Labor Story Archives - Page 5 of 5 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Liability, Non-Partisan Elections, & Labor Cause an Uproar in the House

For years, Republicans have called for nonpartisan election of Supreme Court Justices. But the Democrats never put the issue on the agenda. Now having taken control of the House, Republicans finally got their wish.

Before confronting that issue, the house took up Senate Bill 13, which protects a landowner from liability if someone is injured on his or her property. The bill re-instates the open and obvious doctrine. It means a property owner won’t be responsible for injuries that a person sustains if it’s clear what the conditions are.

Delegate John Shott, chairman of the Judiciary committee, stood to explain that this bill would be worthwhile.

“What we’re doing here is, today if we vote in favor of this bill is saying that regardless of a few remote horror stories, we think its legitimate policy of this state to protect those people who have premises. In those situations where the injuries caused by something as well known and obvious to the person who’s injured as it would be to the person who occupies those premises,” Shott explained.

Senate Bill 13 passed 81 to 18.

Then it was on to House Bill 2010, the non-partisan election bill.

Again, Judiciary Chairman Shott explained why this is good for the state.

“This removes the taint of a partisan election from the operation of our judiciary,” Shott said, “and it extends not only to our state’s Supreme Court of Appeals, but to our circuit judges, our family court judges, and our magistrates, and this is intended to remove any perception that those individuals might be beholding to a particular party organization or a particular group of people with whom that party is perceived as being affiliated.”

Delegate Barbara Evans Fleischauer stood to oppose the bill, saying voters want to know which party their candidate is affiliated with.

“Well in our state, we’ve had some pretty bad experiences with money in judicial elections, and there have been accusations that judicial seats have been purchased by individuals. By not knowing what party a person’s in, you are deprived of information, and that you otherwise would have in any other election,” Fleischauer said.

But the bill passed overwhelmingly 90 to 9.

But there was uproar about House Bill 2217, relating to the qualifications of the commissioner of labor. This bill changes the current definition of the labor commissioner by taking out the words “labor interests of the state” and inserts “with experience in employee issues and employee-employer relations.”

Delegate Mike Caputo, a labor representative, clearly did not like the bill.

“This is nothing, Mr. Speaker, in my opinion, with all due respect but a poke in the eye with a sharp stick to the working men and women in West Virginia,” Caputo explained, “I just cannot believe that we’re about to vote on a bill that could allow a Don Blankenship to become the commissioner of labor in the state of West Virginia. I can’t believe we’re about the vote on a bill that someone who had nothing but the interest of the corporation at heart their entire adult life can now become the commissioner of labor. Now nothing against corporate executives, we need them, and they need to tend to the business of that corporation, so we can have jobs in West Virginia, but when it comes down to the grassroots level of that working mom, somebody needs to look out for her, and nobody’s going to look out for her other than someone who worked their entire adult life for a paycheck and took the interest of workers at heart.”

Delegate Michael Ihle spoke to try and reason with the word change, using an example from his own experience.

“I deal with both union and nonunion employees, and one of the accomplishments that we, and I do say we, have is a month into my term, we negotiated a labor agreement that was passed unanimously, and I say that not to brag on myself but to brag on our employees. But more relevantly, I say that to illustrate that the interest of management and the interest of labor are not always mutually exclusive,” Ihle said, “And I feel some of the rhetoric that I’ve heard from those who oppose the legislation reflects that belief that those interests must naturally conflict with each other, and I don’t believe that to be the case at all. I think if we’re to move our state forward, if we are to create an environment that is friendly to more jobs for both union and nonunion employees, all interest of labor, if we’re to do that, then we have to move beyond the mentality that labor and management are mutually exclusive.”

House Bill 2117 passed 64 to 35.

On ‘Ghostbusters’, Labor & Turning 30

This Labor Day weekend Ghostbusters was re-released in theaters to celebrate the film’s 30th anniversary. This occurrence seems monumental for me,…

This Labor Day weekend Ghostbusters was re-released in theaters to celebrate the film’s 30^th anniversary. This occurrence seems monumental for me, personally, for a few reasons.

Let me explain.

Ghostbusters was originally released to American audiences on June 8, 1984. My twin brother Dan and I were born on October 24, 1984.

I’m not good at math or reading a calendar on some days, but this fact means Dan and I were still occupying our mother’s womb when the film was released. That also means Dan and I turn 30 in less than two months.

