Thread: Question on mine disaster

Hi all, have not been around lately. Been reading the story on the mine disaster in Utah. Turns out 1/2 of the missing miners are Latino, and murray the mine owner, never got them a translator. So my sympathetic friends in Salt Lake tell me.

Does anyone know the immigration status of the miners and their families? We should. It is important to know that illegals may doing the jobs Americans won't do, as last time I checked dying wasn't part of the job description.

In light of what happened today, I hope all are found well, and that murray the mine owner, who accepts no blame and just has excuses, after all his infractions went unfixed, goes to prison.

There were several miners on the rescue team killed today and they believe the ones who were originally trapped are probably dead too.

Personally I think the legality of those miners should be left alone because of the tragedy which took place there.

The whole town is suffering at present and after all wether they were illegal or not they are human beings with grieving family & friends.........

My heart goes out to all who lost loved ones..........

Welcome back Glenn.

While employers that bend the rules and break laws with their hiring practices are much more likely to bend other rules and break the laws with safety, this is not a case we can explore right now on the mine disaster.

Language barriers and hiring people that do not have the proper training or skills for lower wages, ex. illegal aliens, is a problem that is leading to more accidents and work place deaths across America.

We have no no specific information that this is a factor in the Utah mine disaster.

W

Apart from the tragedy William, it will turn out to be very important as to the status of those workers trapped in the mine. My friends in SLC have told me that murray the mine owner did not hire a translator to communicate with the Latino families if the victims upon the commencement of the accident and rescue.

This Stickler guy who is the Feds mine safety head should also be on the block.

This leads to the next obvious question, what is their immigration status? It would be a good time to test the negligent homicide laws in the USA. murray should be charged no matter what, but if he knowingly hired the people and they are not legal, well then, you can see how far down the pike we are.

It is not my intention to make hay from the deaths of these miners. I lived near Price, and know its reputation as a washed out poor town, with lots of illegals and tons of social problems involving meth etc. Coal is about all there is there, hence the name "Carbon County".

What I mean to point out is how screwed up our economy has to be that a primary source of peoples necessity is owned by a man that overlooked over 300 infractions at his mine. To discover that he may have some suspicious hiring practices is par for the course in todays economy, as we all well know.

It highlights that those who may not speak our language, and from countries that have never met their needs, and need what all people need,... are accepting risks that none of us would, and that there are americans making money from this. The same goes for the hordes of slaves currently manufacturing crap to be sold at wal-mart, at 20 cents an hour. I use the term american lightly in this construct, describing someone simply in this country legally, and in no way a decent person. That'd be murray the mine owner, or any out-sourcers to china. They all have no shame, or are missing something vital in their make-up I should say.

This is my judgment, and no, I am not afraid to throw the first rock.

Yes the family of the3 Mexican Nationals got translators. They are getting help from the Mexican Consulate As if the Mexican Consulate never meddled into our affairs.

I completely agree with naturalglen on this. This is the reverse part of illegal immigration that I don't care for. These ARE human beings -- and they are continuously exploited like slaves. Yes, they ask for it in many cases, but the fact that unscrupulous business owners take advantage of them is one of the greatest reasons I'm against it.

No one should be forced into slave labor jobs, wages, conditions. It's terrible that there are people who have to accept them, and at the time it's terrible that jobs are undercut by people willing to accept them. I hope that all of us fight for a world that will now allow this to go on as time goes on. It's ALL wrong.

I am a retired coalminer and was involved in helping recover victims of a mine disaster in 1976 that resulted in the deaths of 26 men.The Utah accident brought back all the sad memories to me.My heart goes out to the families.My state has a regulation that requires fluency in the English language to qualify to work underground.This is a safety matter and makes sense in the dangerous confines of a coal mine.Sometimes you only have seconds to warn someone of a falling rock from the mine roof or other dangers.They have to be able to understand you quickly and immediately to escape the danger.