Archives: Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 10, 2021

[TRIANGLE, VA.] Commenting on the issuance today by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) of COVID-19 guidance for American mine operators to follow, United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President Cecil E. Roberts issued the following statement:

“The UMWA has been calling for federal action to help protect miners at work from contracting COVID-19 for a year. Unfortunately, our voice fell on deaf ears in the previous administration, and the results are clear. Thousands of our members were exposed to the virus at work, hundreds contracted it and took it home to their families, and some died. Much of that would have been prevented had the previous administration put worker safety first.

“The guidance issued today by MSHA is a significant step in the right direction, and our international safety team and local union safety committees will be demanding meetings with operators of the mines where we represent the workers to discuss this as soon as possible. But much more needs to be done.

“MSHA needs to build on this guidance and  quickly issue an enforceable standard that applies to all mines and miners, whether they are union members or not. The agency also needs to keep accurate statistics on the incidence of COVID-19 in America’s mines, so that a clear picture of the disease in our workplaces can be seen and acted upon.

“But regulatory standards issued by one administration can be reversed by another. That is why it is critical for Congress to pass the bipartisan legislation that has been introduced in both houses of Congress, the COVID-19 Mine Workers Protection Act, which will cement standards for this and any future infectious disease epidemic that may arise into the law. I urge Congress to act as soon as possible to pass this legislation and send it to the President.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FEBRUARY 3, 2021

Bankruptcy Court ruling against Consol a victory for former Murray Energy miners, retirees

[TRIANGLE, VA.] Commenting on Monday’s ruling by the Ohio federal Bankruptcy Court overseeing the bankruptcy of the former Murray Energy which denied Consol Energy’s attempt to overturn the bankruptcy case, United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President Cecil E. Roberts issued the following statement today:

“The Court’s decision means that Consol cannot shed its liabilities under the Coal Act in another company’s bankruptcy proceeding. That was the right decision and it validates the work the UMWA and our Local Unions did to preserve the jobs of nearly 2,000 of our members in that bankruptcy.

“Let’s be clear about this: Consol’s meddling in this bankruptcy case was a blatant attempt to keep a successful company from emerging from the Murray bankruptcy. It was trying to destroy the jobs of those 2,000 miners. That failed. It was trying to get out of its obligation to thousands of retirees under the Coal Act. That failed, too.

“Now Consol needs to live up to its obligation under the law and ensure that these retirees – all of whom worked for Consol – get the health care it promised them and they earned through decades of incredibly hard work.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FEBRUARY 1, 2021

[TRIANGLE, VA.] Today’s introduction of the COVID-19 Mine Worker Protection Act in Congress will provide the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) a critical and vitally-needed tool to prevent the further spread of COVID-19 among America’s nearly 200,000 miners employed in the nation’s coal, metal and nonmetal mines, the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) said today.

“An Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) at MSHA is long overdue, and should have been issued at the beginning of this pandemic,” UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts said today. “You would think that the government agencies that are charged with protecting workers on the job would not have to be forced to do it. But that is where we find ourselves today.

“I welcome President Biden’s Executive Order directing MSHA to determine if an ETS should be issued, but that does not mean that the agency will do it,” Roberts said. “I fear that left to its own devices, MSHA will not take this needed action.

“This legislation will ensure that MSHA will issue such an order, enforce it and then make it permanent,” Roberts said. “I want to thank the bipartisan lawmakers in both houses of Congress who have come to the aid of miners, their families and their communities across America. I urge swift passage of this legislation.”

More than 500 UMWA miners have contracted the virus in the past 11 months. Many have been hospitalized, some have died. The extent of infection in nonunion mines is not known at this point, because MSHA is not keeping track. The UMWA represents about 30 percent of all active hourly coal miners in the United States.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JANUARY 22, 2021

[TRIANGLE, VA.] United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President Cecil E. Roberts issued the following statement today:

​“I applaud President Biden for his swift and decisive action to battle the coronavirus pandemic, especially with respect to ordering the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) to examine the need to issue Emergency Temporary Standards to better protect workers on the job. The UMWA represents workers who are covered by both agencies, and we believe the new leadership in place at OSHA will take quick action.

“Unfortunately, we do not have the same confidence regarding swift action at MSHA. There is no Assistant Secretary nominee as of yet, and left to its own devices I have great concern that a leaderless MSHA will choose to leave miners unprotected.

“That would be disastrous. While America’s mines have not seen the same level of infection and death that other workplaces have seen, the truth is that COVID-19 is running rampant in the mining sector. Hundreds of our members have tested positive, as have their family members. Miners have died, and more are getting sick every day.

“The UMWA is doing our best to work with the operators at mines where we represent the workers, but there is no consistency to protective actions taken by mine management. We cannot be the policemen at every mine, and we certainly cannot expect the industry to police itself. I can only imagine what the situation is like in nonunion operations where the workers have no voice in the safety of their workplaces. The swift application of consistent, enforceable standards is critical.

“America’s miners deserve the same level of health and safety protection that every other American worker receives from their government. This administration came to power on the promises of caring about all workers and their families, and fighting the pandemic on all fronts. Here is its first opportunity to demonstrate that commitment.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 21, 2020

UMWA able to further protect retiree health care in 2021 omnibus

[TRIANGLE, VA.] United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President Cecil E. Roberts issued the following statement today:

“The COVID relief package that a bipartisan group of Senators – including the UMWA’s friends Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Mark Warner (D.-Va.), and Rob Portman (R-OH) – initiated is long overdue and a good first step to helping tens of millions of our fellow citizens stay in their homes, feed their families and get the health care they need as this pandemic rages on even stronger. As vaccines begin to be administered around the country, this is more welcome news.

“We were pleased to be able to provide further protection in the FY 2021 omnibus appropriations bill for some 8,000 retired coal miners, their dependents and widows whose companies are still paying for their health care benefits but are threatened with future bankruptcy. 2019 and even more so 2020 have been especially bad years for the coal industry. Although we would much prefer to see the industry reverse its current slide, we needed to take action in case it does not.

“Now those retirees can have the peace of mind that they will have their health care, and funding for their pensions that we won just a year ago will not be threatened. I want to thank our bipartisan friends in the Senate and House who went to leadership about this provision, thank those leaders for agreeing to it and especially thank Speaker Pelosi for being such a strong voice on our retirees’ behalf.

“I am also glad that we were able to extend the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund excise tax at current levels for an additional year, although we need much more action to stabilize the Fund. The entire Black Lung benefits system needs an overhaul, and this will give us time to get the details of that worked out with all stakeholders.

“I was pleased to see the new round of assistance in the COVID funding package for the unemployed and direct payments to working families. We have close to two thousand of our members who are currently laid off; they and their families can use this assistance immediately. I am also glad to see that our nation’s transportation industry is getting assistance that it so critically needs. It is good news that 32,000 airline employees will be called back to work in the coming days.

“There is much more to be done. The jobs of our first responders who work for state and local governments are in trouble because of Congress’ failure to include assistance for those entities. That puts us all at greater risk. Critical state and municipal services that working families rely on will be put on hold. Congress must build off the spirit of bipartisanship that got this COVID package off the ground and work with the incoming administration to ensure our nation and its people can come out of the pandemic later next year with an economy that is primed to grow and that will leave no one behind.”

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