts and Secretary-
Treasurer Kane at the recent District 12 conference.
A key element in the new contract
is a provision for union rights
at a new 2 million-ton plant slated to
open in 2010. The company anticipated
that the new facility will reduce
energy use and enhance environmental
protection while reducing the
need to import cement.
The negotiating process took 15
months, but now “our focus can be
centered on fostering and maintaining
our relationship with the company by
using the platform and structure we
now have thanks to the commitment
made to us by the UMWA,” Barnett
said. “Support from the International
office and District 12 leaders helped
to make the difference.
“It feels great to actually say,
‘We are United Mine Workers of
America L.U. 3907 working under
a first contract that we fought for,’”
he said. “I believe the greatest lesson
we have learned to date and will
continue to learn is the importance
of solidarity.”
Jefferson County Jail
On Sept. 20, a formal dedication of the historic Jefferson County Jail took place in
Charles Town, W.Va., after it underwent a $2.3 million restoration. The jail was the
1922 trial site for several hundred miners who faced charges of murder and treason
stemming from the southern West Virginia
mine wars that culminated in the Battle of
Blair Mountain in Logan and Boone counties
in 1921. Some 30 UMWA principal leaders
were incarcerated in the jail prior to and
during the trials, including Bill Blizzard, who
was acquitted of treason, and Walter Allen,
who was later convicted. Two other miners
were convicted of murder and a third was
tried for treason as well, but his trial ended without a verdict.
In late 2000, a previous county commission voted to demolish the old jail, but local
citizens and preservationists organized to save it. After a six-year fight, the current county
commission voted unanimously to restore the jail for county offices.
Lockout
at Logistec
L.U. 2268 members picketed a Cape
Breton pier after their employer,
Logistec Stevedoring, locked them
out Sept. 15 in a wage dispute.
“Rather than trying to resolve
this issue at the bargaining table,
management preferred to send our
members home,” said International
Auditor-Teller Bobby Burchell. “But
we’re not going anywhere.”
The 18 UMWA members at the
Nova Scotia facility make about $10
an hour less than those performing
similar work in nearby Halifax and
New Brunswick.
16 September/October 2008 • United Mine Workers Journal

around
our Union
Hobet jobs saved
The UMWA called off a rally planned
for Aug. 18 in Madison, W.Va., after
an agreement was reached between
Patriot Coal and the plaintiffs in a
suit challenging a mining permit
issued to the company’s Hobet Mining
site in Boone and Lincoln counties.
The agreement resulted in the
cancellation by the company of the
Worker Adjustment and Retraining
Notification (WARN) Act notice it had
sent to 350 UMWA L.U. 1643 members
at Hobet advising them of potential
layoffs at the mine.
“The UMWA is pleased that an
agreement was reached between the
parties that will allow our members at
Hobet to continue working,” President
Roberts said. “It demonstrates that
when all parties are willing to work
together on finding a solution, good
things can happen.”
The WARN Act notification
was issued after a federal judge
temporarily blocked a permit to
expand the mine at the request of
several environmental groups.
Roberts pledged to “continue to
support all efforts to defend the jobs
at Hobet through the legal process
and elsewhere. We will fight to defend
our members’ livelihoods. We are
prepared to work with whoever we
need to work with to save these jobs.
“Our members are not the
decision-makers about where and
how coal is mined. We just mine the
coal, so that we can provide for our
families and build our communities,”
Roberts said. “Our ability to do
that depends on a continued spirit
of understanding, openness and
cooperation from all sides.”
Safety at Crown III
Each year, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Office of Mines
and Minerals, recognizes surface and underground coal mines for their
safety achievements. The “Best Injury Frequency Rate Awards” are given
in four categories to operations that have the lowest reportable accidents
for a 12-month period. The Centre Crown Mining LLC, Crown III Mine
is the 2008 award recipient in the large underground mine division. The
miners at Crown III, represented by L.U. 12, had last won this award in
2004. Office of Mines and Minerals Director Joe Angleton presented this
year’s award to members of the Crown III Mine’s Safety Committee.
