NLRB orders reinstatement, back pay for striking Utah miners

Published: 2004-07-12

HUNTINGTON, Utah (CNS) -- Fifty of the original 76 striking miners of the C.W. Mining Company, surrounded by about 60 supporters, walked from the site of their former strike shack July 6 and officially turned over reinstatement letters to a representative of the owners of the Co-Op mine outside Huntington. Their gesture signified acceptance of the mine owners' "unconditional offer of reinstatement" in accordance with a settlement agreement between the National Labor Relations Board and the mining company. The strike that resulted in the miners' firing began more than nine months earlier on Sept. 22, 2003. The miners agreed to return to work July 12. In its ruling, the NLRB said the miners were fired illegally, that they deserved to be "reinstated to their former jobs or to substantially equivalent positions, without prejudice to seniority or any other rights or privileges previously enjoyed, displacing, if necessary, any employees hired to replace them," and that they should receive back pay, which is yet to be determined. Marching in solidarity with the returning miners were members of the United Mine Workers of America, representatives of Jobs for Justice and of the Salt Lake City Diocese, union workers from Colorado, and members of Mission San Rafael, the tiny Catholic community in Huntington that has been paying rent and utilities for the miners from its charity fund.

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