Thursday, May 20th, 2010

This week miners, activists, and the United Mine Workers of America called for Massey Energy to hold CEO Don Blankenship and members of the company’s Board of Directors accountable for numerous safety violations, including those which led to the death of 29 miners in the April 5 explosion at Upper Big Branch Mine in Montcoal, W. Va. Massey Energy has totaled 52 work-related fatalities in the last decade.

Tuesday, officials at Massey Energy held their annual shareholder’s meeting at the Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, Va. Outside of the hotel, protesters chanted “Kill no more,” and held banners reading “Don Belongs in Jail, Not Boardrooms,” and “Massey: Killing Miners, Killing Mountains.”

The demonstrations were aimed at encouraging Massey shareholders to deny re-election to board members who have overseen the company’s systematically neglectful safety record.

Nine public investors have already called for the resignation of Blankenship and members of the board of directors. The group includes institutions such as the California State Teachers’ Retirement System and multiple state treasury offices. The group collective owns $64 million in Massey stock.

Private investor Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust, which owns 1000 shares of Massey Energy, filed a lawsuit against the company on April 15.

“The wrongdoing in question is strongly suggestive of a corporate culture that regularly and consciously ignores sustained and systematic red flags that the company’s mining operations are in violation of state and federal mine safety laws and therefore unreasonably unsafe.”
-Allegations in lawsuit brought by Manville Personal Injury against Massey Energy

CtW investment group has also publicly called for Massey board member resignations. “In 2009, when the company had more violations than in any prior year, and was warned more than any other company, Blankenship got the maximum payout [over $2 million] for bonus money tied to safety,” said Michael Garland, a spokesman for CtW. Read CtW’s letter to Massey shareholders and the public.

Fortune 500 recently reported that Massey’s Safety, Environmental and Public Policy committee (of which seven of the board’s nine members serve on,) met only four times in 2009. The Compensation committee, however, met ten times in 2009.

Outside the shareholder’s meeting, the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) protested Massey’s predominantly non-union workplaces. UMWA members have long been advocates of worker-safety rights, and they said Massey’s refusal to unionize put workers in fear of having their job terminated if they reported safety violations to company officials.

As union members demonstrated outside, members of the Washington D.C. based environmental group Rising Tide unfurled a large banner in the hotel’s rotunda. The banner read “Massey: Stop Putting Profits Over People.” Kate Finneran and Oscar Ramirez, both members of Rising Tide, were arrested and held in a Richmond jail for trespassing.

Monday, EmmaKate Martin and Benjamin Bryant, activists with environmental group Climate Ground Zero were arrested for blocking the road to Massey’s regional headquarters in Boone County, W. Va. The pair held a banner with the same slogan, and intended to hold their blockade until the meeting to encourage Massey’s shareholders to hold the company accountable for their safety violations.

Massey continually prioritizes profits over people. It is time for the people of Appalachia and America – be you shareholder or worker, young or old – to reject Massey and work together to create something better in its place.
-Martin and Bryant’s open letter regarding their non-violent protest. Read the full letter.

Martin and Bryant were arrested Monday and charged with misdemeanor trespassing. A Boone County magistrate set their bail at $100,000 each. They remain in jail while their attorneys plead for a reduction of the amount. Find out more about their case.

Despite the diverse protests, Massey’s board was re-elected, though not unanimously. Company officials said the win was by “majority,” but refused to release the exact figures. The Coal Tattoo blog reported that UMWA President Cecil Roberts said, “That tells you they got clobbered, considering the fact that they didn’t have anybody running against them. They ran unopposed and almost lost.”

Blankenship defended his company’s safety record, saying “environmental stewardship has become part of this company’s DNA.” The company is currently facing criminal investigation by both the Department of Justice and the Mine Health and Safety Administration at the Upper Big Branch disaster site, and is in court for 971 violations of the Clean Water Act in 2009.

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