Archives: Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 16, 2018

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

“Mission Coal’s filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday in Alabama makes it the second coal company in two weeks to seek such protection from the courts. Once again, a company is going into court seeking to shed its debts and restructure itself on the backs of its workers and retirees.
“Mission seeks to throw out the collective bargaining agreement for active workers and eliminate its obligations to retirees who put their lives and their health on the line every day, working underground so that the owners of those mines could make billions of dollars. Neither the miners nor the retirees did anything to cause this bankruptcy, but they will be expected to give up the most nevertheless.

“We have hired counsel in Alabama to assist our legal team in the bankruptcy proceedings. We are sending letters to every active and retired member at all Mission locations explaining what to expect in these proceedings, and we will be holding meetings with them in the near future. We unfortunately have gained a lot of experience in bankruptcy over the last six years. We know what is coming and what it is going to take to fight this battle.

“Lastly, I want to make sure that the UMWA’s message to Mission Coal is crystal clear: We will do whatever we need to do to preserve these jobs as union jobs, and we will never stop fighting to see that our retired members get the benefits they have earned.”

Note: Mission Coal operates two mines, the Oak Grove mine in Bessemer, Alabama and the Pinnacle mine in Pineville, West Virginia. Both mines have preparation plants attached to them. The Pinnacle mine is preparing to cease operations soon, the Oak Grove mine is expected to continue to operate during the bankruptcy proceedings.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OCTOBER 1, 2018

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

“The recent release of the Affinity mine, operated by Pocahontas Coal Company in Raleigh County, W.Va., from the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s (MSHA) Pattern of Violations (POV) status is a dangerous step in the wrong direction for America’s coal miners. And it violates MSHA’s own rules of procedure for releasing mines from POV oversight.

“Affinity had a long history of ignoring safety and health regulations leading up to its placement on POV status in 2013, including two fatal incidents within two weeks in February, 2013. Since it was placed on POV, there continued to be hundreds of Significant and Substantial (S&S) violations at the mine – 261 to be exact.

“In just 2018, Affinity was cited 36 times for S&S violations, including failing to maintain mobile and stationery machinery ‘in safe operating condition’ just six days before the POV was lifted. That is not the hallmark of a mine doing everything it can to keep workers safe.

“Let me be clear: Every rule, every regulation in the Coal Mine Safety and Health Act is written in the blood of a dead or injured miner. If a rule is there, it is because someone was injured or killed on the job before that rule was written. S&S violations are some of the most serious violations of the law that can occur in a mine. Pretending they are otherwise puts miners at severe risk.

“MSHA’s release of the Affinity mine from POV status appears to violate Section 104(e)(3) of the Mine Act, which states that before a POV can be lifted from a mine, that mine must undergo an inspection of the entire mine with no S&S violations. There is no evidence that MSHA conducted such an inspection at the Affinity Mine. We sent the agency a letter more than two weeks ago asking what the legal basis was for this mine being taken off POV but have yet to receive a response.

“This is a dangerous precedent for American coal miners, one that must be reversed immediately. Not only should the Affinity mine be put back on POV status until it can meet the requirements for being relieved of that status, but MSHA and the Department of Labor must never violate their own standards again.

“POV status is there for a reason. It demonstrates that miners at a particular mine are being put at serious risk of severe injury or death, and strong action is needed to protect them. Failure to enforce such basic and critical safety and health regulations sends a message to America’s coal miners that the federal government has forgotten that most precious resource in the mine is the miner, not the coal.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

[MCCALLA, AL] United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President Cecil E. Roberts issued the following statement today, in response to the announcement of a potential sale of the Shoal Creek mine in Alabama from Drummond Coal to Peabody Energy:

“As always, the UMWA’s mission is to keep our members working in good, safe jobs so that they can provide for their families. We will continue to do that no matter who the owner of the mine is. We are in negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement that is fair and equitable to both sides prior to this sale.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SEPTEMBER 6, 2018

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) today delivered 1,756 letters written by UMWA retirees, their families and widows to the Joint Select Committee on the Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Funds, asking the Committee to take action to preserve the pensions they earned in a lifetime of hard, dangerous work.

“This committee holds the lives of millions in their hands, yet they heard from just four of them — and only one UMWA member — during the hearings it has held over the six months of its existence,” UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts said. “That’s simply outrageous, and we thought it would be good for them to hear from more of those whose lives are at stake.

The committee is supposed to make recommendations by Nov. 30 to the rest of Congress as to how to prevent pension funds like the UMWA 1974 Plan from failing. The committee has no further hearings or public meetings scheduled and has discussed no bipartisan solutions in any public forum.

“I hope the committee members take the time to read at least a small fraction of these letters,” Roberts said. “They will find stories of long years of hard work, injuries on the job, occupational disease, faith, military service and a commitment to our country. They will understand what these retirees did to earn their pensions and what will happen if they lose them.

