Archives: Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

AUGUST 4, 2020

[CHARLESTON, W.V.] The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) West Virginia Council of the Coal Miners Political Action Committee (COMPAC) yesterday voted to endorse Ben Salango for Governor and Sam Petsonk for Attorney General in the November general election.

            “Ben Salango is the clear choice for working families, and especially working and retired coal miners, in West Virginia,” UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts said. “His family has UMWA roots and he understands the critical importance of the coal industry to our state. He will be a strong voice for preserving and expanding coal jobs, but in a way that puts miners first, not coal executives. That’s why he received the unanimous endorsement of our State COMPAC Council.

“Ben stands up for workers and working families, and he will be the kind of active Governor West Virginia needs,” Roberts said. “Ben knows that the best people to be in charge of coal miners’ health and safety are those who will put the safety of the miners ahead of production-first demands of coal operators.

“With Ben Salango in office, we will have a Governor who will support retired miners and widows,” Roberts said. “We have had to sue the current Governor’s companies to get them to live up to their obligations to retired miners and widows, and we are not the only ones who have taken him to court to force him to live up to his obligations.”

The endorsement of Sam Petsonk for Attorney General was also unanimous. Petsonk, who was a legal intern at the UMWA in the mid-2000’s, has dedicated his life to assisting miners, families and communities get the help they need to survive, especially with regard to wage protection and black lung benefits.

“I have known Sam for a long time, and I have always found him to be a passionate advocate for people,” Roberts said. “His work on behalf of coal miners and their families is a shining example of what a good lawyer should be doing.

“Sam’s support for coal miners extends to supporting their jobs as well,” Roberts said. “His plan for revitalizing the coal industry in West Virginia is innovative and makes use of the full powers of the Attorney General’s office in ways that benefit miners, families, communities and the state as a whole. Merely trying to recaputure the past when it comes to developing a future for coal jobs will not cut it. We have to embrace new technology and new approaches if we are going to preserve coal jobs in the long-term. Sam has that vision.”

“We intend to put the full power of our political team behind Ben, Sam, and all our endorsed candidates in West Virginia up and down the ballot in this election,” Roberts said. “Every candidate we have endorsed has earned it, and we will support them every step of the way.”

The State COMPAC Council, which is made up of UMWA Area COMPAC Council committee members, union activists and UMWA District officers from all parts of the state, met by Zoom conference on August 3, 2020, to consider the endorsements for Governor, Attorney General and other state and local offices.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JULY 23, 2020

[TRIANGLE, VA.] The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) offered strong support for the “Marshall Plan for Coal Country,” to be introduced today in the United States Senate by Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.).

“This is the first legislation we have seen that takes aim at the tremendous economic problems that already exist in the coalfields of America,” UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts said. “Coal-producing areas of our nation have taken a pounding, and it is not getting any better. Senator Duckworth’s bill is comprehensive and includes several programs and concepts that would have strong, positive impacts on economically depressed communities in the coalfields, as well as dislocated workers and their families.”

The bill would:

• Provide health care coverage through Medicare for coal workers who have lost their jobs;
• Improve bankruptcy laws so that coal companies would have to pay obligations to pensions and retiree health care before they paid executive bonuses;
• Establishes programs to assist dislocated coal workers with setting up their own businesses;
• Provide federal government procurement preferences for goods manufactured in coal country;
• Encourage first-time homebuyers to purchase homes in hard-hit coal communities while stabilizing property values for existing homeowners;
• Provides significant assistance to apply carbon capture and storage technology to existing coal-fired power plants, and to build out the infrastructure needed to accomplish this;
• Provide free higher education tuition to coal workers and their families to earn an Associates, Technical or Bachelor’s degree.

“These are exactly the kind of specifics we have long called for in policy initiatives to help workers, families and communities that have already been devastated,” Roberts said. “They worked long and hard to provide America with the energy it needed to become the strongest nation on Earth. They did – and many thousands are still doing – their part for all of us. We cannot continue to just kick them to the curb; America has a responsibility to them.

“This is not a climate bill,” Roberts said. “It is not a bill people should feel the need to take sides about. This is a bill that would provide critical help to the communities and people who need it right now. And it will lay the groundwork for any further economic shocks that hit the coalfields as natural gas prices continue to stay low and overall electricity demand remains depressed.

“I call on other Senators, of both parties, to support this legislation,” Roberts said. “And I strongly urge that it be part of any other economic development legislation or policy initiatives that may be under consideration in Congress, the administration or presidential campaigns.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JUNE 4, 2020

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] United Mine Workers of America International President Cecil E. Roberts issued the following statement today:

“The recommendations issued today by the Democratic National Committee’s Environment and Climate Crisis Council are technologically, economically and politically unachievable. Worse, the Council puts the burden of meeting an impossible set of goals squarely on the backs of traditional energy workers in America and their communities, without putting forth any concrete plan to keep those workers and communities viable in the long term.

“I have to ask if this Council sought the input of anyone who might question their conclusions or suggest alternatives to their recommendations? Did they ask the opinion of a coal miner? A worker in a coal-fired power plant? A mayor whose community will be devastated when a plant or a mine closes? I sincerely doubt it.

“No one is suggesting that climate change is not happening or that we do not need to take action to deal with it. It is, and we must. But once again, we see a condescending, ‘we know what’s best for you’ attitude toward traditional energy workers, their families and their communities.

”The notion that adopting the policies recommended by this Council will not have political ramifications in traditional-energy, blue-collar swing states is ludicrous. I can assure you that the mere issuing of this report has already cost Democrats potential votes in places like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan, without adding any new ones.

“As chair of the AFL-CIO’s Energy Committee, I will be bringing this matter before that Committee, so that we can consider how we approach this.”

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