March - April - United Mine Workers of America

Governmentin actionIndiana congressman blames minersfor getting black lungWhen labor Secretary hildaSolis testified before the houseEducation and Workforce Committeein February, she likely expectedsome tough questions from the newRepublican majority on the panel.But she probably did not expect tohear a freshman member ofCongress blame coal miners forblack lung.Yet that’s just what Rep. larryD. Buchson (R) of Evansville, Ind.,did. A surgeon, Buchson is the sonof a 37-year member of the UWMAand the grandson of two coal miners.“ The most effectiveway to prevent blacklung is to reduceminers’ exposureto respirable dustin coal mines.”Despite that background, he said, “Isee a lot of patients with workplacerelatedrespiratory problems, someof which, to put it bluntly, are theirown issue because they refuse towear safety equipment regardlessof whether there are regulations inplace to do so or not.”“Rep. Buchson’s commentreflects a serious lack of understandingabout the causes of black lungand how to prevent it,” PresidentRoberts said. “The most effective wayto prevent black lung is to reduceminers’ exposure to respirable dustin coal mines.“Wearing masks or respiratorscan help,” Roberts said. “But they arenot the cure-all Rep. Buchson seemsto think they are. Respirators shouldbe the ‘last line of defense’ againstrespirable coal dust, because if theyare the first line of defense, it cangive irresponsible operators a reasonto let dust get out of control in themine atmosphere. And that cancreate even more problems.” new push to kill campaignfinance regulationsIn the wake of last year’s decision by the Supreme Court to allow unlimitedand anonymous spending by corporations in federal campaigns, severalright-wing groups are working to undo even more prohibitions on the sources ofcampaign funds.A report in The Politico, a political daily online magazine, said thatopponents of campaign finance regulations have targeted “almost every typeof regulation on the books: disclosure requirements, bans on foreign andcorporate contributions and—in a pair of cases the Supreme Court will considerthis month—party spending limits and public financing of campaigns.”Their goal is to allow untold billions of dollars from multinationalcorporations to be used in the campaigns of those who will do the bidding ofthose corporations.“There is no question that the 2010 ruling by the Supreme Court was a bigpart of the right-wing victory in the 2010 election,” President Roberts said. “Itmeant that corporations could contribute millions of dollars to shadowy groupswhich then ran ads opposing the friends of working families. And they could doit without anyone knowing about it.“The defeat of Rick Boucher in Virginia is a perfect example,” Roberts said.“Boucher had more money in his campaign warchest than his opponent, butthat really didn’t matter. The political PACs funded by anonymous donationsfrom corporations and the very wealthy outspent Boucher’s supporters by tento-one.“This is how the people in Wisconsin ended up with an anti-working familygovernor like Scott Walker,” Roberts said. “It’s how people in Ohio ended upwith John Kasich, another governor who has working people and unions in hiscrosshairs. The list goes on and on.“And it’s not going to get any better if these new attempts to open thefloodgates to corporate cash are successful,” Roberts said.14 March/April 2011 • United Mine Workers Journal