“Their pensions are at risk through no fault of their own and Congress is the only body that can save them,” Roberts said. “They have no more time to wait. It is time for this committee to do what it is supposed to do and preserve their pensions.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

[CHARLESTON, W.V.] The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) announced today that it has reserved $360,000 in television advertising in four West Virginia media markets for an independent expenditure effort in support of the re-election of Sen. Joe Manchin.

“There is no stronger voice in the United States Senate on behalf of working and retired coal miners than Joe Manchin,” UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts said. “He has fought like a lion to preserve our active members’ jobs and our retirees’ health care and pensions. He has stood with us at every turn, and we want our fellow West Virginians to know that we stand with him.”

Roberts noted that Manchin led the charge in the U.S. Senate that resulted in the preservation of health care for 22,600 retired miners, their dependents and widows in 2017. “That was a fight few thought we could win, but we did because we wouldn’t quit and neither would Joe Manchin,” Roberts said. “He knows how to get things done in Washington, and West Virginia needs that.”

“Joe cares about the people who do the work, not just the CEOs at the top,” Roberts said. “He was raised in a West Virginia coal community. He knows how important coal jobs are to those communities. He knows the struggle coal miners went through to free ourselves of the company town, the company store, the company doctor. He knows what it’s like to lose a loved one to a mine disaster, which is why he cares so much about workers’ safety and health on the job.”

“Joe Manchin has earned our support and the support of every working family in West Virginia,” Roberts said. “We are proud to stand with him and look forward to working with him in Washington as we continue our fight to preserve our retirees’ pensions and keep active coal miners on the job.”

The spots will begin in mid-October in the Charleston/Huntington, Beckley/Bluefield,Clarksburg/Morgantown/Fairmont and Wheeling markets.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

AUGUST 8, 2018

[TRIANGLE, VA.] Cecil E. Roberts has been elected by acclamation to a sixth full term as International President of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) along with his entire slate of returning and new union officers, the UMWA announced today.

“I am extremely humbled by this great honor the membership has bestowed upon me,” Roberts said, “and I stand ready to continue to live up to the tremendous responsibilities that come with this office. We have a lot of work to do as we fight to preserve the pensions our retirees have earned and keep our active members working in safe, secure jobs with the best pay and benefits possible.”

Roberts’ running mate, Levi Allen, has been elected to his first full term as International Secretary-Treasurer. Allen was appointed to that position in 2017 upon the retirement of Daniel Kane, and at 37 is the youngest Secretary-Treasurer in the history of the UMWA.

Roberts wasted no time in confronting the key challenges the UMWA and its members face. “There are those who say it’s time to cast retirees aside and let their pensions wither away, no matter what happens to them and their communities,” Roberts said. “To them I say that we will fight for those pensions to our last breath, and we will prevail.

“There are those who say we need to roll back regulations that keep miners and other workers safe on the job,” Roberts said. “To them I say we will never compromise on health and safety at work. We have come too far and saved too many lives in America’s coal mines and workplaces to turn the clock back to a day when workers did not know if they would return home from their shift.”

“And there are those who say that we must solve the world’s climate issues by eliminating American coal miners’ jobs and further destroying their communities,” Roberts said. “To them I say we will never stop fighting for our members’ jobs no matter where they work. Wiping out American coal jobs won’t stop other countries from using coal to generate power. America must take the lead in developing technologies that will allow for the continued production of electricity with coal while reducing and eventually eliminating carbon emissions.”

Elected to International Office and serving on the UMWA’s International Executive Board with Roberts and Allen are:

At-Large International Vice Presidents

Don Barnett

James Gibbs

Donnie Samms

International District Vice Presidents

Chuck Knisell, District 2 (Pennsylvania, New York, Eastern Canada)

Steve Earle, District 12 (midwestern United States)

Gary Trout, District 17 (southern West Virginia, southern Ohio, eastern Kentucky, Virginia)

Larry Spencer, District 20 (southern United States)

Mike Dalpiaz, District 22 (western United States)

Rick Altman, District 31 (northern West Virginia, eastern Ohio)

International Auditor-Tellers

Jody Dukart, Canada

Tanya James, eastern United States

Roy Fernandez, western United States

Knisell and Altman will be serving on the Board for the first time; and Trout, Spencer and Dukart will be serving their first full terms on the Board, having been appointed after retirements by their predecessors.

The UMWA Constitution requires that a nomination period to be held prior to every International election, beginning on June 15 and ending August 1. Nominations are made during that period at special nomination meetings of local unions. 308 of the UMWA’s 309 local unions held nomination meetings. To be on the ballot, candidates must receive at least 20 percent of local union nominations.

The Roberts leadership team received the nomination of 307 UMWA local unions, and as the only nominees to meet the 20 percent threshold are automatically elected to five-year terms by acclamation.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JUNE 27, 2018

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

“With today’s decision in Janus v. AFSCME District Council 31, the elitist billionaires who have targeted the rights of American working families got the decision they bought and paid for. They financed this lawsuit; they financed the campaigns of the politicians who confirmed the judges to the Supreme Court who made this decision; and they financed the anti-worker organizations who provide cover for their attacks on worker’s rights.”