L.U. 2258 and L.U. 2300 members who work for Foundation Coal man
the table at the Coal Show in Greene County, Pa., while collecting
signatures to support passage of the Employee Free Choice Act.
Marlon Whoolery
United Mine Workers Journal • September/October 2008 17

around
our Union
In Memoriam
Joe Tagliente
David Kameras
The UMWA mourns the loss of L.U. 2286
member Joe “Pops” Tagliente, Sr., who
passed on Sept. 5, 2008. He was 94.
The son of an immigrant coal
miner who was killed on the job while
still a teenager,
Tagliente worked
at Orlandi,
Ridgeview and
Carbon Fuel
companies before
retiring from
Kanawha Coal’s
Madison Mine, capping a 49-year career.
After joining the UMWA in 1934, he
held several positions in his local and
was a member of COMPAC. “I bet no
other miner cherished the United Mine
Workers Union as Dad,” said his son,
Joe Tagliente, Jr. “Through the union’s
efforts, his pension, black lung benefits
and health benefits enabled him to be
well taken care of.”
L.U. 1656 officers join International Auditor/Teller Bobby Burchell at the Hinton,
Alb., marker commemorating the 1938 mine disaster.
Story of 1938 Hinton disaster to be told
Thanks to the assistance provided by L.U. 1656, the Hinton (Alb.) Historical
Tracks and Trails Society will present interpretive programming recognizing
the March 30, 1938, disaster at the Hinton Collieries that claimed the
lives of five miners. The exhibit will
be placed in the Hinton Historical
Interpretive Centre Museum, to be
President Roberts
explains to an
Annandale, Va.,
resident how
electing Barack
Obama will help
working families.
Hundreds of union
members joined
the Sept. 4 laborto-labor
precinct
walk sponsored
by the Northern
Virginia Area
Labor Federation.
located in Hinton’s old train station.
In addition to the fatalities, five
miners were injured, including Fireboss
William Aitken, who returned
three times to the blast site, battling
flames and sustaining burns to carry
out his surviving comrades.
A contemporary report by the
Alberta Department of Lands and
Mines indicated that the method of
ventilating the conveyer room where
the explosion took place “was bad,
to say the least, more so as none was
carried across the face.”
David Kameras
18 September/October 2008 • United Mine Workers Journal

Donald Yarish
As someone who has been active
in COMPAC most of his adult
life, L.U. 2258 member Donald
Yarish has seen both sides of politics.
“In my dad’s house, the two
pictures we had on the wall were of
John L. Lewis and Franklin Delano
Roosevelt,” said the Carmichaels,
Pa., resident and 34-year UMWA
member. “I’ve always been active in
politics. I’ve always liked it, and I’ve
always checked out who was the best
candidate for working families.”
Which is true in both word and
deed. Yarish has served as both Treasurer
and Prothonotary for Greene
County, but “there was no money
in that.”
Instead, Yarish chose the mining
life, like his father, grandfather
and uncles before him. He did “a
little bit of everything,” including
pumper, shuttle car operator and
working on the longwall in several
western Pennsylvania mines. Joining
the UMWA in 1974, he served
as L.U. 6159 Treasurer and on the
Mine Committee and Safety Committee
while working at the Bobtown
Mine, then did a brief stint at
the Vesta No. 5 Mine before going
to work at the Emerald Mine, where
he served as L.U. 2258 President
and Financial Secretary and served
on the Mine Committee and Safety
Committee. “I was always active because
I thought it was so important,”
he said. “When I got involved in the
union, I wanted to help others. I’ll
bet I haven’t missed 15 union meetings
over the years I’ve belonged.”
“Brother Yarish has devoted his
life to the advancement of working
people,” said Region I Director
Clemmy Allen. “He is a great inspirational
leader and a person you
always can count on when the going
gets tough.”