What’s important, though, is the way we came to fall in love with the film. Our dad quoted it religiously to varying degrees of appropriateness. It became engrained probably before we had any idea what he was referencing.

Whenever we’d see a large bug: “It’ll bite your head off, man.”

Whenever we playfully questioned his fatherly authority: “Back off, man, I’m a scientist.”

He’d obviously seen it between its release and an age where Dan and I could’ve possibly comprehended anything about the film. But that didn’t really matter.

We were fully versed in the world of Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, Egon Spengler, and Winston Zeddemore by the time of the sequel’s release in 1989–diving into the cartoon series that had spun off from the original.

Credit David M. Mistich

I’m on the left and my brother Dan is on the right. Big props to Olan Mills studio in Parkersburg for capturing this moment.

This may seem rather insignificant to some, but not when I tell you there were three things that informed Dan and my shared childhood the most: little league baseball, discovering our parents’ record collection, and Ghostbusters.

No, really.

The fact that all my athletic aspirations deteriorated by the age of 15 and rock music helped inform my early professional career, Ghostbusters stands today as the element that somehow enlightened my worldview without requiring any real responsibility.

Like most anything I care about, Ghostbusters toes the line between total goofballness and sincerity. Which, is a pretty good M.O. if you’re going to have one at all, I think.

And it’s not uncommon that a film produced before a person’s time on this planet could have such an impact. Some artifacts of popular culture have a way of living on without regard to the generations from which they were born.

I contend that nearly all adolescent males born after the mid-‘50s that have discovered Led Zeppelin believe—for at least some period of time—that the band was the only thing that mattered. I could go on with examples but, it’s truly unnecessary. You get the idea.

And so, Ghostbusters remains one of those things for me.

When Harold Ramis died earlier this year, I professed my love of the film around the Charleston bureau of our newsroom. To prove it, I couldn’t help but ask my dad to send me a photo of Dan and I dressed as Ghostbusters. (For the record, I was Peter Venkman and Dan was Ray Stantz, although you can’t exactly tell in the photo above.)

My colleague, Ashton Marra, recently bought me a t-shirt with the Ghostbusters logo merged with the outline of the state of West Virginia.

Credit Ashton Marra

This photo isn’t with my brother but with Associated Press reporter Jon Mattise, who obviously owns the same shirt and is also a big fan.

So, when I heard the film was to be re-released in theaters, I couldn’t miss it. Despite having seen the film probably a hundred times over the course of my more than 29 years, I’d never watched it on the big screen.

Sure, holiday weekends provide prime opportunity to venture to the theaters for many (I’m more of a Netflix-in-my-underwear-type dude, myself), but I feel there’s some line to be drawn between the narrative in the film and its Labor Day weekend re-release.

Take for example the fact that three scientists–with varying levels of capability and know-how–go from working in the university research setting to slugging it out fighting ghosts in New York City.

The guys get beaten down and exhausted by their work. They operate out of a firehouse, for crying out loud. There’s also Winston, the Ghostbuster-come-lately who joins the fold because he just needs a job.

The point I’m trying to make is this: aside from the extraordinary, supernatural essence of their work, the Ghostbusters are the everyman. They put in the time and effort to keep society on track (and essentially save the planet).

Now, I’m sure there’s some scholar of popular culture or a labor historian who could augment or completely destroy my argument by citing Marx, or Marcuse, or some philosopher of socio-economics or politics. And I’d love to read that. Please, point me in the right direction if it exists. But my point is well made.

As I watched the film Sunday night at the Nitro Stadium Theater, I realized the nuanced, adult-themed jokes of the film are so much better understood at 30 as compared to three (or so). I also realized that my dad’s quoting of the film has become more ridiculous to me, but no less significant.

It’s almost as if as I’ve grown up, and started working through the daily grind of adult life, Ghostbusters and my understanding of it have grown right with me.

Sunday night, I walked out of the theater complex behind a dad explaining to his little boy that Ghostbusters wasn’t a new film. He was explaining things to his son and then turned to his wife to make a reference to some line. They laughed.

I couldn’t make it all out from 20 feet away but I watched him look at the little boy and say, “That movie came out 30 years ago.”

