When two coal miners were given the chance to comment on a new safety program they didn't hold back.
… the case revolved around a contentious bonus program implemented at Murray Energy’s Lovejoy #22 mine, in Fairview, West Virginia. Under the program, miners would earn extra pay if they avoided safety citations and accidents and hit certain production marks. Sounds great, right? Well, by offering that financial incentive, such a program could discourage miners from reporting hazards. …
On his voided check for $11.58, Richard Harrison, a 10-year-veteran of the mine, wrote, “Kiss My Ass Bob,” and underlined “Bob” twice.
On his voided check for $3.22, Jesse Stolzenfels, a seven-year veteran, wrote, “Eat Shit Bob.”
Both miners had voted against the bonus plan, believing it ran counter to safe mining practices. They also felt it was an insult for the company to implement what the union had democratically rejected. As Stolzenfels later testified, “It went against what we did as a union.”
The Bob in this case would be Bob Murray, owner of Murray American Energy, and the biggest “coal baron” still out there actively baroning. You probably won’t be surprised to learn that both miners were immediately fired after expressing themselves so forcefully to Mr. Murray.
However, both a trial judge and the National Labor Relations Board have now ruled that the miners should be reinstated and awarded back pay. Because, no matter how they phrased it, their words were a form of protest against what they viewed as a program to decrease safety at the mine. They also demonstrated that—and stop me if this shocks you—a coal mine is a place where more than a little profanity gets used daily, both by employees and supervisors. So the two workers were protesting a program that affected their safety on the job and doing it in terms that were common in their workplace.
Bob Murray called the ruling “biased,” but the miners are headed back to work. So shove it up your ass, Bob.
Programs like the one implemented at Murray Energy are problematic. Mines (like many other work sites) are rated for safety in terms of “reportable incidents.” Too many reportable incidents can lower the rating of a site to the point where it has to pay fines, is subject to additional inspections, or is even forced to shut down. So it’s natural that employers want to take actions to reduce such incidents.
However, rates of reportable incidents don’t necessarily map to reductions in actual serious injuries, or even fatalities. In several studies, sites with low reports of violations actually had more long-term injuries than other sites with much higher levels of reports. A genuinely safe working environment should encourage workers to report any potential issue, rather than reward them for staying silent. In the best possible world, reports eventually go down because those things that affect safety are being genuinely addressed. That’s much harder than just paying (or pressuring) people to remain silent. The worst comes if the programs implemented aren’t designed to reduce incidents, but to suppress reports. The program at Murray’s Lovejoy mine was seen as doing the later, and had already been voted down by the union.
The real miracle here? Not just that Harrison and Stolzenfels found legal relief, but that they were represented by a union. Want to find low levels of reportables? Visit a non-union mine where people are afraid to speak up.