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President Roberts talks about the importance of making our presence known during the Joint Select Committee hearing in Columbus, Ohio on July 12, 2018. Reach out to your closest UMWA office to get on a bus to attend the Pension Rally! The rally will begin at 11:00 a.m. on July 12, 2018.

We need to make sure that Congress knows we will not stop fighting to the retirement that you earned and deserve!

“We have been fighting for eight long years to preserve your pension, and this rally is one of the most important moments in that fight. This is a tremendous opportunity to make our voices heard, joining with thousands of other union members and retirees whose pensions are also in jeopardy.”

Source: FightBackNews.org

Ludlow, CO – On June 23, a commemoration of the Ludlow massacre took place, sponsored by labor unions, local officials and Greek and Greek-American civic and religious organizations. They gathered here to unveil a remarkable memorial: a new statue of strike organizer and Ludlow martyr Louis Tikas.

“Louis Tikas plays an important role in our community’s local history for his contribution to the 1913-14 strike,” said Yolanda Romero, event organizer in Ludlow.

An immigrant from Greece, Tikas was murdered in 1914 during a strike by 13,000 miners. Tikas was responsible for the striking miners’ camp, including women and children, after they were expelled from coal company housing. An eyewitness, a sergeant, said Lieutenant Karl Linderfelt broke a rifle butt over Tikas’ head and ordered him shot during the raid on the miners’ camp. Tikas was later found dead, with two others, shot in the back.

The Ludlow Massacre occurred when the Colorado National Guard and company thugs burned the miners’ tents and shot people in the camp, killing 13 children, two mothers, and number of miners. Folk singer Woody Guthrie memorialized the dead in his famous song Ludlow Massacre.

Miners were demanding an end to company scrip (money), company stores, company doctors, and coal company security goons enforcing a closed camp, like today’s detention centers. The miners wanted an eight-hour work day, enforcement of Colorado mining safety laws, and most importantly – union recognition.

Coal miners in Colorado were ready to strike after hundreds were killed in the years leading up to 1913. In 1910, one explosion killed 79 miners in Colorado. Mine owner John D. Rockefeller wrote in his reply letter, “How come the company is not growing faster?”

In response to the Ludlow Massacre, the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) armed around 1000 miners, who shut down more than six mines. For the next ten days, miners were in charge and shot anybody who dared to oppose them with weapons. The Colorado Coalfield War left around 50 coal company thugs and state militiamen dead. Federal troops were called in to prevent the miners from seizing control.

The coal miners called off the strike in December 1914 with no immediate victory. However, the miners soon made gains in safety standards, including an end to child labor in the coal mines. The Rockefeller-owned mining company soon created a company union.

“I used to be a coal miner, and I stand on the shoulders of these people. They set the table for addressing health and safety issues in the mines, as well as other benefits such as wage increases which have trickled down to workers in other industries,” said Bob Butero, Region 4 Director, UMWA.

Butero concluded, “All workers should remember the sacrifice of martyrs such as Tikas.”

National leaders and rank-and-file members of the UMWA, and Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, AFL-CIO, attended the unveiling. Also attending were Louis Tikas’ relatives from Greece, members of several Greek-American organizations, and the Honorable Gregory Karahalios, Greek Consul General in Los Angeles, Also honoring Tikas were local government officials from Trinidad and Las Animas County, Colorado, and many supporters from across Colorado.

“If we ask if he lost the battle? At the end, we will say no. He didn’t lose. He might die, but he died for a cause. And his cause is still alive today! We need people like him to be our guiding light in everything we do,” said Consul Karahalios, who spoke with great pride.

Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, said about Louis Tikas, “He is indeed a hero in the United Mine Workers. He is a working class hero. And he is an American hero.”

Written by: Tom Burke and Shaine Carrol-Frey

Source: Estevan Mercury

A visit from the Task Force on the Just Transition for Canadian Coal-Power Workers and Communities to Estevan on June 14 resulted in numerous meetings and plenty of discussion.

