FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SEPTEMBER 2, 2022
Warrior Met demands to fire 40 strikers without due process
[MCCALLA, AL] Responding to a demand by Warrior Met Coal, Inc. that it would not allow 40 striking United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) members to return to work, UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts issued the following statement today:
“We received on Monday a letter from Warrior Met that listed the names of 40 individuals that the company says it will not allow to return to work due to unspecified reasons. Warrior Met has been threatening to do this for months. It is demanding that the UMWA cede its legal responsibility to fairly represent those members and is attempting to prevent us from doing so.
“We have asked Warrior Met to provide us with any specifics it may have that would provide some clarity regarding its position. We are pursuing all legal avenues available to us on behalf of each of these individuals, including an unfair labor practice charge filed today.
“I would note that the list includes the majority of leaders in every UMWA local union that is on strike. It also includes a disproportionate number of African-American members. Warrior Met has callously prolonged this strike for months, needlessly punishing these strikers, their families and the Alabama communities where they live. Warrior Met now wants to wipe out the union’s local leadership and attack our union’s diversity.
“Perhaps the Wall Street, ‘greed is good’ mentality of Warrior Met upper management has deluded them into believing this action will intimidate the membership into submission. That would be a serious miscalculation.”
