September 23, 2008
UMW plans work stoppage over NRA filming
Union says film crew tried to get negative comments on Obama
Union leaders say a National Rifle Association film crew tried to coerce West
Virginia miners into bad-mouthing Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama
on camera, and that the union plans a brief work stoppage in protest.
By The Associated Press
Union leaders say a National Rifle Association film crew tried to coerce West
Virginia miners into bad-mouthing Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama
on camera, and that the union plans a brief work stoppage in protest.
The United Mine Workers will call for the stoppage at CONSOL's Blacksville No.
2 mine next week, UMW President Cecil Roberts said Monday at a news conference
with representatives of Obama's West Virginia campaign in Charleston.
Roberts said the union, which has endorsed Obama for president, is unhappy that
CONSOL allowed the camera crew to ask miners leading questions about the
candidate such as: "What do you think about losing your Second Amendment
rights?"
"This, I think, is an attempt to try to twist the facts here," Roberts said.
"We're just hoping people aren't misled."
The NRA has not endorsed a candidate. But it is sharply critical of Obama,
calling him a "lying rabble rouser" on its Web site and claiming he has
supported numerous anti-gun measures.
Hunting and shooting are time-honored pursuits in West Virginia and gun
ownership has been a pivotal issue in recent presidential elections. In 2000,
then-NRA President Charlton Heston rallied members during a speech in Beckley a
week before the election. Four years later, the NRA used billboards, 30-minute
television infomercials and mailings in West Virginia as part of a $20 million
national campaign to expose Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry as
what the NRA called the "Cape Cod fraud."
The gun lobby is gentler with Republican presidential hopeful John McCain.
Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre has called the Arizona senator "a
friend to gun owners."
The NRA denied the union's charges.
"This is an effort by the Obama campaign to try and shift the focus away from
Barack Obama's abysmal record on guns," spokesman Andrew Arulanandam. "I
checked with our crew that was out there and they said they didn't coerce
anyone."
However, Blacksville miners Jim Toothman and Ken Foyles described it differently
September 23, 2008
UMW plans work stoppage over NRA filming
Union says film crew tried to get negative comments on Obama
Union leaders say a National Rifle Association film crew tried to coerce West
Virginia miners into bad-mouthing Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama
on camera, and that the union plans a brief work stoppage in protest.
By The Associated Press
Page 2 of 2
Toothman says a mine manager asked him to go outside to speak with the NRA,
without warning him he'd be interviewed by a woman on camera.
"She tried to lead me into how to word the answers," Toothman said. "I ended
the conversation about that point."
Foyles never went on camera after watching the crew coach a co-worker's answers
about her "concerns" about Obama.
"It was my impression they wanted me to bash Barack Obama," Foyles said.
A CONSOL spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Roberts called Obama a "great defender" of the right to keep and bear arms and
said running mate Joe Biden is a gun owner.
"None of us believe that Barack Obama is going to take anyone's guns," Roberts
said.
A UMW official said the union represents 450 of the 500 employees at the mine
in Monongalia County. The underground mine produces about 5 million tons of
coal a year. UMW contracts allow "memorial periods," which halt production by
allowing members an unpaid day off.
The Obama campaign, which turned away a camera crew working for the NRA from
the news conference, released a one-page sheet outlining the Illinois senator's
support for the right to bear arms.
Union leaders say a National Rifle Association film crew tried to coerce West
Virginia miners into bad-mouthing Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama
on camera, and that the union plans a brief work stoppage in protest.
The United Mine Workers will call for the stoppage at CONSOL's Blacksville No.
2 mine next week, UMW President Cecil Roberts said Monday at a news conference
with representatives of Obama's West Virginia campaign in Charleston.
Roberts said the union, which has endorsed Obama for president, is unhappy that
CONSOL allowed the camera crew to ask miners leading questions about the
candidate such as: "What do you think about losing your Second Amendment
rights?"
"This, I think, is an attempt to try to twist the facts here," Roberts said.
"We're just hoping people aren't misled."
The NRA has not endorsed a candidate. But it is sharply critical of Obama,
calling him a "lying rabble rouser" on its Web site and claiming he has
supported numerous anti-gun measures.
Hunting and shooting are time-honored pursuits in West Virginia and gun
ownership has been a pivotal issue in recent presidential elections. In 2000,
then-NRA President Charlton Heston rallied members during a speech in Beckley a
week before the election. Four years later, the NRA used billboards, 30-minute
television infomercials and mailings in West Virginia as part of a $20 million
national campaign to expose Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry as
what the NRA called the "Cape Cod fraud."
The gun lobby is gentler with Republican presidential hopeful John McCain.
Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre has called the Arizona senator "a
friend to gun owners."
The NRA denied the union's charges.
"This is an effort by the Obama campaign to try and shift the focus away from
Barack Obama's abysmal record on guns," spokesman Andrew Arulanandam. "I
checked with our crew that was out there and they said they didn't coerce
anyone."
However, Blacksville miners Jim Toothman and Ken Foyles described it
differently.
Toothman says a mine manager asked him to go outside to speak with the NRA,
without warning him he'd be interviewed by a woman on camera.
"She tried to lead me into how to word the answers," Toothman said. "I ended
the conversation about that point."
Foyles never went on camera after watching the crew coach a co-worker's answers
about her "concerns" about Obama.
"It was my impression they wanted me to bash Barack Obama," Foyles said.
A CONSOL spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Roberts called Obama a "great defender" of the right to keep and bear arms and
said running mate Joe Biden is a gun owner.
"None of us believe that Barack Obama is going to take anyone's guns," Roberts
said.
A UMW official said the union represents 450 of the 500 employees at the mine
in Monongalia County. The underground mine produces about 5 million tons of
coal a year. UMW contracts allow "memorial periods," which halt production by
allowing members an unpaid day off.
The Obama campaign, which turned away a camera crew working for the NRA from
the news conference, released a one-page sheet outlining the Illinois senator's
support for the right to bear arms.
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22 Comments on "UMW plans work stoppage over NRA filming"
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0 / 150 Posted By: Anonymous (10 hours ago)Report Abuse
All of you are right to be concerned about loosing your guns. If McCain gets
in, after another 4 years of Bush policies, you will need somthing to shoot
yourself with
Posted By: Anonymous (15 hours ago)Report Abuse
go ahead and shut all the mines.........dumbacrats are for the
non-working,welfair'public-housing inter city drug dealers and single babie
making machines ............. vote Obama if you want more welfair and taxes for
the working man to pay for his intercity projects...........i have a dream
Posted By: Anonymous (20 hours ago)Report Abuse
Cecil roberts could shut down every umwa coal mine in operation. and I dont
think it would effect the us one bit. The umwa no longer has the bargaining
power it had 30 yrs. ago.
Posted By: Anonymous (22 hours ago)Report Abuse
Last part of the letter
Gottlieb stated. “But we are going to remind America’s 90 million voting gun
owners every day that Reid stalls a vote on this bill. We will remind gun
owners that thousands of their fellow citizens are being snubbed because some
powerful Democrats want to talk out of both sides of their mouths on a
fundamental right. Well, they’ve talked long enough. Now it’s time for
Democrats to show some backbone. Prove you support Second Amendment rights, or
prove you don’t and take your chances Nov. 4.”
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