The task force met with representatives from local municipal councils, the Estevan Chamber of Commerce, the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) Local 7606, suppliers, affected workers and more during a visit to Estevan.

But the biggest crowd was reserved for a town hall-style meeting with the employees of the Westmoreland Coal Company’s Estevan mines, and SaskPower’s Boundary Dam and Shand Power Stations that attracted more than 100 people to the Beefeater Plaza.

Task force members were also in Regina on June 13, and Coronach on June 15.

The task force was announced by the federal government last month, in response to its plans to phase-out conventional coal power by 2030.

Jody Dukart, an international auditor/teller with the UMWA, met with the task force in Regina and Estevan.

“The meetings were good, from the aspect of them reaching out to listen to us for what we could be transitioned to,” said Dukart. “But ultimately, for us to transition to any other industry, it’s going to be tough.”

Not only will they likely be making lower wages, but they likely won’t be union jobs, he said, and a majority of the affected workers would likely have to leave the Estevan area, which would affect real estate values in the city.

Dukart described the task force’s visit as a “reality check.” His message, for the UMWA, though, is to keep fighting for the future of coal.

“We need to lead this fight,” said Dukart. “We need to start helping the provincial government to get that equivalency agreement through, and start pushing the federal government to start rethinking their decision on the phase-out of coal in 2030.”

He thought a task force should have been created to come to Estevan and Coronach regarding the future of clean coal technologies.

“We have the technology here. It just has to be expanded,” said Dukart. “I guess we’re not ready to accept that they’re trying to phase out coal.”

The future of the carbon capture and storage (CCS) was not addressed, although task force members did tour the CCS facility at the Boundary Dam Power Station.

“At one time, we were the leading country, I felt, in clean coal technology, just because we had a plant up and running, and all these countries were coming to our country to see what we had and how they could adjust to it.”

Dukart believes Saskatchewan still needs the power that coal provides in the winter months.

Among the coal miners who spoke at the meeting was Dave Grass, a local coal miner. He applauded the task force for coming to Estevan to learn how this will affect miners, their families and their communities.

Grass noted that coal-fired power stations have an average lifespan of 40 years and run throughout the year, providing reliable power.

“However, with the implementation of carbon taxes, federal regulations on emission levels and environmental policies, the playing field has been artificially tipped in the renewable energy industries’ favour,” said Grass.

Grass also noted the advancements that have been made in CCS, and the benefits associated with the technology.

“Within our mining industry, great strides have been taken to protect our environment,” said Grass. “We have diverted production for the sake of one nesting burrowing owl, halted another dragline for bids nesting near the equipment, stopped production in an area due to Indigenous teepee rings discovered,” said Grass.

Harold Matthews, the vice-president of power for SaskPower, was there each day. He said the Crown corporation was pleased the task force came to Estevan to discuss the impacts if coal mining were to end.

He was also impressed with the composition of the committee, with representatives of several different unions.

SaskPower wanted the task force to understand the number of employees who would be directly affected, and the number of people indirectly impacted, including contractors.

They also discussed the value of coal in the fleet, particularly from a baseload perspective, and how carbon capture and storage supports SaskPower’s strategy for renewables.

“We had quite a talk about carbon capture, and the possibilities around carbon capture and the CCS strategy,” Matthews said.

And there were discussions on how the loss of coal would affect ratepayers.

If coal is taken out of the power generation chain, it would eliminate the source of about 40 per cent of Saskatchewan’s electricity.

In the case of the Shand Power Station, for example, it would accelerate retirement, making it a stranded asset.

“You have a lot of money tied up in the asset that we can’t recover,” said Matthews.

Souris-Moose Mountain MP Robert Kitchen said he was pleased the Task Force came to Estevan and Coronach and talked to workers and others who would be affected.

