Cristiano

Murray Energy Miners Allege They Had To Give Up Pay To Attend 'Mandatory' Romney Rally (AUDIO)

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Johnnie Carling

HUH?

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Summer Haas

That means you have a choice, you can attend or get fired.

Richie Waves

Ridiculous, few apologists on Huffpo blaming the unions for this... da fuq!

also, the mine was closed that day, did he actually make some of the miners put coal on their faces?

Sonja Aeghin

No. Just no.

Kamilah Hauptmann

Wow, just like Chavista rallies in Venezuela. Good job!

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Misty Harley

I know I should not bite...I know I shouldn't....but did you miss the part about telling the workers it was mandatory to attend? Whether they want to attend or not...mandatory by all standards means "they have to attend."

doesn't matter if the mine was closed. Work required (mandatory--there's that word again) that they attend a function. Either they should have been paid or it should not have been mandatory to attend.

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Richie Waves

Honestly, I'm baffled by this response, no, I did not miss that, in fact, this was the third article on the topic I've read. Where in my post does it appear that I've missed something?

eta: wow, you fundamentally misread what I typed and you still get agrees? the fuck is going on....

Misty Harley

Maybe explaining your comment above about putting coal on the miners face and how the mine being closed has anything to do with this might clear up the confusion.

OrinB

To show they had been there working, but turned out for the day to support their marvellous candidate?

Richie Waves

The mines were closed that day, yet in the photo there's a few miners with coal on their faces. I wondered whether they were asked to put it there by the campaign or the bosses.

Still doesn't explain where you went wrong in your reply to me...

Cristiano

Richie was saying that some commenters were blaming the union, and that having coal miners with coal all over their faces who were not actually working that day seemed like a suspicious thing made for a photo op.

Soen Eber

Force of habit? Sorry you got the bum's rush, Richie.

eighthdwarf Checchinato

I was reminded of the GDR times, of days some Higher-up from Berlin came to the local factory.

And yes, back then they also shut down all departments that could be shut down at such events, and all employees who didn't have to work at machines that were supposed to run 24/7 had to attend the photo op - no matter if they just arrived at home after nightshift and had to travel back 1.5 hrs by bus to attend it. And as muh as it was mandatory to attend, it was also mandatory to appear as if they just had a break from work (and even the office workers had to appear like blue-collar workers then and there).

And those who refused and stayed home or in their departments, did face consequences: 1) being questioned (or rather interrogated) by "party officials" - plus 2) having to work in a less-skilled and less-payed job elsewhere for a few months as a disciplinary measure: "If you're not intelligent enough to understand the word 'mandatory', you're not intelligent enough to work in your current position. But we give you a chance to learn."

And yes, I went through that too, a few times to be honest. That's how I came to work in a real dirty job in Leipzig for half a year -- where I then happened to take part in those famous Monday Demonstrations.

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Kent Brockman

I, for one, welcome our new feudal overlords.

Lord

For some reason, the opening pictures of the movie The Hunger Games flashes quite vividly to mind when I hear of these things.

Void

where are you seeing this, the only pic I found was the AP line one, which had everyone in clean cloths (blue jeans and work shirts), where it's obvious that no one had been working at coal mining that day... faces are too small to make out clearly. did I miss some other picture?

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Circle Widdershins

They look like they're fresh out of the mine to me

The National Memo » Coal Miners Forced To Attend Romney Event, Lose Day’s Pay

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Cristiano We need to make 'endless celestial sex' into a thing.

Aliselia Aeon

It's notoriously hard to get coal dust out of skin if one has been working in mines. I remember step relatives that never got it completely out of their sin. It was actually in their kin-not on it.

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Baltha

Coal Miners Forced To Attend Romney Event – Without Pay | Addicting Info

The scariest thing about this was from a link in the article:
FEC Concludes Corporations And Unions May Force Workers To Campaign For Political Candidates Of Their Choice | Addicting Info

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Void

believe it or not that looks like what passes for clean for coal work clothes (seriously coal and sweat combine into a grease that is hell to get out of clothes without adding some form of mild acid)

ok now those two front and center look more than a little suspicious, even long term staining won't do that to your skin unless you just never bathe... and the mud on the shirt of the other... nah, I aint buy that shit. we have plenty of coal miners here, of all types, and none of look like unless they literally just walked of the work site.

actually that's not quite as scary as it sounds... basically the ruling was you can tell you employee's to do whatever work you want to, but you can't make them do it for free.... which is still a crap circumstance... no one should be compelled to work in the interest of a political candidate unless that is the sole nature of their job.

Aliselia Aeon

I see I'm having a very bad typing night. "kin" in both cases was meant to be "skin"/ Sorry about that.

Aliselia Aeon

Yeah..you usually don't see the coal in their skins from a distance after they clean up. Get up close and you can see it in the pores and tiny creases-no matter how much they scrub.

Void

definitely agreed (I live in a coal town), but nothing like that guy in the second picture...

Sushiva

One wonders if they've ever heard and understood the song 16 Tons.