COAL miners who attended a Mitt Romney rally last month in the critical swing state of Ohio are angry are being ‘forced’ to attend the event – and even missed out on a day’s pay.
Murray Energy’s Century coal mine in Beallsville closed on August 14th – the day of the Republican presidential nominee’s event – citing security concerns.
Mr Romney held his event at the mine, as he effectively used it and the hoards of soot-faced miners in coveralls and hard hats as props during his speech about the financial and political benefits of increased coal mining.
‘At the event there were jugglers, there were rides there was a brand new golf carts- that a lot of expense had been put out and they felt that with the layoffs at one of the other mines, they thought it was uncalled for,’ Mr Blomquist said.
The Los Angeles Times reports that when asked to comment, the mine’s chief operating officer Robert Moore said ‘Attendance was mandatory but no one was forced to attend’.
‘We are talking about an event that was in the best interest of anyone that’s related to the coal industry in this area or the entire country,’ Mr Moore continued.
He added that workers lose a day’s wages when the mine is closed for whatever reason, including bad weather or power outages.
The radio host stood by his decision to read some of the emailed complaints he received, which paint a picture of the forced compliance that the company exerted on its employees over both events like the August 14th one or other campaign dinners in the crucial electoral college state.
‘Just for the record if we did not go, we knew what would happen: then we would have to make up time or pay was short. There are lists that go around if you are the good people or the bad people, that means if you go to these dinners or not,’ one email read. ‘At this point I need my income, jobs are hard to find, but it is wrong what we are made to because of the outcome if we don’t.’
Mr Blomquist agreed, telling The Cleveland Plain Dealer: ‘If they shut the mine down, why should they lose a day’s pay? There are some guys that just want to go to work, feed their family and go home.’
Robert Murray, the owner of Murray Energy’s Century and parent company Pepper Pike, and his wife have contributed the federal limit of $5,000 each to Romney’s campaign, not to mention $471,185 to a plethora of Republican candidates and politicians since 2008.
And those contributions are only a fraction of the total donated to various Republican political action committees by Murray Energy subsidiaries, who the Center of Responsive Politics reports gave a total $1.5million during the same time span.
Given Romney’s strong support of coal and coal expansion as a part of his proposed plan to make America energy independent by 2020, the monetary ties to the Republican campaign come as little surprise.
True support in Ohio is going to be critical come November, as the latest poll released Sunday by the Columbus Dispatch has the President and Romney tied at 45 per cent of the respondents.
- DailyMail, UK.