Labor Leaders Remember Workers Lost on the Job During Ceremony in Benwood

photo by: Shelley Hanson

Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, talks about the role of unions in the United States during a workers memorial event Sunday in Benwood.

BENWOOD — West Virginia workers who died this year and decades ago were remembered Sunday during a memorial ceremony at St. John’s Fellowship Hall in Benwood.

The event was organized by West Virginia AFL-CIO and the Marshall, Wetzel, Tyler Central Labor Council. The featured speaker for the event was Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America.

Other speakers included Art “Sonny” Oakland, president of the Marshall-Wetzel-Tyler Labor Council; Benwood resident Joe Tellitocci, community activist; and Roseann Ferro read a message from U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.

BB Smith, president emeritus of the Marshall-Wetzel-Tyler Labor Council, led the Pledge of Allegiance and ringing of the bell. The Rev. Doney Chacho led the opening and closing prayers. Tom Breiding performed two musical pieces he wrote on his guitar. The emcee for the event was Andy Walters, secretary/treasurer of the West Virginia AFL-CIO.

Sunday was the 100th anniversary of the Benwood Mine Disaster during which 119 coal miners died in an explosion at the mine.

All of their names were read aloud and a bell was rung at the end.

The names of 20 different West Virginia workers who died while on the job in 2023 were also read out loud. The bell was hit after each name. They include Cecil Barker, Katherine Brown, Thomas Burgoyne, Franklin Crouch, Christopher Finley, Dwight Garnes, Matthew Huffman, Lea Huffman, Robert Key, Zander Klimek, Kymiir Maples, Cory Maynard, Daniel McGrath, David Moreland, Cody Mullens, Hans Robinson, Tyler Thomas, Michael Walker, Daniel Walls and Carson White.

During his speech, Roberts touted the successes of UMWA and unions in general. He talked about the history of unions, adding one purpose is to improve people’s workplace conditions — because having a safe job to go to isn’t a privilege, it’s a right, he said.

“For working people, people who work for a living, unions make bad jobs into good jobs. That’s what we do. We raise wages in jobs where people are making a little bit of nothing,” Cecil said. “We give healthcare to people who have never had it. We give them a pension when they’ve never had it.”

Tellitocci compiled the list of Benwood Mine Disaster names read during the event. His great grandfather Istvan (Stephen) Vargo of Benwood, a Hungarian immigrant, was killed in the disaster.

“Joey’s great-grandfather Istvan (Stephen) Vargo, the father of his maternal grandmother, Julia Vargo Molnar, was killed in the disaster along with Italian immigrant Pasquale Fana of Bellaire, who was the first husband of the mother of Joey’s paternal grandfather, Joseph Tellitocci Sr.,” according to program information.

Tellitocci also led the effort to have a permanent memorial installed on Boggs Run to honor the miners who died in the Benwood Mine Disaster.