MINE UNION CHALLENGER COUNTERS ACCUSATION (original) (raw)
U.S.|MINE UNION CHALLENGER COUNTERS ACCUSATION
https://www.nytimes.com/1982/09/28/us/mine-union-challenger-counters-accusation.html
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- Sept. 28, 1982
Credit...The New York Times Archives
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September 28, 1982
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Section A, Page
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Richard L. Trumka, the insurgent challenger for the presidency of the United Mine Workers whose eligibility to run for office has been under attack, said today that he had obtained what he called ''irrefutable'' evidence that he has worked seven years in the mines.
Aides to Sam M. Church Jr., the incumbent president, who has repeatedly charged that his 33-year-old challenger used forged union documents to establish eligibility to run for office, discounted Mr. Trumka's new evidence today and said his rival still falls short of the union requirement to hold office.
The union constitution requires national officers to have five years of ''classified'' work experience in the mines, in jobs covered by United Mine Workers contracts.
At a news conference here today, Mr. Trumka produced work records from his mine employer, the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation, that credit him with seven years of underground experience.
Mr. Trumka had called the news conference to announce that Willard A. Esselstyn, the union secretary-treasurer who has been at odds with Mr. Church and is campaigning for re-election as an independent, is supporting Mr. Trumka's bid for the presidency of the union in the Nov. 9 election. Fraud and Forgery Charged
Mr. Church, 46, has charged repeatedly recently that Mr. Trumka is disqualified by the five-year provision and that he has committed ''fraud'' and ''forgery'' in an attempt to overcome it. He said at a news conference last week that his assertion of fraud by Mr. Trumka, ''if proven, would be both a criminal act and an abuse of the U.M.W. constitution.''
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