At least one chief executive is making good on his pledge to cut jobs following President Barack Obama’s re-election this week.
Robert Murray, the chief executive of Ohio-based coal provider Murray Energy Corp., began laying off a small number of employees this week after Republican challenger Mitt Romney lost his bid for the White House.
The privately-held company, which had about 3,500 employees before the layoffs began, fired more than 150 employees at three locations this week. A spokesman, Gary Broadbent, said the layoffs were ongoing and these were just the latest announcements.
The layoff notices blamed Obama’s “war on coal” for the job cuts.
There were about 80,000 people employed in coal mining in the U.S. as of October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s actually more than when the nation went into recession in December of 2007, but it’s fewer than a year ago.
In general, the economy has slowly been adding jobs, and the unemployment rate has been falling. But some industries have continued to shed jobs even as conditions have improved generally.
Murray outlined his plans to cut jobs following the election in a staff meeting with about 50 employees Wednesday.
The agenda for the meeting, along with the text of Murray’s “prayer for America,” were provided to NBCNews.com by the company.
In the agenda, he predicted the total destruction of the coal industry by as early as 2030. He said conditions for his business would deteriorate because of more regulation and taxes, weaker economic activity and reduced energy pricing.
In the prayer, Murray wrote, in part:
“The American people have made their choice. They have decided that America must change its course, away from the principals of our Founders. And, away from the idea of individual freedom and individual responsibility. Away from capitalism, economic responsibility, and personal acceptance.”
He concluded by asking God for forgiveness for the layoff decisions.
“Lord, please forgive me and anyone with me in Murray Energy Corporation for the decisions that we are now forced to make to preserve the very existence of any of the enterprises that you have helped us build. We ask for your guidance in this drastic time with the drastic decisions that will be made to have any hope of our survival as an American business enterprise.”
About 100 of the layoffs are at UtahAmerican, the subsidiary that operates the Crandall Canyon Mine. In 2007, a collapse at that mine killed nine people. Two months ago the company agreed to pay about $1 million in civil penalties as part of a settlement related to failures and violations that led to the collapse.
Broadbent, the Murray Energy spokesman, said in an e-mail that the layoffs announced this week are not related to the disaster and penalties.
“Those are separate issues,” he wrote.
Several companies made headlines before the presidential election Tuesday for insinuating that they would fire workers if Romney was not elected.
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Go ahead and shrug, Atlas. Others will take your place.
Sad as it is for the folks who got laid off, what really gets me is the irony of somebody making a quintessentially Randian gesture while invoking religion.
I don't think it was stated in quite those simple of terms, Havoc. This is the same guy, if we all recall, that forced his employees to show up at a Romney event at the coal mine without pay. The implied threat was that a failure to show would be noticed and not looked favorably upon. The same was implied with failure to donate to various Republican funds/candidates that Murray felt the employees should. However, he never specifically stated that a failure to do so would get you fired. Just that a failure to do so would be bad for the business and thus bad for your job and those of the people under you should you not 'step up' and donate. From everything I saw it wasn't necessarily illegal since the wording was just right to carry the implied threat without specifically coming out and saying it.
But yeah, this guy is a real winner. He's after blaming someone else for his problems. There are various people, Sierra Club types from what I can tell, that are stating that the numbers are really just showing that he's getting his kicked by other sources of energy such as natural gas and alternative fuels rather than rules, regs, taxes, etc.
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Actually, Scott, Havoc, Murray and Massey Energy BOTH make declarations that their miners should vote Romney or the mine will close. "We cannot continue to keep mines open if Obama wins." was another statement from Massey Energy.
BTW: I think it was Massey Energy, not Murray, that had the miners show up to see Romney. Either way, you are correct, it was a "Mandatory" gathering, and they did take names to make sure who was there and who wasn't. Heavily hinted was "show up if you want to keep working here", but it was couched in weasel-words.
I will also note that both Massey and Murray run Non-Union mines. I believe a recently unionized mine under Massey was "indefinitely idled" within a few months of going Union, which sends another message to miners -- "go Union, lose job." Nice to have the 1920's Union-busting Coal Barons back, ain't it....
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