What the Miners Wrote

[mnaz]

Is it risk inherent in the job, or danger due to corporate negligence? That's the question we need answered. I don't think anyone's answered it yet.

[abcrystcats]

Good point.

My humble opinion is that when it comes to mining there is risk inherent in the job. Period.

To make it perfectly safe would be to make it perfectly unprofitable as well.

So now I expect to hear from people who will say, then DON'T MINE. Yeah, right.

You take risks far greater than the miners did when you drive down the STREET.

That's what makes this kind of a dumb discussion.

[firsty]

no one wants to think theyre going to be the one who dies.

anyway, i think this got started because i wrote in my note that i want my family to sue the motherfucking bastards. i was trying to write an honest note, to put the note writing thing in perspective, to allay the hero bullshit talk about selfless notes, etc. fact is, most of us would have written that same note. it IS human nature to write a selfless note in that situation. it's also human nature to get pissed off at things, it's human nature for the families to want someone to pay for the loss of life, so it's then therefore the same human nature that makes the miners understand the desire to sue, thats why my honest note included that.

look, the reason a miner mines is because it's the best paying job in that region. the reason it's the best paying job in the region is because of the dynamics of big business. the reason it doesnt pay even more is precisely because big business manages pay scales. the profit margins for CEOs vs risk is much better than it is for the workers. thats not fair. it's a known risk, but that doesnt make it ethical, and it doesnt remove the risk that a CEO should be sued for not providing what could be a safer work environment. the company knows the risks, too, and if ANY of the profit margin absorbed by the CEOs could have been put back into the safety of the company, it should have been. yeah, it might be dangerous to drive your car, but it's less dangerous for the CEO who can afford a HUMMER than for the worker who can only afford a saturn, so what the fuck.

[abcrystcats]

I have some questions:

Could some miners mine because they like the JOB, and not purely because of the pay?

DID any of the miners write "sue the motherfucking bastards" in their notes?

Is pay scale manipulated by "big business" as you say or is it simply based on supply and demand? If there are 8,000,000 people who can do your job and 80 qualified applicants, you're going to get less, A LOT LESS, than if there are maybe 10 people in the country who can take a stab at it. That to me, is the simple explanation for CEO salaries.

The CEO of my ex-company just retired. I started a year after he did and quit two years before he did, so I followed almost his whole career. I won't belabor you with all the things he did, but it was unprecedented. He turned a company that was literally going belly up into the world's largest health insurance corporation. When people bellyached about his LARGE salary, I'd ask them, "Can YOU do it?" If you think anyone can do these jobs, then think again. It took him three years to plan his retirement because he needed to find someone skilled enough to follow him, THEN merge the two companies. Now he's going to concentrate on health insurance reform from the federal side, so he didn't exactly RETIRE.

****

OK, so agreed: companies should be sued for not providing safe work environments. If anyone thinks there's a reasonable doubt that the company did its best to reduce risk, then they should sue. And then the courts can examine the case and determine whether or not the company was at fault.

Did I change my mind? I think I just might have done that.