Sometimes the going gets tough
for Yarish, who retired in 1994.
He had to give up being Financial
Secretary due to macular degeneration,
which made it difficult for him
to read numbers. But that didn’t slow
him down on the political front.
“Don Yarish has been a UMWA
activist all of his career,” noted International
District 2 Vice President Ed
Yankovich. “He is not only well-respected
by the members of his local,
but by everyone who knows him,
including members of the community
at large, for his political activism
and staunch unionism.”
Actively Retired is a regular feature highlighting UMWA retirees still working
on behalf of the union. If you’d like to recommend a retiree to appear in Actively
Retired, write to the UMW Journal, UMWA, 8315 Lee Highway, Fairfax, VA
22031, Attn: Actively Retired. Please include your name, local union, a telephone
number and a brief explanation of why you’re nominating the individual.
actively
retired
“I’ve had a good life, and I’ve
really enjoyed it. But you know, I’m
77, and George W. Bush is the worst
president I’ve ever seen,” Yarish said.
“The economy is hurting, and I feel
so very bad for my children and
grandchildren. The cost of going to
“The economy is hurting, and I feel so very bad for my
children and grandchildren…We’ve got to have a change,
which is why I’m supporting Barack Obama
for President of the United States.”
college is so outrageous. Both parents
have to work today. We’ve got to have
a change, which is why I’m supporting
Barack Obama for President of
the United States.”
Yarish sees the union as the best
agent for change. “The UMWA has
made all the difference in the world
to me; and to our family, the United
Mine Workers is everything. They got
the best of everything for the members.
Over the years, we’ve had some
good leaders, but the leader we have
now, Cecil Roberts, is fantastic. I think
the union has made a better life for
everybody in the membership.”
United Mine Workers Journal • September/October 2008 19

our
health&safety
Crandall Canyon report flawed
An independent review of the
Mine Safety and Health Administration’s
(MSHA) actions during
and after last year’s Crandall Canyon
Mine disaster identified blatant
disregard for miners’ safety by the
mine operator, Genwall Resources,
a subsidiary of Murray Energy. The
company’s production-at-all-costs
mentality was the most significant
factor contributing to this tragedy.
“It is now abundantly clear that
the mine operator had reason to
know it was likely that a mine bump,
or coal outburst, would occur in the
area where it did occur on Aug. 6,
2007,” said President Roberts. “Ample
warnings were given in the company’s
own internal documents, based on
experience in another section of the
mine where a collapse had previously
occurred, as well as on conditions
miners were experiencing just a few
days prior to Aug. 6.
“Yet that did not stop senior
company management from pressing
ahead, even after the company had
seriously and illegally weakened the
structural integrity of the mine by
mining coal from the barrier pillars
and the mine floor,” Roberts said.
“We think these were criminal acts.”
And in fact, on Sept. 3, MSHA
announced that it has made a
criminal referral of issues relating
to the Crandall Canyon Mine
disaster after issuing civil citations
Safety Committee training
and orders on July 24, when it fined
the operator $1,340,000 for alleged
violations that directly contributed
to the deaths of six miners last year.
Agapito Associates, Inc., a mining
engineering consultant, was fined
$220,000 for an allegedly faulty
analysis of the mine’s design.
An Independent Review Team
appointed by Labor Secretary Elaine
Chao identified many deficiencies
in MSHA’s actions at the Crandall
Canyon Mine prior to the accident,
during the subsequent rescue operation
and in other aspects of MSHA’s
performance, policies and procedures.
In recognizing that the mine operator
has the primary responsibility for
the safety and health of its miners,
including developing plans which
provide maximum safety, the team
noted that MSHA has the responsibility
to review and evaluate these plans
to ensure that they are technically
adequate and provide protection for
miners prior to approving them.
