CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The UMWA filed a strong objection last Friday to a plan by bankrupt Alpha Natural Resources to pay nearly $12 million in bonuses to top executives.
“I am constantly amazed that our nation’s laws allow the very people who drove a company into bankruptcy to get thousands, if not millions, of dollars in bonuses as part of the bankruptcy process,” UMWA International President Cecil Roberts said. “The companies say they need to pay these bonuses to keep key management employees. Well, if they presided over a bankruptcy, are they the people you should be keeping around?”
The union’s filing also notes that, “Given that the Debtors are insolvent, a payout of up to $11.9 million….to 15 members of management on top of base salaries is neither fair or nor reasonable.”
The U.S. Department of Justice joined UMWA in its objection to the bonuses, which Roberts called “greed in its most raw and ugly form.”
A hearing on the bonus plan is scheduled for Thursday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Richmond.