“30 years?” the little boy asked, completely bewildered by such a length of time. The concept of something being 30 was just as foreign to him as some of the jokes in the film. I also have no doubt the little boy could hardly fathom what it’s like to work.

Indeed, random dad and his son who’d hopefully had his life changed by Ghostbusters, 30 years.

Groups Prep for EPA Clean Power Plan Hearing

Given the political climate around the EPA’s proposal, it seems unlikely that state lawmakers would have a policy without coal. Still, the United Mine Workers of America says workers and their families should be concerned about this new regulation. Groups from West Virginia and across Appalachia are gearing up to show support and protest of the EPA’s proposed rule.

Groups like the United Mine Workers of America and Coal River Mt. Watch are traveling to Pittsburgh later this week.

As it stands, the EPA rule would let states come up with their own energy policy on how to decrease carbon dioxide emissions. Given the political climate, some environmentalists worry it will be business as usual for the coal industry leaving little room for renewable energy. After all, lawmakers in states like West Virginia and Kentucky aggressively and consistently favor coal in speech and policy.

“We need to make it clear that the EPA does have the authority and the mandate ad the moral obligation to reign in CO2 emissions,” Haltom said.

Vernon Haltom, the executive director of Coal River Mountain Watch, even criticizes the agency meant to help protect the environment, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and other state agencies.

Groups Question W.Va.’s Environmental Reputation

Haltom points to two suits. One in which, Marfork Coal, a former Massey subsidiary and current Alpha Company, violated water pollution limits at the Brushy Fork Impoundment. The company had submitted reports to the state DEP that showed high selenium levels and violations of water quality standards at the coal slurry impoundment, according to group’s website.

In March of this year, Alpha Natural Resource agreed to spend an estimated $200 million on implementing system-wide upgrades to reduce discharges of pollution from coal mines in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia for violating the Clean Water Act. The settlement involved more than 6,200 permits.

Coal: Easy Target

Phil Smith with the United Mine Workers of America says miners and their families should still be concerned. Smith says even if policy of coal dependent states keeps coal as king, it becomes an easy target for the rest of the country.

Environmentalists aren’t completely satisfied with the rule either. Haltom wants to see a policy with 100% renewable energy.

But where will those renewable jobs be created? Phil Smith and the UMWA says it won’t be enough for the areas that need it the most like the coalfields.

But let’s not lose sight of the BIG global picture. The new rule is meant to reduce carbon dioxide in order to slow climate change. Smith says the UMWA doesn’t argue the science behind climate change and agrees that something should be done, just not this new rule.

Coal jobs have been declining in recent years and studies show that several things are contributing … like the amount of coal left, the location of the coal, competition like natural gas along with regulatory costs.

Hearings begin today in four cities across the country. The EPA will host meetings in Atlanta Locations for the hearings include Atlanta, Denver, Washington, DC and Pittsburgh.

Documentary Explores 100-Year-Old History and Mystery

Watch Red Metal: The Copper Country Strike of 1913 on Saturday, Dec. 21 at 9 p.m. on WV PBS.2This new documentary that focuses on the 100th anniversary of…

Watch Red Metal: The Copper Country Strike of 1913 on Saturday, Dec. 21 at 9 p.m. on WV PBS.2

This new documentary that focuses on the 100^th anniversary of an epic labor strike that devastated Michigan’s Upper Peninsula Copper Country – and haunts the American labor movement to this day. Among the notable elements of that strike was the death of 73 children at a union Christmas party in what is now Calumet, Michigan. Known as the Italian Hall Disaster, it remains the deadliest unsolved manslaughter in U.S. history.

The tragedy (attributed to strikebreakers yelling “fire” in a crowded auditorium) was immortalized by Woody Guthrie in his ballad “1913 Massacre,” performed in the film by Steve Earle.

Red Metal traces the Copper Country strike from its hopeful start to that tragic conclusion. Between those endpoints, the film explores the intensifying battle between organized labor and corporate power, as well as related issues of immigration and technology. Of equal significance is the strike’s cultural legacy, which influenced national discourse, music and legislation during the Progressive Era. As the centennial of the Italian Hall Disaster approaches, a new generation of Americans has begun paying tribute to the victims, while also deliberating the strike’s causes, outcomes and legacy.

The film is produced, written and directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Jonathan Silvers. The presenter is Detroit Public Television. Richard Harris narrates.