The Department of Labor team
found that MSHA’s failure to adequately
evaluate the roof control
plans contributed to the occurrence of
the Aug. 6 accident, and deficiencies in
The union has scheduled Health and Safety Committee training at the Beckley National
Mine Academy, with an underground class scheduled for Oct. 19-24. If you know someone
who may be interested in attending the October class, please notify the UMWA’s Health
and Safety Department for further details.
MSHA’s performance during the rescue
operation cumulatively may have
affected the outcome of the Aug. 16
rescue attempt that killed three more
persons. The team also found other
deficiencies to be evident of a systemic
problem, both in MSHA District 9
and within MSHA as a whole.
“There is more to this tragedy
than the greed of a coal operator
causing workers to be put in harm’s
way,” Roberts said. “The fact is that
companies like Murray Energy are
supposed to be kept in check by
“These tragic events provide a very clear demonstration
of what has happened to MSHA over the last
seven years under the Bush administration.”
MSHA. That did not happen at Crandall
Canyon. Indeed, there already
was evidence to suggest that MSHA
personnel helped expedite the approvals
of plans submitted by Murray
Energy that led up to this disaster.
We must ask: Where were the MSHA
inspectors? Why was MSHA not being
proactive in protecting miners’
health and safety? Why did MSHA act
as little more than a rubber stamp for
a clearly flawed mining plan?
“These tragic events provide a
very clear demonstration of what
has happened to MSHA over the last
seven years under the Bush administration,”
Roberts said. “It has become
a coddler of coal companies, not an
enforcer of the law and regulation.
This report and others like it reiterate
the need for a change in administration,
to one that will put workers’
health and safety above increased
production and profits.”
20 September/October 2008 • United Mine Workers Journal

our
health&safety
Rescue teams
win big
UMWA mine rescue teams took home
the gold and more from the 53rd
annual West Virginia State Mine Rescue
Contest in Beckley last August.
Winners in the mine rescue competition
included:
Eastern Associated Coal LLC,
Federal No. 2 (L.U. 1570)
• Grand Champion
• First Aid State Champion
• First Aid Second Place
• First Aid Third Place
• Combination Mine Rescue and
First Aid State Champion
• Combination Mine Rescue and
First Aid First Place
• Pre-Shift Third Place
Patriot Coal, Southern Appalachian
Operations (combined team)
• Combination Mine Rescue and
First Aid Second Place
• Bench (BG4) Third Place
Patriot Coal, Magnum A Team
(L.U. 2286)
• Bench BioPak (240R) State Champion
• Bench BioPak (240R) First Place
• Bench BioPak (240R) Second Place
• Bench BioPak (240R) Third Place
Chevron Mining Inc., North River
Mine Blue Team (L.U. 1926)
• Bench (BG4) First Place
Highland Mining Co., Highland No. 9
Mine (L.U. 1793)
• Bench BioPak (240S) Second Place
The four-day event, sponsored by the
Southern West Virginia Mine Rescue
Association and the West Virginia Office
of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training,
included teams from West Virginia,
Kentucky, Alabama, Virginia, Ohio,
Pennsylvania and Illinois.
UMWA slams MSHA drug testing rule
With a number of challenges demanding
immediate attention,
the UMWA strongly urged the Mine
Safety and Health Administration
(MSHA) to withdraw a proposed
drug-testing rule that would divert
the agency’s attention and resources
away from more pressing needs.
“MSHA has not determined
there is a significant problem with
improper drug and alcohol use in
the coal mining industry, and in
fact acknowledges that four out of
five miners report
that their employers
already use pre-employment
screening
tests, while 75 percent
of miners report their
employers subject
them to random testing,”
said President
Roberts. “Moreover,
proceeding with this
proposed rule will
divert valuable agency
resources from other,
much more essential rulemakings
that would address health and safety
issues for which the need is both
demonstrated and urgent.”
The proposed federal rule
would require employers to establish
alcohol-free and drug-free programs
that mandate education, testing and
referrals for those who would violate
any such policy. At least two of the
key coal-mining states, Kentucky and
Virginia, already have their own drug
and alcohol testing protocols established.
