A Utah miner will speak about the struggle to organize a union and win safer working conditions at a program Saturday, March 25, at 7 p.m. at the UFCW Local 789 hall, 266 Hardman Ave., South St. Paul. He'll also discuss a landmark lawsuit that threatens workers' rights to free speech.
Bill Estrada, from Price, Utah, is a defendant in a lawsuit filed by the C.W. Mining Co. that charges the miners, the United Mine Workers Union and The Militant newspaper with defamation. Estrada was a coal miner on strike for 10 months at the Co-Op mine in Huntington, Utah.
The Co-Op miners, many originally from Mexico, have been fighting since September 2003 to be represented by the United Mine Workers. Underground coal miners at Co-Op were paid $5.50 to $7 an hour, and often forced to work in unsafe conditions. The company's response to the workers' struggle was to fire several of the leaders and lock out 75 miners who supported the fired workers. The miners transformed the lockout into a 10-month strike battle, which won solidarity across the country and the world.
In response, C.W. Mining and the company union at the Co-Op mine filed a lawsuit in September 2004 in Federal District Court in Salt Lake City against the UMWA, its international officers and 16 individual Co-Op miners. It also names as defendants The Militant newspaper, as well as trade unions and individuals who have backed the miners. At issue is whether workers and their unions can discuss among themselves, speak at labor meetings and rallies and be quoted in the labor press about bad pay, unsafe working conditions and violations of dignity without being dragged into court, charged with slander, and drained of their time and resources.
Other speakers at the program will be Randy Jasper, activist in Family Farm Defenders and a dairy farmer from Muscoda, Wis., and Bernie Hesse, head of organizing for UFCW Local 789, which has been in the forefront of organizing meatpackers in Minnesota against boss abuse, speedup and unsafe conditions.
Food, refreshments, and music with DJ Henry "El Cale?o" will be provided.
Contributions will be taken, with proceeds to benefit the Militant Fighting Fund, which has been established to win support for the Militant newspaper?s freedom of press rights and publicize the fight of all of the defendants to defeat the harassment lawsuit.
For more information call (651) 457-3362.
Share
A Utah miner will speak about the struggle to organize a union and win safer working conditions at a program Saturday, March 25, at 7 p.m. at the UFCW Local 789 hall, 266 Hardman Ave., South St. Paul. He’ll also discuss a landmark lawsuit that threatens workers’ rights to free speech.
Bill Estrada, from Price, Utah, is a defendant in a lawsuit filed by the C.W. Mining Co. that charges the miners, the United Mine Workers Union and The Militant newspaper with defamation. Estrada was a coal miner on strike for 10 months at the Co-Op mine in Huntington, Utah.
The Co-Op miners, many originally from Mexico, have been fighting since September 2003 to be represented by the United Mine Workers. Underground coal miners at Co-Op were paid $5.50 to $7 an hour, and often forced to work in unsafe conditions. The company’s response to the workers’ struggle was to fire several of the leaders and lock out 75 miners who supported the fired workers. The miners transformed the lockout into a 10-month strike battle, which won solidarity across the country and the world.
In response, C.W. Mining and the company union at the Co-Op mine filed a lawsuit in September 2004 in Federal District Court in Salt Lake City against the UMWA, its international officers and 16 individual Co-Op miners. It also names as defendants The Militant newspaper, as well as trade unions and individuals who have backed the miners. At issue is whether workers and their unions can discuss among themselves, speak at labor meetings and rallies and be quoted in the labor press about bad pay, unsafe working conditions and violations of dignity without being dragged into court, charged with slander, and drained of their time and resources.
Other speakers at the program will be Randy Jasper, activist in Family Farm Defenders and a dairy farmer from Muscoda, Wis., and Bernie Hesse, head of organizing for UFCW Local 789, which has been in the forefront of organizing meatpackers in Minnesota against boss abuse, speedup and unsafe conditions.
Food, refreshments, and music with DJ Henry “El Cale?o” will be provided.
Contributions will be taken, with proceeds to benefit the Militant Fighting Fund, which has been established to win support for the Militant newspaper?s freedom of press rights and publicize the fight of all of the defendants to defeat the harassment lawsuit.
For more information call (651) 457-3362.