LAS VEGAS, Nev. — United Mine Workers Union President Cecil Roberts has spoken several times in recent months about the battles the union faces in its immediate future. Delegates attending the UMWA convention Thursday in Las Vegas made decisions to finance those battles.
A tweet from the UMWA said union money would be focused in three areas.
“Delegates to #UMWA convention vote to dedicate resources for bankruptcy battles, 2016 contract fight, retiree health care & pension bill.”
Coal operators Patriot and Jim Walter have recently filed for bankruptcy. Roberts told MetroNews last month the union’s plans if the companies attempt to cut benefits.
“Folks need to come forward and deal with the union and, if they do that, we’ve shown over the last 30 years that we can find a solution to about any kind of problems presented to us,” Roberts said. “We’re not going to be left out in the cold here, really our members being left out, we’re just not going to do that.”
UMWA spokesman Phil Smith said retirees are a top priority in the upcoming battles.
“We’ve got legislation we need to pass to protect our retirees healthcare and pension that they were not only promised in contract after contract, but that they earned through years of hard work and sweat and toil, and quite frankly at the risk of their lives and limbs,” Smith said.
The struggling coal industry will also likely make it difficult for the union in the negotiation of its contract with coal operators set for next year. The last BCOA contract was ratified in 2011 and included the largest pay hike in the union’s history, but that was before the bottom fell out of the industry following new rules and regulations from the EPA and decisions from utilities to use more natural gas.
Smith said the union understands how critical these battles are for the coal industry.
“There was not one dissenting vote. It was a unanimous decision,” Smith said. “All of our members understand that we are in a battle for the current and future members of this union, and the past members of the union. It’s really a fight for our lives here.”
The UMWA is also pushing for congressional approval for continued funding of health care benefits for retirees and their dependents. A bill, the Miners Protection Act, was introduced earlier this month. U.S. Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito were among the sponsors. The plan calls for some of the funds to be taken from money currently in the Abandoned Mine Land (AML) fund.