FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 29, 2020
[TRIANGLE, VA.] Recent filings by Consol Energy in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization case of Murray Energy could, if successful, destroy the jobs of thousands of miners living in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio, the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) said today.
“Consol Energy’s filing asking the Bankruptcy Court to convert Murray Energy’s bankruptcy filing from a Chapter 11 reorganization to a Chapter 7 liquidation could, if granted, potentially throw nearly 2,000 miners out of work,” UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts said. “We have very strong opinions about this sort of tactic which would put our members and their families at grave risk, cutting off their health care and forcing them to look for other work at the time of a global pandemic.
“This is one of the most outrageous things I have ever seen a coal company do,” Roberts said. “And that is saying a lot.”
“In my mind there is no other conclusion but that Consol is using the coronavirus pandemic and the corresponding depression in the coal markets – which has caused liquidity problems for Murray as it works its way through the Chapter 11 process – to kill off the company,” Roberts said. “And in so doing, Consol will callously destroy jobs, families and the communities that depend on them, just so it can take Murray’s customers.
“We cannot do what we would normally do, which is to get several thousand people out in front of Consol’s shiny headquarters and say a few things in protest,” Roberts said. “But that does not mean we will be silent about this. It seems clear that Consol’s plan puts people’s lives and livelihoods at risk. We will not stand idly by while it threatens our members, their families and their communities.”
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