P.M. BRIEFING : UAW Fined for Violating Court Ban on Convoys in Coal Hauling Dispute
A federal judge today fined the United Mine Workers and two union officers an additional $720,000 for violating his ban on forming convoys to slow down trucks delivering coal.
U.S. District Judge Glen Williams on June 26 fined the UMW and two of its officers $240,000 for organizing convoys of cars and trucks to block coal traffic, and threatened to impose fines of $120,000 for each day the traffic jams continued.
Williams said today that the union violated his order for six days with bumper-to-bumper traffic on roads used by coal haulers. Most of those in the convoys were UMW members from other states participating in sympathy wildcat strikes.
State Police Special Agent Larry Waddell testified that troopers wrote nearly 200 tickets for impeding traffic last week.
“Despite all the massive ticketing, it’s all just sort of whistling Dixie,” the judge said. He raised the daily fine to $550,000 for further violations.
UMW attorney Mike Passino said the union will appeal the fines, which now total $960,000. Jackie Stump, president of the union’s Virginia district, said the fines are excessive.
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