Statement of Solidarity for Striking Mineworkers

International District 20 Vice President Larry Spencer, and members of UMWA Locals 2245, 2397, 2368, and 2427:

We, the Akron chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, would like to express our unyielding solidarity with the mineworkers and their families on strike at Warrior Met Coal in Brookwood, Alabama.

We have learned of the sacrifices made by the workers at Warrior Met to keep their families, community, and livelihoods afloat: cuts in pay, reduction in benefits, extremely long hours, and weeks of work at a time without days off. We have also heard that Warrior Met refuses to make these workers whole in the new contract, despite consistent company profits and bonuses for wealthy executives.

We have also learned of the repression of the strike: the violence from company management and scabs at the picket lines, the recurring injunctions from the courts against picketing, the harassment of strikers and their families, and the collaboration of state police in the attempt to break the strike.

We strongly condemn the actions of Warrior Met in refusing to negotiate a fair contract that the workers deserve. We stand with the UMWA in demanding that the miners and their families be made whole for their sacrifices over the last several years.

We also strongly condemn the strike-breaking tactics of Warrior Met and their colluders in local government. Workers everywhere have the right to organize for better working conditions, to assemble and demonstrate against injustice, and as UMWA International President Cecil Roberts says, “to stand on the side of the road and call a scab a scab.”

Akron DSA joins with DSA chapters across the country in unequivocal support of the UMWA miners in Brookwood. As socialists, we believe that workers deserve dignity in the workplace, and that our strength comes from our solidarity. We stand with you, one day longer.

In solidarity,

Akron Democratic Socialists of America