“Make no mistake: They view this decision as a big victory in their long-term effort to destroy working families’ power and silence our voices. But I have confidence that in the end, the corporate elitists will fail. American workers understand that their rights are under attack and will respond.”

“The UMWA proudly represents thousands of public employees — Corrections Officers; State, County and Municipal Employees; Police Officers; Deputy Sheriffs; and more. Those workers have sought out UMWA representation because they know their jobs and their lives are better because they are in a union. We prove that to them everyday and this decision will not affect our commitment to them in any way.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JUNE 4, 2018

[TRIANGLE, VA] A report released today by the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) shows that the Black Lung Benefits Program is more than $4 billion dollars in debt, and a 55 percent reduction scheduled at the end of 2018 in the production tax paid by coal companies will cause that deficit to nearly quadruple over the next 30 years.

​“The modest benefits paid to Black Lung victims or their widows are small compensation for the constant pain and suffering caused by this disease,” United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President Cecil E. Roberts said. “These workers contracted this always-fatal occupational disease because they went to work in coal mines whose operators did not take the necessary steps to properly protect them.”

​“Miners get black lung by working in a mine where the operator is not adequately controlling respirable dust,” Roberts said. “This happens because the company is not complying with laws and regulations regarding proper ventilation of the mine and/or not following other required health and safety laws and regulations.”

​“Coal operators caused this problem, and they are the ones who should be responsible for funding the compensation these workers receive,” Roberts said. “Letting them off the hook by reducing the amount they are required to pay is not just wrong, it is rewarding bad corporate behavior.”

​Coal companies pay $1.10 per ton of coal mined underground and $0.55 per ton of surface-mined coal into the Black Lung Benefits Program, which is administered by the Department of Labor.  Those amounts were set by law in 1981, but are scheduled to drop at the end of 2018 to $0.50 per ton for coal produced underground and $0.25 for surface-mined coal.

​“Allowing the contribution rate to drop would cause the Black Lung Benefits Program to go $1.85 billion dollars further into debt over the next ten years,” Roberts said. “That money funds small but critically needed benefits that these miners andwidows need to help provide some of the basic necessities of life.”

​“At a time when Black Lung is on the rise, especially among younger miners, Congress should not be even considering allowing the coal industry contribution to be cut,” Roberts said. “Miners are going to need these benefits for decades to come. This is a problem that has been created by the coal industry, there is a system to help the victims of this disease already in place that the coal industry pays for, and I see no reason why we would put the taxpayers on the hook instead.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 24, 2018

[TRIANGLE, VA.] The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) National Council of the Coal Miners Political Action Committee (COMPAC) announced its endorsement of U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine in Virginia’s June 12 primary election.

“From his days as Governor, Tim Kaine has always been a good friend of active and retired miners,” UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts said. “Over the last several years in the Senate he has been a leader in our efforts to preserve health care and pensions for retired miners and their widows. Tim Kaine has repeatedly demonstrated that he is on our side throughout his career, and we are proud to be on his side in this election.”

The UMWA’s national political arm has endorsed in state primaries across the nation several U.S. Senators and Representatives of both political parties who have supported the union’s years-long fight to preserve the benefits retired coal miners earned.

“Like Tim Kaine, these Members of Congress have continuously supported legislation that fulfills America’s promise to retired coal miners, their dependents and widows,” Roberts said. “We have been very clear throughout this fight that if you are with us, we are with you. This isn’t a partisan issue, and we don’t make endorsements on a partisan basis. This is about doing the right thing for the people who earned a secure retirement. Tim Kaine is doing that, and we are proud to stand with him.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

APRIL 13, 2018

[TRIANGLE, VA.] The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) National Council of the Coal Miners Political Action Committee (COMPAC) announced its endorsement of U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown and five incumbent Members of Congress in the May 8 Ohio primary election.

“Sherrod Brown has been a leader in our efforts to preserve health care and pensions for retired miners and their widows,” UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts said. “He has been a strong supporter of our members and their families from the day he took office in Washington. He has repeatedly demonstrated that he is on our side, and we are proud to be on his side in this election.”

The UMWA’s national political arm also endorsed five U.S. House members in the primary who have supported the union’s years-long fight to preserve the benefits retired coal miners earned. They are:

“These Members of Congress have continuously supported legislation that fulfills America’s promise to retired coal miners, their dependents and widows,” Roberts said. “We have been very clear throughout this fight that if you are with us, we are with you. This isn’t a partisan issue, and we don’t make endorsements on a partisan basis. This is about doing the right thing for the people who earned a secure retirement.”

The UMWA Ohio State Council of COMPAC previously endorsed Zack Space for Ohio State Auditor, and State House of Representatives candidates Dan Milleson in the 95^th District and Jack Cera in the 96^th District.