The Journal:
You have just been elected to your seventh five-year term, after already being recognized as the longest serving officer in UMWA history. How do you feel?
President Roberts:
I feel extremely blessed. I want to thank Brian Sanson, members of the International Executive Board and District Representatives and congratulate them on their election. I also want to thank the membership for giving us this opportunity and entrusting us with this great responsibility.
The Journal:
Speaking of the election, this is Secretary-Treasurer Brian Sanson’s first official term. What makes Brian a good fit for this role and what impact do you see him having for workers and their families?
President Roberts:
I appointed Brian as Secretary-Treasurer in 2021 with the approval of the International Executive Board, and he has now been elected to a full term. Brian is extremely intelligent and has worked very hard on behalf of the members of this union for many years. He established and ran the Patriot VEBA, which paid health care benefits for thousands of retirees while we fought to win the pension and retiree health care legislation in Congress. He has learned under the guidance of the most knowledgeable negotiators in the UMWA and has participated in significant sets of negotiations we have had.
Most importantly, Brian has the ability to step into the President’s role if that need ever arises. I hope it won’t anytime soon! But if it does he can do the job.
The Journal:
Many people have lost their jobs, benefits or both in the past few years due to companies using bankruptcy laws to get out of obligations to workers and retirees. Can you speak a little on that?
President Roberts:
Bankruptcy is a terrible plague in this country. Workers who have worked for companies for 40-plus years are losing their jobs. Retirees who were promised health care and a pension suddenly have those benefits stripped away by a bankruptcy judge.
We have laws in this country that are supposed to protect workers, but it turns out that bankruptcy law overrides labor law. Unions are having to fight tooth and nail to provide the benefits our members thought were guaranteed by law. What’s wrong with workers asking for what was promised to them by the corporations they work for? A promise is a promise, especially when it is written into a collective bargaining agreement.
Furthermore, what is the point of securing legislation if members of Congress can create new laws to get rid of those promises? We need politicians who will protect workers and fight to change these bankruptcy and labor laws that are destroying the labor movement in this country.
The Journal:
The workers at Warrior Met in Alabama were on strike for almost two years, going back to work last spring. What is the current status?
President Roberts:
We have secured the jobs of strikers who have not secured jobs elsewhere. Many obtained jobs at one of the other union mines in the area and others got employment elsewhere and decided not to go back to Warrior Met.
It’s important to remember that the entire Alabama political and judicial structure supported Warrior Met Coal. They have not only allowed, but aided in, the recruitment of coal miners from out of state to replace Alabama workers. The governor ordered the state police to escort scabs across the picket line. Judges prevented our members from picketing at mine entrances. The state legislature passed laws that were aimed at destroying the right to strike.
In June, 2023, more than two years after we filed unfair labor practice charges against the company, a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) judge found Warrior Met guilty of not bargaining in good faith. Even so, they are still not bargaining in good faith, nor is the NLRB handing down any penalties for not doing so.
We have kept our promise to the workers who were unfairly terminated by the company by continuing to fight until we get every member back to work. We will not be silenced until this issue gets resolved in favor of the workers at Warrior Met.
The Journal:
The members of Local Union 717 in Ilion, New York, have been dealt more devastating news recently. What is the current status of Remington Arms?
President Roberts:
The Ilion, New York plant has been providing jobs and fueling the local economy since the 1800s. In June, 2023, Local Union 717 members ratified a new contract that brought an end to our struggle to preserve jobs at Remington, that began when Remington filed bankruptcy in 2020. But now, just a few months later, the company has decided to abandon the plant in Ilion and move to a new location in Georgia.
This is frankly outrageous. Moving an entire plant takes months and years of planning. The company had to know this was coming, but they never said a word about it at the bargaining table. That’s bad faith bargaining, but once again the laws in our country are failing workers and their families. There needs to be legal repercussions placed on companies in situations like this and there just isn’t. We have filed unfair labor practice charges against the company, so we will have to see where that leads.
The Journal:
Black lung disease has been plaguing coal miners for decades. We know how to prevent it, yet miners are still getting it. What is the status of our fight for workers regarding this devastating illness?
President Roberts:
There has been an alarming rise in pneumoconiosis, or black lung disease, in younger miners. To this day, there is no cure for the most deadly form of progressive massive fibrosis, other than a lung transplant costing up to one million dollars.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration is in the final stages of creating a Rule that will, for the first time, put limits on the amount of silica dust that can be in a mine atmosphere. Silica causes the most severe form of Black Lung. The new Rule will be good protection for workers to have to fight coal companies that don’t follow the law.
Workers are encouraged to stand up for health and safety issues on the job, and the union will be right beside them. And this is another example of why politics matters to workers. We need to have people in office who will supportus and help us keep our jobs safe.
The Journal:
What does you foresee for 2024?
President Roberts:
We can’t look at where we are going without first looking at where we have been. Securing the healthcare and pensions for 100,000 retirees was a massive victory for the union and we are proud of that accomplishment. But these issues are not going to go away. What Congress does, Congress can undo. The same goes for state legislatures. This is an election year. People need to remember who is on the side of the workers and vote accordingly.
Bankruptcy laws and labor laws continue to change in favor of corporations and against workers. The labor movement needs to be prepared for those battles. I know the UMWA remains a fighting union with the greatest members in the world and who understand the importance of workers’ rights. We will continue to face every battle head on to provide workers and their families with the health care, pensions and safe working environment they deserve.
The Journal:
Is there anything else you would like to add?
President Roberts:
In the words of John L. Lewis, “I derive my strength from the membership of the UMWA.” We have lost many good union men and women this past year, members who were stalwart fighters for this union. The UMWA sends our thoughts and prayers to the families of those lost loved ones.
Our members remain the American troops of the labor movement. They have boarded on buses year after year, traveled from city to city, and walked mile upon mile in the halls of Congress. We will continue to fight when and where we have to on behalf of our members. May God bless every UMWA member and their families.