He attended meetings in Estevan and Coronach to listen to the comments and to address the task force.

“As I’ve indicated, and as I’ve said all along, this is going to have a major impact on the workers of the mines and the workers of the power plants. No doubt about it. The families will be impacted. The communities will be impacted. The suppliers are going to be impacted.”

But he said he was disappointed with communication regarding the visit. He found out through another source that the task force would be coming.

Affected MPs will now be invited to the meetings.

Kitchen said he was very proud to hear people who attended the meeting standing up for their jobs, rather than asking for a buyout or a handout.

“They were asking (the task force) to take back to the government to not buy us out, find a way to get us these jobs and to keep these jobs. They want to work, and I’m so proud to know that that’s what my constituents are looking for.”

He also hopes the task force will remind the government that CCS is green, viable and innovative.

Every June 11th, the United Mine Workers of America observe William Davis Miner’s Memorial Day (Davis Day) in honor of Nova Scotian William Davis who was killed when company guards fired into a crowd of striking miners near the town of New Waterford in Nova Scotia, Canada. William Davis was 37 years old at the time of his death.

Davis was a father to nine children with a 10th on the way when he died. He previously worked in  Springhill mine where his older brother Thomas died at the age of 14 in the mine disaster in 1891.

Today marks the 93rd anniversary of his murder which took place at approximately 11:00 AM on June 11, 1925. This year the annual event was held in New Waterford, Nova Scotia with  a memorial service at 10 a.m. at the Calvin United Church on Hudson Street.

Secretary-Treasurer Allen and International District 2  Vice President Yankovich spoke at the event with Canada’s Auditor-Teller Emeritus, Bobby Burchell, MC’ing.

The Men of the Deeps, North America’s only Coal Mining Chorus, was invited to perform throughout the ceremony.  The event also included the placing of the wreaths in Davis Square at the Miner’s Memorial.

Source: Williamson Daily News

That’s why Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, encouraged a room of doctors, lawyers and miners Wednesday to get on a bus with him and rally for the nation’s miners.

“If Jesus had stayed in a building somewhere with his disciples and told his disciples, ‘Write some letters and tell people about me and about Christianity because I don’t want to go outside this building because I’m afraid to go outside this building because people hate me and don’t believe what I’m saying’ – no,” Roberts told a full room, kicking off this year’s West Virginia Black Lung Conference at Pipestem Resort State Park.

The three-day conference addresses different facets of black lung disease, or coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, from developments in workers’ compensation to screening for the potentially fatal disease.

Roberts’ speech Wednesday came only a few days after the Government Accountability Office said in a report that the Black Lung Trust Fund could require a government bailout at the end of the year, when the coal tax is to decrease 55 percent. The survey examined different factors that might affect the trust fund, which benefited about 25,700 people in fiscal year 2017.

Even if benefits were completely shut off next year, the fund would still be $6 billion in debt in 2050 if the tax rate declines, said Richard Miller, director of labor policy for Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., who requested the GAO study.

There’s no immediate risk of beneficiaries losing benefits, he said, but the cost of inaction is high.

“From an advocacy point of view, our view is that members need to be aware of this deadline coming up, because this is a relatively obscure, in-the-weeds issue and to let them understand what the consequences are and how, I would argue, irresponsible it would be to let the red ink spiral out of control,” he said.

During his speech earlier in the day, Roberts snaked around the banquet hall, urging people to stand up for what’s right.

“None of us are powerful people by ourselves, but I want to dissuade you from the fact that we can’t do something if we stick together,” Roberts said.

It’s the working class, not the millionaires, he said, who have a history of making waves. And the UMW has a history of standing strong to defend its miners, he said.

“People need to get out from in front of the television and say, if they’re going to take my black lung benefits and they’re going to take some of them away from me, I want to be part of a movement that says that isn’t going to happen,” he said. “And if you want to be part of a movement that stands up and fights back … if you want to fight back, this is the place to be, because this is a fighting movement we’ve got right here.”

