Today, April 5, is the second anniversary of the disaster at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch (W.Va.) mine where an explosion that mine safety experts say could have been prevented killed 29 coal miners. Mine Workers (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts says, “Today is a day for us to pause and think about the families…. Let us continue to keep the families of the victims in our hearts and our prayers.”

If deadly mine disasters like 2010’s Upper Big Branch (W.Va.) that killed 29 coal miners are to be prevented, miners must have stronger protections to report safety violations, mine safety law must be stronger and mine operators must face tougher penalties for violating safety and health laws, witnesses told a House hearing yesterday. 

This is a cross-post from the AFL-CIO's Solidarity Center.

In Colombia’s coal mines, troubling health and safety risks combined with serious environmental and social justice issues create conditions reminiscent of mining in the early 20th century in the United States. The dangers mine workers—and local communities—face are real and frightening, say four mining safety and health experts from the Mine Workers (UMWA).

Check out this video from the Mine Workers (UMWA) showing coal miners providing the energy that powers America.

Don Blankenship was head of Massey Energy when 29 coal miners lost their lives in a massive explosion. Forced to resign, he has been largely invisible since.

The former director of security at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch (W.Va.) mine  was found guilty in federal court of lying to federal agents and destroying documents sought by investigators looking into the deadly blast. Twenty-nine  miners were killed in the 2010 explosion.

There were many factors that led up to the April 5, 2010, explosion that killed 29 coal miners at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch (W.Va.) mine, according to a new Mine Workers (UMWA) report on the disaster. But according to the report—”Industrial Homicide“—“there is only one source for all of them:”

In this op-ed, Charles Wowkanech and Laurel Brennan, president and secretary-treasurer, respectively, of the New Jersey State AFL-CIO describe the state federation’s 50 years of making a difference.

Fifty years ago today, George Meany, president of the AFL-CIO, symbolically “tied the knot” linking the hands of AFL leader Vincent Murphy and CIO chief Joel Jacobson.

AFL-CIO Field Communications staffer Cathy Sherwin sends us this report.

Fed up with inaction and partisan-political game playing in Washington, Kentuckians gathered in Louisville to call upon Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell to stop the partisan politics and pass a budget that works for all working families, not just millionaire CEOs. They called out their senator for putting the 2012 elections ahead of the needs of his own constituents who would be impacted by deep cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

Workers at two mines owned by subsidiaries of Alpha Natural Resources are receiving a $1 per hour pay raise immediately now that management signed the Mine Workers (UMWA) national collective bargaining agreement today. The agreement covers nearly 1,400 miners at the Cumberland and Emerald mines in Greene County, Pa., and will be retroactive to July 1.