UMA plans march and rally
The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) will sponsor a “We Are One” solidarity march and rally in Greene County on Friday.
The march and rally will be held from 11?a.m. to 3?p.m. at the Greene County Fairgrounds on Route 21 in Franklin Township, one mile west of Interstate 79.
?The UMWA said at least 3,000 UMWA members their families and other union members and supporters are expected to attend.
The rally will be held in support of collective bargaining and the labor movement outside of those states where public employee collective bargaining rights are under attack or have already been stripped from dedicated public servants.
“The fight to not just maintain but expand workers’ rights in America has only just begun,” UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts said. “This is but the first of the many expressions of solidarity Americans will see from the labor movement in the coming weeks, months and years. We are all in this together, and we are going to keep up the fight until we prevail.”
The UMWA said the rally also will serve as the kick-off event of the UMWA’s fight to achieve a what it considers to be a fair nationwide coal contract for active and retired members. The current contract expires at the end of this year. UMWA members at the rally also will be continuing their fight to persuade Alpha Natural Resources to open two new coal mines in western Pennsylvania as union mines and will be seeking the support of members of other unions and residents of local coalfield communities who will be at the rally.
The Greene County event will include a mile and a half mile march on Route 21, a rally at the Green County Fairgrounds and a family picnic. UMWA members from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Maryland, Virginia, Wisconsin and other states will attend the rally, the UMWA said.