Willow Grove memorial

 

 

On March 15, 2025, UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts and Secretary-Treasurer Brian Sanson attended the Willow Grove memorial service outside Nelms, OH. International District 31 Vice President Mike “Biggin” Payton emceed the memorial service before more than a hundred attendees, including family members of the 72 miners killed in the tragedy in 1940.

“We gather here and at other places like it in the coalfields every year so that we can pay our respects to those lost and their families,” President Roberts said. “We will never forget their sacrifice and rededicate ourselves to continuing our fight for safer mines and workplaces. We want no other lives to be lost and no other families to suffer the unending grief of suddenly losing a parent or sibling simply because they went to work that day.”

A committee of UMWA retirees, active members and staff have worked tirelessly for several years to create a proper memorial for them. Work at the site is ongoing. 

 

Cecil Roberts: ‘I wish I could have done more organizing’

Source: MetroNews

Date: March 16, 2025

 

ARLINGTON, Va. — Longtime UMWA President Cecil Roberts considers the next seven months his “long goodbye.”

Roberts announced last week he would retire from the position he has held since 1995. Prior to his presidency he served as vice president of the union and before that was active in the leadership of UMWA District 17.

“When I walked through those doors in District 17, I was a 30-year-old coal miner right off the shuttle car. It’s pretty hard to go from the shuttle car one day to sitting behind a desk the next day trying to figure out what you’re supposed to do,” laughed Roberts.

However, it was clear from day one for Roberts, his career would be a near constant battle to protect the benefits of the union membership.

“That very day I started a letter was sent to every single person active and retired that their benefits from the health and retirement benefit fund were being cut. I’m standing up in front of crowds trying to explain this. I was thinking what did a shuttle car operator have to do with this? But I realized you’ve got to take responsibility and fix it,” Roberts told MetroNews.

So for the next five decades he, along with many others, fought to preserve benefits. One of the greatest uphill battles was to preserve the retiree pension benefits and healthcare benefits promised in contracts from long ago. Bankruptcy laws created escapes for coal companies responsible for funding the programs, but as the industry changed the revenue to pay for them slowly evaporated. Eventually, it took congressional action to keep the promise.

“One of the things I’m most proud of is nobody lost their healthcare completely because we found ways to continue to provide it until we managed to get up on Capitol Hill. Legislation passed in 2017 and in December 2019 we passed legislation which protected our healthcare and our pensions,” he explained.

While that was his proudest accomplishment, Roberts said his biggest disappointments were two failings which went hand-in-hand.

“Not only was I unable to save the coal industry, no one else was either. Whether they were politicians or presidents who were favorable to the coal industry, it continued on the decline,” Roberts said.

In recent years, the environmental pressures on the industry put Roberts and the union in the odd position of teaming up with coal operators to fight for the survival of the industry. It was a fight with limited success and for Roberts led to his other big disappointment.

“I would love to have been able to organize more people, but it’s really hard to organize in an industry that’s losing people left and right. You go into a mine with 200 people and start passing out cards to organize, the next thing you know that mine is gone,” he said.

The industry transformed during Roberts’ time. When he took his first union position at District 17 there were 200,000 union coal miners. Today, there are around 44,000 union or non-union employed in the coal industry.

“If you had told me this was going to happen, I wouldn’t have believed you. Heck you could quit a job or get fired from a job at 9:00 in the morning and have another job before the evening shift started, but those days are gone,” said Roberts.

Roberts will serve in his role until the International Convention in St. Louis in October.

 

Written By: Chris Lawrence

UMWA President Cecil Roberts to retire this fall

Source: MetroNews

Date: March 11, 2025

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Longtime United Mine Workers Union President Cecil Roberts has announced his retirement bringing to a close 30-years of leading the labor organization.

Roberts, a native of Cabin Creek, told the UMWA’s International Executive Board on Jan. 16 that he will retire at the close of the International Special Convention that will be held in October in St. Louis.

The union made the announcement in a social media post Tuesday.

“I am going to retire at the end of the Special Convention. I feel like I’m the luckiest person in the world. It has been 59 years since I was drafted, and I survived Vietnam, returned home and have been able to live for 50 plus years. I contracted cancer because of Vietnam, but I’m cancer free as of now and am working to remain so. I am a lucky guy,” said Roberts.

“Brian Sanson is going to be your next president. I want everybody to know that I am going to do everything I can to support him, and I’m going to do everything in my power to get him elected when the next elections come around. I will put my name on every piece of material I can in support of him. I suggest that we all ought to do the same.”

After returning home from Vietnam, the fiery Roberts got a job at Carbon Fuel’s No. 31 Mine near Winifrede in eastern Kanawha County. He was elected vice president of UMWA District 17 in 1977. He began serving as UMWA International Vice President in December 1982. He took over for Rich Trumka as president of the union on Oct. 22, 1995.

Roberts is known for holding up the union’s past and fighting for its future.

In a September 2021 commemorative march to remember the Battle of Blair Mountain, Roberts told MetroNews.

“This is something that labor is determined to keep visible, This is something that led to organizing not only in West Virginia but across the country.”

Tuesday’s announcement from the UMWA said Roberts looks forward to spending time with his wife, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren when he retires.

