Because of integrity or the Oath of Office, one is sometimes caught in a choice of placing what is right over personal gain.  This is an example.

Some time ago, I was working at a small but famous mine having a history back to the eighteen hundreds with at least some equipment most of that old.  If you have ever shoveled muck, you’re probably nodding right now.  For everyone else, Muck refuses to go on the shovel, refuses to come off the shovel, and weighs a lot.  One had better et their Wheaties that day.

At a small mine everyone picks up a shovel, even the know-it-alls least they be tramped out by reputation.  I was a mine mechanic and process operator throughout the Milling operation, still the shovel is almost daily.  We work in 12 hour shifts, use a lot of salty talk, go home filthy, and virtually everything is built of scrapyard stock.  More nodding.  Picture painted.

Having worked there five times under five ownerships opening and closing, I was nearly as senior as the muck being shoveled.  As such I was also the Mine Rep among at least six other hats.  Fortunate I was, having previously read the MSHA regulations as no other instructions were given.  It was a create my own job situation.  Having lived the no instructions drill enough times to lose count, I was right at home.

Well, the last go-round before closing yet again was right smack at the apex of the Cxxxx (in retrospect) Hoax, and things were turning a manufactured ugly in relationship to this subject.  Under early Brandon, regardless of which obviously rubber mask, the situation was going straight to mandatory.  Having four decades as a research writer, I made it my work to be well versed on the subject.  I had also arrived at my personal conclusion in this matter which would not be compromised by any force, either for or against.

I also realized not everyone had a quality information stream.  At the same time management worldwide was coming under extraordinary pressure to lean hard into the mandatory side as emphasized by highly recommended moving toward condition of employment in several safety meetings on the subject.

As the mine is under Federal regulation with both OSHA and M-shaw, the latter of which will put extreme burden or closing on a small mine, the situation was moving into a spiteful powder keg scenario which had most folks rubbed the wrong way both for and against, in spite of no written subject regulation actually existing.

Well shit, as the mine rep, I was somewhat obligated to take a survey of the mining crew as to what the general consensus and depth of stand on the subject at hand was, which was progressing worse by the day.  Any advantage there was; is the miners will disclose to a trusted rep things which would not be whispered to management, MSHA or safety and with good reason.  This no-tattle trust has to be proven to function.  Let’s just say I was well practiced via the Marine Corps.

On several occasions this process was instrumental in cleaning up highly valid safety concerns where things throughout the mine fell into extreme disrepair to the point of obviously dangerous.  Management has a way to skirt these kind of problems by tagging out the equipment magically, for the same day or two duration of the MSHA visit, pissing off a lot of warriors in this contact sport.

The red and yellow tape flies up and flies down, you know the drill and we have buckets of it, reminding me of my 120 foot vertical highwall, Cat ’88 life.  If I wanted to film a dozen violations, I would park at a distance with my 110 power spotting scope.

This list is often egregious, therefore I shall spare you the sailor-talk details.  I derived worth anytime miner safety was observed beyond the standard fare of lip service and box-check.  When we managed something before the Feds caught it, we not only may have saved life and limb, but astronomical fines to the company as well.  Even though some of the repairs were substantial, they are much cheaper than the other two alternatives.  Sometimes feeling got bent a little and loudly, but oh well; bent feelings are still cheaper than bent bodies and equipment.

So my friends, I polled the miners on the subject none of us are allowed to say, and greatly to my surprise, at the very time-peak of nastiness on the subject, about 75% of entire mine personnel showed hands they would walk off the job before allowing violation of the my life, my choice position.  Many spoke to me adamantly in this regard and shall we say, crushed it on their war-first clarity of resolve.

Keep in mind I could have given a Ted Talk on the subject, yet pretty much didn’t say a word to anyone, so this direction and level of choice rattled the cage.

Well double shit:  Now I had an unexpected obligation I had not signed up for, yet none the less clearly my duty.  So, after taking it into prayer and real serious contem-plation, I used this same trashed keyboard and typed up a report of my findings to take to the ownership and management.

I vividly recall the moment:  This is positively my last two hours at work, so I might as well shovel some mud.  I had walked into the HQ shack where battle-rattle mine-mucks are distinctly not welcome, and presented the report on my findings to the Mine Manager.  The duty being fulfilled, my thoughts were on where I would work next and which method I would instruct the PTB they didn’t can a virgin.

Mining is mining, it’s feast and famine.  It’s murcurail when it isn’t volatile, and the gov-mint has made the situation drastically worse by way of a number of avenues, some directly related to the price of tea in China in more ways than one.

In literally a one in a million fluke, the Mine Manager stuck between the Federales and a mega-corporation nearly all of it in South America and Africa where “participation” is mandatory, took a hard stand in favor of the miners.  Why I wasn’t instantly fired, which even I would have agreed with, I don’t have a clue.

I just shovel mud.