Written by: Kate Mishkin

Source: National Public Radio

A new government report says that the federal black lung trust fund that helps sick and dying coal miners pay living and medical expenses could incur a $15 billion deficit in the next 30 years. That’s if a congressionally mandated funding cut occurs as planned at the end of the year.

The cut in the funding formula comes as NPR has reported and government researchers have confirmed an epidemic of the most advanced stages of black lung, along with unprecedented clusters of the disease in the central Appalachian states of Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia.

The report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reviewed the viability of the federal Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, which paid out $184 million in benefits in FY 2017 to 25,700 coal miners suffering from the fatal mine dust disease and their dependents.

A tax on coal companies supports the fund, but that tax is set for a 55 percent cut at the end of 2018, even as the fund’s debt exceeds $4.3 billion and demand for benefits is expected to grow.

“You have to address the fact that the serious forms of black lung appear to be increasing and that may put even more strain on the trust fund,” says Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

“The last thing you want to do … is to reduce the revenue,” adds Scott, who requested the GAO report. “That will inevitably … put pressure on the idea that we should reduce the little benefits that they have.”

Miners with certified cases of black lung receive $650 to $1300 a month for living expenses. They also receive medical care directly related to their disease, which averaged $6,980 per miner last year.

“We’re dying off like crazy right now,” says Sheralin Greene, 57, who mined coal underground for 20 years in Harlan County, Ky. Black lung has sapped her ability to walk around her small farm, do chores at home, or even sleep, without paralyzing coughing fits that last 15 minutes or more. She receives payments and medical care from the federal trust fund.

“It’s a terrible disease,” Greene says, as tears glaze her eyes. “It affects your heart. It affects your family, your livelihood and everything.”

At the current rate, the coal tax collects more than enough money to cover miners’ benefits – $450 million in FY 2017. But that wasn’t always the case. The fund had to borrow money to pay for benefits in the past, and that, plus interest on the loans, has put the fund deep in debt.

The only projection in the GAO report that results in zero debt, avoids borrowing more money for the fund decades into the future, and continues to pay benefits, requires a 25 percent spike in the coal tax, instead of cutting it as planned.

Increasing the tax or even leaving the current rate in place would burden the coal industry, says Bruce Watzman, an executive at the National Mining Association.

“The competition among fuels for electric generation is intense and a couple cents a kilowatt hour makes a difference in the fuel source that’s generating the electricity,” Watzman adds.

Watzman favors congressional action that forgives some or all of the fund’s debt. But even with full debt forgiveness, the GAO still projects a deficit of $2.3 billion in 2050.

Forgiving the debt also shifts the costs of the black lung benefits program from coal companies to taxpayers, according to Treasury officials who were consulted by the GAO. They “noted that the costs associated with forgiving Trust Fund interest or debt would be borne by the general taxpayer since Treasury borrows from taxpayers to lend to the Trust Fund as needed,” the report says.

“Coal operators caused this problem, and they are the ones who should be responsible for funding the compensation these workers receive,” says Cecil Roberts, international president of the United Mine Workers of America.

Coal companies buy insurance or self-insure for black lung and are the first held responsible for payment when miners are awarded benefits. But industry bankruptcies and the failure to secure enough insurance had mining companies paying just 25 percent of black lung benefits in FY 2017. The Trust Fund, which kicks in when coal companies can’t pay, paid 64 percent.

The GAO’s projections do not include the recent studies showing record-high rates of Progressive Massive Fibrosis, the advanced stage of black lung, along with an increase in lung transplants due to black lung. A recent study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) noted that lung transplants cost on average $1 million each and the rate of transplants for miners with black lung has tripled.

“It’s not our fault that we got this disease,” says former miner Sheralin Greene. “We did keep the lights on … We were just trying to help America … They better take care of the coal miners.”

Written by: Howard Berkes