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UMWA files petition against MSHA over miner protection amid pandemic

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The United Mine Workers of America and another union are seeking legal assistance in getting the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration to issue an order protecting union miners from contracting infectious diseases.

The petition for an Emergency Temporary Standard comes as international concerns about the coronavirus pandemic continues.

“We have been asking MSHA to step up and do its job to protect America’s miners from the beginning of this pandemic,” UMWA president Cecil Roberts said Tuesday. “But so far, the agency has refused. You would think that those who are charged with keeping miners safe would want to actually do so. It is very disappointing that they have turned their backs on these critical workers.”

Roberts noted working in a mine increases the chances of getting an airborne disease because miners work close to each other.

“Miners have largely been designated as ‘essential’ workers and thus are currently working at mine sites across the country. Further, as government-imposed stay-at-home orders are lifted and demand for mine-produced resources increases, more miners will return to work at pre-pandemic levels,” the petition states.

“If MSHA fails to issue an ETS to address this unprecedented crisis, the life and health of tens of thousands of miners will be placed in grave danger as a result of the miners’ increased exposure to COVID-19.”

The United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union joined the UMWA in filing the petition in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.





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