“Although the union certainly
does not condone drug or alcohol
use that impairs a miner at work, the
agency’s effort to implement a final
rule on alcohol and drug use is a
distraction that our members, and all
coal miners, simply cannot afford,”
Roberts said.
For example, black lung continues
to ravage the health of coal miners,
including young miners just now
entering the industry. For years, the
union has sought rules that would
protect miners from the health hazards
associated with respirable dust
and crystalline silica, and has urged
MSHA to update outdated air quality
MSHA has not
determined there is
a significant problem
with improper drug
and alcohol use in the
coal mining industry.
chemical substance and respiratory
protection standards.
Roberts also objected to the
remarkably short 30-day comment
period MSHA allowed for the proposed
rule. “The proposed emergency
evacuation rule that was published
after the multi-fatal disasters of 2006
provided a comment period of 112
days,” he noted. “Other proposed
MSHA rules and policies generally
provide at least twice the time allowed
here, and those proposed rules
are often extended by request. There
is no compelling reason why this proposal
must be rushed through on this
substantially shorter calendar.”
United Mine Workers Journal • September/October 2008 21

DISTRICTS
in action
District 12
L.U. 12 member and Illinois
COMPAC State Chairman Randy
Henry speaks with presidential
candidate Sen. Barack Obama
after a campaign rally in August.
Local 1392 members met on
Sept. 20 for their first fall dinner in
Du Quoin, Ill.
A special meeting and dinner took
place on Sept. 24 in Montrose, Mo.
On Sept. 28, L.U. 1523 hosted a
picnic for its members in Fairview, Ill.
District 12
Steve Earle was appointed to the office
of International District 12 Vice
President effective Sept. 22, 2008. He
will fill the unexpired term of Brother
Roger Myers, who resigned due to
health reasons. Brother Earle will also
continue to perform the duties of
Region III Director.
On July 31, southwestern Indiana
retirees met in Boonville, Ind.
Locals 1919, 8941 and 9800 held
a picnic at the Ohio County Fairgrounds
in Hartford, Ky., on Aug. 2.
Local 1216 held its annual retiree
dinner on Aug. 9 in Brazil, Ind.
President Roberts, Secretary-
Treasurer Kane and Illinois AFL-CIO
Rich eddy
District 31
Secretary-Treasurer Tim Drea (a L.U.
9819 member) addressed members at
the Aug. 14 District 12 conference in
Carbondale, Ill.
The Labor Day Parade in Petersburg,
Ind., was the largest ever held,
with over 100 parade entries.
District 12 members handed out
wristbands to children for free carnival
rides at the Du Quoin, Ill., State
Fairgrounds on Labor Day.
The Kentucky COMPAC meeting
was held on Sept.4-5 in Frankfort.
In Linton, Ind, L.U. 1410 held a
retiree dinner on Sept. 13.
On Sept.16, Local 14 held a
dinner for members and spouses in
Mulberry, Kans.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama spoke at length about
the need for coal to be part of America’s energy future at a rally in
Smithfield, Oh., attended by UMWA members and District 31 leadership.
District 17
District 17 congratulates the two
recipients of the District 17 Scholarship
awards. Matthew Stevenson is the
son of Franklin, a member of L.U.
2232, and Judith Stevenson. Matthew
lives in Vansant, Va., and he plans to
attend Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.
Anthony Haskins is the son of Cecil
and Ramona Haskins. Cecil is a
member of L.U. 6029. Anthony lives in
Kimball, W.Va., and will attend West
Virginia University in Morgantown.
The 70th Labor Day celebration
was held Sept. 1 at the John Slack Memorial
Park in Racine, W.Va. International
District 17 Vice President Joe
Carter was the speaker for this event.
Speakers on hand included state and
local politicians and labor leaders.
The Labor Day Committee wishes to
thank everyone who participated and
came out for a fun day.
District 22
On Sept. 9 and 10, the District 22
Conference was held in Salt Lake City,
Ut. In conjunction with the conference,
International District 22 Vice President
Mike Dalpiaz held the District COM-
PAC meeting. The main substance of
the conference was on the upcoming
presidential election. It was very clearly
explained to the membership that
everyone needs to go out to their locals
and tell them how important it is to get
Obama/Biden elected.
22 September/October 2008 • United Mine Workers Journal

DISTRICTS
in action
A guest speaker at the conference
was Bill Banig, UMWA Director
of Governmental Affairs. President
Roberts sent a very informative video
based on the politics of what has
happened over the last eight years
and the importance of the upcoming
presidential election.
Also, financial and grievance
training classes were held in conjunction
with this conference. Ron
Airhart, Executive Assistant to the
Secretary-Treasurer, was in attendance
to conduct the financial secretary
training. Bo Martos, Director of
Contract Services, as well as District
22 Representatives Bill Johnson, Phil
Russell and Dave Maggio, conducted
the grievance training classes.
We had a very large turnout for
this event. We were glad to welcome
the officers from L.U. 2005 on the Navajo
Nation, which is our newest local
union in our district. This was their
first conference with District 22, and
we hope to see them every year. We
would like to thank all who attended.
District 2
President Roberts fires up the
crowd on behalf of presidential
candidate Barack Obama at the
District 2 retiree-pensioner annual
picnic in Fredericktown, Pa.
District 31
International
Secretary-
Treasurer Dan
Kane and Marion
County Central
Labor Council
President Vern
Swisher join L.U.
1702 member
Mark Dorsey as
Dorsey receives
the council’s 2008
Labor Person of
the Year Award.
Honoring Our Pensioners
UMWA District officials recently honored the following retirees for their
years of service as members of the UMWA.
70 Year Pins District 17 L.U. 6196 Andy Semonco
60 Year Pins District 2 L.U. 4426 Clarence
Schreckengost District 12 L.U. 1092 Girthel Figg L.U. 1393 Bill
Combs L.U. 1423 George Adams L.U. 9819 A. Moe Bialas, Bill Herman,
Robert Mitchellson, Joseph O’Bryan District 17 L.U. 5997 Samuel Foley
District 31 L.U. 0283 John J. Tonkovich
50 Year Pins District 2 L.U. 1412 Carl M. Mucci District 12 L.U. 1605 Charles
Babb L.U. 2470 James Durham District 17 L.U. 6608 Bernard Hapney L.U. 8783 Shirley
Gibson, Jr. District 31 L.U. 9909 Paul Hines
J.F. Rote
40 Year Pins District 2 L.U. 1248 Richard Richards District 12 L.U. 5138
James Dockery L.U. 7110 James Ogden L.U. 9800 Donald Cox, Robert Cox, Lonnie Hawes
L.U. 9819 Harry Bandy, Paul Bandy, Bill Herman, Ed Hughes District 17 L.U. 0340 R.W. Gray
L.U. 1440 Bryant Hatfield L.U. 2274 James Stevens L.U. 6633 Ronald Brewer L.U. 9735
Ronnie Lusk L.U. 6243 Clarence Wilson District 20 L.U. 1288 John Chappell, Thomas H.
Gray, Moultie W. Powell District 31 L.U. 1188 Ronald Groves L.U. 9909 Ralph T. Bolyard
David Kameras
Unfortunately, due to the numbers of members receiving pins, the UMW Journal cannot run photos of
pin recipients. In order to receive a membership pin, you must submit an application to the District office.
Pins are not automatically issued. Your district representative will send the names to the UMW Journal.
United Mine Workers Journal • September/October 2008 23

Join your UMWA brothers and sisters on Nov. 4
who are voting for Barack Obama for President.
For your job,
your health care,
your retirement
security,
your family’s future...
H
Vote Obama/Biden!
Printed in the U.S.A.