Recruiting Hispanics for Kentucky Coal Mines Raises Debate

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"It is common knowledge that the work ethic of the Eastern Kentucky worker has declined from where it once was," Mr. Bearse wrote to the state mining board. Bad attitudes and drug abuse, he argued, were affecting attendance "and, ultimately, productivity."

Mr. Bearse's appeal to the board: Relax an English-only policy in the mines so he could bring in Hispanic workers.

American companies often say they need migrant workers to do low-paying, menial tasks that many Americans will not. But at $18 an hour and up, plus benefits, mining jobs are some of Appalachia's best.
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But Tim Miller, a United Mine Workers union organizer.....said there were 1,400 laid-off union miners in Western Kentucky alone who could go to work today. He echoed the sentiments of many who believe the industry was simply hoping to exploit Hispanics and drive down wages.

"They want people who don't have the ability to protect themselves," Mr. Miller said. "If they can flood the market with Hispanic workers, if they can get away with paying a guy $8 an hour, the next guy will be willing to work for $7."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/19/national/19miners.html

Wonder how they voted.

http://uselectionatlas.org/USPRESIDENT/state.php?year=2004&fips=21&f=0

Of course, that does not matter to those caught up in the simplistic red/blue Republican talking point that has captivated so many people here.

I've seen it on occasion - union trucks with "Freedom Ain't Free" stickers or some such nonsense. "Simplistic" is certainly the word.

..... I wonder how those good "born again," miners who voted for republicans because
they support our values feel now? And when the Mexicans get a few years on the job
and start getting up to $12.50/ hour ......... bring on the Dominicans .... or the Haitians.

Can't outsource coal mines ... but the miners that another story ..... what the hell welcome to the race to the
bottom.

I can see Bush now, "You're all doing a heck of a job, Brownies."

Those asses are taking away rough, tough, and dangerous jobs, only to hire illegals to fill them? And once they do, can you imagine how the safety standards will drop in the future?

This country is truly going insane. How DARE they claim that one of their lives is somehow less important the anyone else's?

thats a low paying job???? Thats twice as much as I earn.

It's fair for the skill and danger involved.

The union is worried that the wages will *fall* from there to much lower.

My late grandmother's husband had black lung disease from mine work. I think he'd have gladly given back whatever he earned to be able to go someplace without an oxygen tank or to have any hope of surviving his much older wife. A job he hadn't done in 40 years killed him and the grief and loneliness of his loss probably killed my grandmother, who survived him by less than two years.

$18/hr isn't nearly enough for that.

My brother was making 26 dollars an hour in a non union mine last year. The mine was crying for workers. He could work as much overtime as he wanted. Not many people have the guts to work in coal mine conditions. Coal companies are making money hand over fist. The workers deserve every cent they earn. They also deserve to work in safe mine conditions. A union miner is not going to put up with unsafe conditions in a non union mine. My brother was hoping to get into a union mine as soon as he could. Unfortunately he died (not in a mine incident) before he was able to make the move.

And when unions were strong, you would have been making more. Men used to be able to own a home, raise a family, buy a house and new car, without their wives working. Don't forget that.

less money. the unions would be all over that shit. I work as a loan officer here in vegas and I am so sick of hearing hispanics driving the wage down. the majority of the hispanic people make decent money, I have one right now that earns 32.00 an hour, another who makes 26.50 an hour. All mainly in construction, my fiance is a construction superintendant and he CANNOT find "American" workers so the contruction companies hire Hispanics and they pay them well with alot of overtime.
Sure you're gonna have some exploited workers, thats always gonna be the case no matter where you go and what race it is.

This dude is referring to "bad attitudes and drug abuse" for the decline in american workers.

"American" workers"<snip>

That seems highly unlikely.

<snip>This dude is referring to "bad attitudes and drug abuse" for the decline in american workers.<snip>

Bad attitudes and drug abuse? That's the problem is it? There are no family men out there who don't need work to support their families that are not addicted to illegal drugs? Or their attitudes are 'bad'. Maybe so much of the indignity that the American workers are put through anymore with their pre-employment investigations and credit checks and every other damn intrusive hoop some people think is their right to inflict on people who simply want to work isn't likely to be a little offsetting.

Since you seem to know so much about the subject, how do they run all these checks on foreign workers? Or do they?

Your post just doesn't make any sense whatsoever, at least not to me.

to pay Hispanics less money? You're in a growing area where there may be a labor shortage, not in Kentucky or WV. I suppose you will say why don't they move to the jobs, one catch with that is if they sell their house for $50000 here and move to CA or NV and have to pay $300,000 for a comparable home.

I am so sick of people looking at their own tiny portion of the country and not understanding what's going on everywhere else. I could say the same thing about my tiny town, where we CAN find "American" workers and they do make $25 an hour. But I know I can look 60 miles from here, to a bigger town, and the $10 an hour construction workers are the rule. I bet your construction superintendent has a truckload on his payroll too, whether he tells you or not, or you want to admit it or not. There's a difference between educated US hispanic contractors and exploited, under-paid illegal framers and roofers.

Some of them have legal permission to be here. Many of them, in fact, were born here!

I feel sorry for them but ALL people have to learn that every action they take has consequences.

Kentucky's Democrats are concentrated in mining country.

Educate yourself: http://uselectionatlas.org/USPRESIDENT/state.php?year=2004&fips=21&f=0

You've talked to a lot of miners?

that would be willing to go to Kentucky for a job in a union mine. These people want to bring in illegals to work for peanuts and this will drive the wages down even lower in the non-union mines. Then in time the UMWA will have to accept lower wages to keep their jobs. They hired illegals here at a Walmart construction site paying them $1200 under the table with no benefits while local union construction workers are out of work. I don't know about other areas but here the union construction contractors have been forced to pay wages sometimes 30% below scale in order to get contracts.

Mine managers are some of the worst in exploiting workers. There is a bitter history of antagonism all the way back to the time of the Molly MaGuires. It's more of a feud than an an "attitude" problem.

What has created the sudden demand for coal? Bush environmental pullbacks and other perks to the fossil fuel industries?

while the guys at the top make off with the increased profits