By Mike Tony, HD Media
RACINE, W.Va. — Although skies were clear and the sun shone on the United Mine Workers of America’s 86th annual Labor Day celebration at John Slack Memorial Park in Boone County, there are storm clouds on miners’ horizon that threaten union gains and goals.
The storm clouds not visible to the naked eye stem from who wasn’t there.
Most of the speakers during the gathering were Democrats hoping to get elected in November — chiefly gubernatorial candidate Steve Williams, mayor of Huntington, and U.S. Senate candidate Glenn Elliott, former mayor of Wheeling.
But despite the warm reception from some 200 attendees to their pro-union messages Monday, Elliott, Williams and other Democrats running for statewide election are considered heavy underdogs in races against Republican opponents absent from the celebration, including those long entrenched in office with anti-labor records.
The gathering doubled as a political call to action in a state with a Republican supermajority in the Legislature from a slate of speakers that consisted nearly entirely of Democratic candidates — and an animated longtime UMWA International President and Cabin Creek native Cecil Roberts.
“Friends, neighbors, brothers, sisters, if you want to turn West Virginia around, you must fight! If you want to change the Legislature, you must fight! If you want to change this state, you’ve got to fight until you win!” Roberts said to conclude a speech that fired up a crowd of largely older union and military veterans huddled under pavilion roofs and overwhelmingly sporting UMWA apparel.