 

Written By: Jeff Jenkins

Associate Membership Spotlight

 

Belinda Biafore

The January/February issue of the journal proudly features Belinda Biafore as its Associate Membership Spotlight.

Belinda Biafore is an Associate Member and long-time supporter of the United Mine Workers. Sister Biafore is the former West Virginia Democratic Party Chairwoman and has been an active leader in organized labor. “Our sister Belinda is an amazing woman,” said International President Cecil Roberts. “She is always involved in a fight for the working people of West Virginia. We have been friends for many years and I have deep appreciation for our sister in labor.”

When asked what it means to be a part of the UMWA, Belinda stated, “I have walked alongside my brothers and sister of the United Mine Workers of America for as long as I can remember, and I will continue to do so for as long as I can.”

 

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Federal rule to protect miners from black lung disease faces uncertain future

Source: Kentucky Public Radio

Date: January 20, 2025

 

A Biden administration rule lowered the amount of toxic dust workers in mines and quarries can be exposed to, but a lawsuit and new Congress could upend it.

At the Salem Stone Quarry in Dublin, Virginia, miners crush rocks with a machine. The air is thick with dust.

“You can try as hard as you want to, there’s gonna be some dust somewhere,” said Scott Ross, director of engineering at Salem Stone. “But we’re trying to minimize that as much as we can.”

Another machine pulverizes the stones into finer material for asphalt.Quarries like this exist all over the United States, and like coal mines, they’re regulated as a mining operation. There are scores of companies like Salem Stone which, alone, operates 14 quarries in Virginia and North Carolina.

“They all have silica,” said M.J. O’Brien, CEO of Salem Stone. “We have some [quarries] that have almost 100% silica and some that are a little less.”

The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) announced a new rule last year. It says mines, concrete factories and gravel quarries will face stricter regulations limiting the toxic silica dust workers can be exposed to, and potentially inhale. Any exposure to silica dust poses a risk to develop into black lung disease — an incurable scourge that’s been on the rise in Central Appalachia.

For coal mines, where they’ve been monitoring the dust levels for years, the penalties could start in April. Other places, like the Salem Stone Quarry in Dublin have an extra year to reach compliance.

“We are full steam ahead with implementing it,” said Chris Williamson, MSHA Assistant Secretary. “I only have control of that up until January 20 and I have no reason to think that that won’t continue, but I hope it does.”

Williamson was appointed by President Joe Biden and was not asked to stay on by incoming President Donald Trump’s team.

 

Defending the silica dust rule

Last year, house Republicans tried to block funding to enforce the new silica rule, and they could try again in the next budget negotiation.

Meanwhile, there’s an ongoing legal battle after a group of mining companies took the rule to court, saying the agency overstepped its authority when trying to regulate them. Williamson said he’ll be working right up until the last day defending the safety measure.

“My goal is to at least provide a full throated defense of that rule… before I walk out the door,” Williamson said.

Rebecca Shelton, director of policy for the Appalachian Citizens Law Center, said staffing and political will in a Republican-led Congress are going to be important to making the new silica dust rule effective.

“The boots on the ground to do the enforcement, and also the desire to do the enforcement are going to be really important,” Shelton said.

Shelton doesn’t think the silica rule is perfect. Throughout the rule-making process, the ACLC criticized it for relying on companies to accurately self-report toxic dust levels.

But she says any delay to implementation and effective enforcement means more miners will be put at risk.

“We’ve been waiting for this for such a long time…” Shelton said. “I think the bottom line is that we just, you know, we’re trying to prevent disease.”

Back at the Virginia stone quarry, O’Brien says enforcing the new rule will cost his company lots of money, and there are things he doesn’t like about it. For instance, he says the agency could be better at communicating with companies how they plan to enforce the new rule. But that doesn’t mean he wants to see the Trump administration get rid of it.

It’s complicated, but yes we’re in favor of it, because it goes further to protect our people and we’re gonna protect them at all costs,” O’Brien said.

He’s hoping that whoever Trump picks to lead MSHA will have what he says is “more common sense” overseeing the agency.

 

 

Written by: Roxy Todd, Justin Hicks

Union Plus – Life Insurance

Source: Union Plus

 

Life insurance plans help protect union families

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I am 18 to 64 years old

Term-to-70 Life Insurance  Plan

This plan helps provide important protection against the financial impact of unexpected death.

Whether it’s help with final expenses, outstanding loan balances, or student debt, Term Life coverage can help surviving families put the pieces back together.   

The application process can be completed online, with just 3 health-related questions. And your spouse/domestic partner is eligible to apply too – at the same affordable age-banded union-member rates. 

Life Form Series includes GBD-1000, GBD-1100, or state equivalent.

 
 

I want guaranteed coverage

Guaranteed Issue Senior Term Life Insurance Plan

This insurance is designed for mature empty-nesters who want a guaranteed issue life insurance option to cover their final expenses.

This coverage is guaranteed-issue with no doctor visits, medical exams or lab tests required.

Rates are based on your age when you enroll, and increase as you enter the next age band. You must be between ages 50 – 74 to enroll. 

Life Form Series includes GBD-1000, GBD-1100, or state equivalent.

 
 

Why union members might need life insurance

 

Nobody wants to think about life insurance, but not being prepared can put your family at financial risk. Watch this video to learn more.