Muhlenberg County Kentucky
Mining
Company Won't Rehire Miner in Safety Case
Central City, Ky. - The Amax Corp. has refused to rehire the chairman of a United Mine Workers safety committee who was dismissed for balking at operating a piece of equipment he claimed was unsafe.
After a four-hour hearing at the mine Friday night, the company rejected an appeal by Lyle Payne of Central City to be reinstated as an equipment operator at Ayrgem surface mine, where he has been the union's safety chairman for two years.
The hearing was conducted by the company as required by the terms of its contract with the union.
Under the contract, an arbiter - probably an attorney from the area - will hear both sides of the dispute and either uphold the dimissal or order the firm to rehire Payne.
In an industry where workers have only recently begun pressing for safer conditions, Payne had a reputation for heading an unusually active and effective safety program, a number of other area safety chairmen said.
At one point, safety committee members from 12 other mines offered to pull men from their respective mines to picket the Ayrgem mine in an attempt to force the company to rehire Payne.
Payne has declined the offer until he has exhausted his appeal rights under the union contract and in the courts.
Payne alleges he refused to operate the equipment, known as an end loader, because it had a faulty hydraulic system which made it difficult to steer.
The company, however, has denied Payne raised the safety issue when he refused to follow a supervisor's order to drive the machine.
Meanwhile, Payne, 47, and the father of six children, has accused the area UMW leadership of holding back full support for him because he has been active in the Miners for Democracy movement, which is seeking to oust UMW president Tony Boyle.
Most of the leaders of the union's Distict 23, headquartered at Madisonville, are solidly in the Boyle camp.
A spokesman for the District 23 leadership said yesterday that Payne has been given the union's “best possible support for his case.”
Source: Cox, Bill. “Company won't rehire miner in safety case.” The Courier-Journal [Louisville, KY], 17 Sept 1972.
Updated April 23, 2020