[Marxism] Utah miners confront company union as NLRB weighs vote on UMWA

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The Militant August 10,2004
NLRB holds hearing on union vote at Utah mine 
(front page)
 
BY RÓGER CALERO
AND JOEL BRITTON  
PRICE, Utah??C.W. Mining is an employer that is part of the Kingston
Order Entities with 173 businesses,? said Richard Rosenblatt, attorney
for the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) on behalf of miners at the
Co-Op mine near Huntington, fighting for representation by the UMWA. 
?The evidence will show that many members who work in the mine are
either children or grandchildren of supervisors, or children or
grandchildren of the founding members of the Order,? continued
Rosenblatt. The attorney was presenting his opening statement at a
fact-finding hearing of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) held
here July 20-21 in the Carbon County court complex. 

Therefore, Rosenblatt argued, these family members have ?a conflict of
loyalty,? and ?lack a community of interest with outsiders? in the
bargaining unit and must be ?excluded? from the right to vote in a union
election that the NLRB has mandated be held. 

The hearing followed a decision by the government agency at the end of
June that C.W. Mining had illegally fired the 75 miners last September
for union activity. It ordered the company to offer unconditional
reinstatement to all the dismissed employees, and decided to conduct a
union representation election. 

The Co-Op miners have been fighting for a union in order to better
organize to press for safety on the job, and to get better wages and
working conditions. Most production workers at Co-Op were paid between
$5.25 and $7 an hour, while wages for underground coal miners in the
United States average at least $17 an hour. 

The UMWA had filed a representation petition with the NLRB regional
office in Denver, Colorado, in May, on behalf of the Co-Op coal miners
after the large majority of the 75 dismissed miners signed up for the
union. The UMWA took advantage of a legally required window in the
so-called contract between C.W. Mining and the company ?union,? the
International Association of United Workers Union (IAUWU), that the
Co-Op miners have been working under. 

NLRB officer Nancy Brandt heard arguments and received evidence from
attorney Carl Kingston for the Co-Op bosses and Mark Hansen for the
IAUWU, as well as Rosenblatt for the UMWA. The lawyers were given an
August 4 deadline for submitting briefs to the NLRB regional director in
Denver, who is expected to rule on who will be included in the
bargaining unit at the Co-Op mine, and therefore would be eligible to
vote in the representation election. 

At the heart of the issues before the NLRB is whether members of the
Kingston family employed at the mine should be allowed to vote. 

The company submitted a list of approximately 100 Kingstons and others
who are listed on the company?s payroll as part-time or seasonal help.
Some on the company?s list also work full time alongside approximately
four dozen miners who are mostly immigrants from Mexico. 

Rosenblatt presented evidence and called on witnesses to support the
UMWA argument that the relatives of the Kingston family employed in the
mine derive benefits none of the other miners do and their direct
connection to the owners of the mine represents a conflict of interest.

 
Former clan member testifies 
Among the witnesses called by the UMWA were Ronald Barton, a criminal
investigator for the Utah attorney general, who had put together a
genealogy of the Kingston family, and LuAnn Kingston Cooper, who left
the polygamous clan in 2000 to escape from an incestuous marriage. Their
testimonies established that about 95 percent of the nonimmigrant C.W.
Mining employees are related to the Kingstons. This reinforced the
UMWA?s argument on the overlap between most of those listed as employees
on the company?s payroll and stockholders and owners of the mine, as
well as owners and managers of other Kingston-owned businesses. 

The Kingston clan, also known as the Latter Day Church of Christ, and
associated with the Davis County Co-operative, is estimated to include
1,200 members. The family has amassed a $150 million business operation
that includes pawn shops, restaurant supply stores, dairies, and mines
throughout six western states. The Co-Op mine is reportedly one of its
most profitable businesses. 

In her testimony, LuAnn Kingston Cooper described the ?service
statements? and ?card system? used instead of paychecks to compensate
members of the clan employed in Kingston businesses. Under this setup,
Cooper testified, most clan members are restricted to using their
debit-type cards at Kingston-owned businesses. Cooper said she began
working at the clan?s main office in the 1990s at the age of 12. She
also explained how at meetings every other Friday of the Davis County
Co-op group they were instructed to ?be polite? but not to fraternize
with the ?outsiders,? referring to non-members of the clan, after
working hours. 

Cooper described how members of the family get assigned to work in the
mine. ?They were told to go,? she said. She cited as an example Robert
Petersen, a young member of the clan who was told to work at Co-Op,
started working there, but didn?t like it and was not given a choice to
work in any of the other Kingtson businesses, according to Cooper. ?They
wouldn?t let him work anywhere else,? Cooper said. Petersen ended up
cutting his ties with the family, she stated. 

The company and company union attorneys presented witnesses who claimed
that Kingston family members employed at the mine are hired like
everyone else and are subject to the same policies and pay scales as
other employees. 

Evidence submitted by the UMWA to counter this argument included job
applications filled out by Kingston clan members that were taken from
the Co-Op personnel files, after being subpoenaed for the hearing. Every
application had only the name of the individual and an address on it.  
 
Bogus arguments by company ?union? 
?We are here to provide additional support for the status of workers and
members of the union,? said Mark Hansen, the attorney representing the
so-called IAUWU. Joining Hansen were Neven Bratt, who said he is the
vice-president of the ?international union,? and Chris Grundvig, who
described himself as the president of the IAUWU ?local? at the Co-Op
mine. 

Grundvig claimed that the company outfit has more than 100
members?including supervisors, managerial, office, and clerical
employees. 

During cross-examination by Rosenblatt, Bratt testified that the other
two officers of the IAUWU are Ronald and Vicky Mattingly. The current
address listed for the IAUWU is the home of the couple. In answering the
UMWA lawyer, Bratt said that the IAUWU officers had been elected at a
convention held at Mattingly?s home. He also admitted that the
?international? has only one ?local,? the one at Co-Op. 

Among the scores of relatives of the mine owners and founders of the
Davis County Cooperative mentioned by Barton and Cooper during their
testimony, were Chris Grundvig, Bratt, and attorney Hansen, who Cooper
testified is a cousin of C.W. Mining attorney Carl Kingston. 

Throughout much of the hearing, Hansen and Carl Kingston teamed up
against Rosenblatt, raising one objection after another to his questions
of witnesses. In virtually every case, the NLRB hearing officer allowed
the UMWA attorney to proceed. 

Soon after the hearing began, Hansen quit pretending there was a
distinction between the pro-boss outfit and the company, and even asked
for a recess in order to consult with Carl Kingston before continuing. 

The NLRB regional director in Denver will rule on which of the Co-Op
workers can vote in the union election. Those voting will reportedly
have the option to choose to be represented by the UMWA, the company?s
IAUWU, or no union at all. 

>From the beginning of their fight for a union at Co-Op, miners have said
the company outfit never represented them when they were victimized by
the bosses. 

At the hearing Rosenblatt said the UMWA reserved the right to challenge
in the courts the legitimacy of the company union, which was recognized
by the NLRB more than 20 years ago. 

Bob Butero, organizing director of Region IV of the UMWA, told reporters
that a decision could come two to three weeks after the August 4
deadline for attorneys from both sides to submit their briefs. 
 
 


_______________________________________________
Marxism mailing list
Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism