Another example of corporate greed trumping workers' safety?  

Seven dead miners and 19 trapped in a Massey Energy Company coal mine in southern West Virginia,

Though early reports conflict on the number of dead, trapped, and missing, there are some hard, incontrovertible facts that make yes the probable answer to the question above.

Mike Hall at the AFL-CIO blog writes:

"The non-union mine is operated by Massey subsidiary Performance Coal Co. In a statement, UMWA Workers President Cecil Roberts says “hearts and prayers of all UMWA members are with the families of those lost today. “

"He says the mine rescue teams are 'putting their lives on the line, entering a highly dangerous mine to bring any survivors to safety.'

" 'As a mine operated by a subsidiary of Massey Energy, the Upper Big Branch mine is a nonunion mine. Nevertheless, I have dispatched highly trained and skilled UMWA personnel to the immediate vicinity of the mine, and they stand ready to offer any assistance they can to the families and the rescuers at this terrible and anxious time. We are all brothers and sisters in the coalfields at times like this.' "

And Devilstower writes:

"However as we hope and pray for the recovery of those now under the earth, it's hard not to think about the character of those who sent them there. The CEO of Massey Energy is Don Blankenship. The same Don Blankenship who invented a scandal and funded it to the tune of $3 million to run one one state supreme court judge out of office for the crime of siding with workers. The same Blankenship who was photographed cavorting along the French Riveria with another justice while his company had a $77 million case before the court. The same Don Blankenship who regularly condemns the whole idea of environmental protection, saying that global warming does not exist and that asking people to conserve is tantamount to communism. The same Blankenship and the same Massey that last year was convicted of massive and systematic age discrimination. The same Blankenship and the same Massey who were ordered to pay $30 million in environmental damages after running up fines that actually topped $2.5 billion.  

"Most critically this is the same Blankenship and the same Massey who lost miners a recently as 2006 due to lack of safety equipment. At the end of that case, the widows of the dead men refused to accept the settlement, stating that it was clear that the company executives had placed profit ahead of safety.

"Additional discussion and news can be found in Mr Rick's diary.

"[update] Along the same lines...

" 'The Upper Big Branch mine has had six violations related to ventilation since January and four since March 17, according to MSHA data. Last year, the mine had 50 "unwarrantable failure citations," the most serious findings of negligence a mine inspector can issue. One citation was for not properly marking escape routes for miners in case of an accident, according to Ms. Smith. MSHA had proposed penalties of $900,000 last year resulting from 458 total safety violations at the mine.' "