Fired miners celebrate Christmas with no money, plenty of hope

Published: 2004-12-30

HUNTINGTON, Utah (CNS) -- There were no Christmas decorations in the small trailer Jesus Galaviz calls home. The interior was only slightly warmer than the outside, with worn carpet stretching across the floor, ending in chunks of torn laminate tile in the kitchen. Two ripped-up couches covered with thin blankets lined the walls. Just five weeks earlier, Galaviz and other workers at the Kingston family-owned Co-Op Mine outside Huntington were celebrating a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board that Kingston family members who worked for the mine would not be able to participate in union elections. With the Nov. 18 ruling, prospects were bright for the Co-Op miners' hopes to join the United Mine Workers of America union, and from there to improve their working conditions. But within days, C.W. Mining, the mining corporation owned by the Kingstons, claiming that they were acting under directives from federal agencies, sent letters to the mine's Mexican workers questioning the validity of their Social Security numbers. The company gave them until Dec. 9 to prove the numbers were valid and then fired 30 workers. "Here we are, less than a week away from a vote for union representation, and the mine operator has conveniently decided to fire a significant number of the miners who are eligible voters," said union president Cecil Roberts in a Dec. 10 statement.

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