April 6, 2010

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Professor of Labor History Colin Davis, Ph.D., says this week's mining disaster in West Virginia is reminiscent of one of the nation's most deadly mining accidents that occurred in 1907.

"The accident occurred in West Virginia. Some 362 miners, both men and boys were killed," says Davis, who co-edited the book It is Union and Liberty: Alabama Coal Miners and the UMW with Edwin L. Brown. "A large number of those killed were Italian immigrants. Only one miner survived. A buildup of methane gas was the cause.

"It was a spectacular mining disaster, but those types of accidents were not uncommon at the time."

Davis says coal mining goes back to the Colonial period in the United States. "It was generally hand-picked, as they called it, and it was a job that you learned to do over a series of years. But the mechanization of mining began in the 1830s and 1840s. By the 1870s and '80s mining was an entry-level job often held by first-generation immigrants, beginning with the Irish, then the Italians, Hungarians and the Poles. African-Americans from the South also were recruited.

"The work was incredibly dangerous," he says. "Fatalities were a daily occurrence. The daily grind of the work often took its toll, whether it was rock falls or explosions, and then they were slowly dying because of the coal dust. So, mining has always been known for its hazards."

Davis notes that, historically, it was unions like the United Mine Workers of America that fought "hard and long" for safety in the mines.

"Mine owners often weren't that interested in safety," he says. "It was all about getting the coal out, and if a few coal miners died, that was the nature of the business. It was a brutal approach, but one that was very common. . .But slowly, by the 20th century, mining safety began to improve with the passage of various mine safety laws.

"I really hope that after this latest catastrophe we don't follow the same pattern again where there is a flurry of activity, some inquiries or Senate investigations and then we move away," Davis says. "I think for the past few years the U.S. Bureau of Mines has come under increasing political pressure. It has endured budget cuts and the number of mine inspectors also has dropped.

"We need a re-evaluation of the deregulation during the past 10-15 years, in terms of mine inspections," says Davis. "We need to rethink and revisit safety inspections because it's appalling that even today people are getting killed in such large numbers.

"Something fundamentally went wrong in that mine, and those men paid for it."