Archives: Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 1, 2019

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

“As the Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings of Westmoreland Coal draw to a close, I want to make sure our active and retired members and their families who are affected by this bankruptcy are up to date with where we are.

“We have negotiated a tentative collective bargaining agreement with the buyer of the Kemmerer and Beulah mines. However, we have not reached final agreement with the seller of those mines on funding for retiree health care going forward. Judge David Jones did order Westmoreland to set aside $6 million for retiree health care, meaning retirees do not have to worry about their immediate health care needs. But that is not enough to make it through the year, so negotiations are ongoing.

“When a final agreement on retiree health care is reached, the union will bring the tentative agreement before the membership for an explanation and a ratification vote. We expect this to occur by March 15, pending further rulings from the court.

“Regardless of how much money we are able to secure for retiree health care going forward, it will not be enough to provide the lifetime benefits that retirees earned and were promised. That is why we have worked with our allies in Congress to introduce House Resolution (HR) 934, the Health Benefits for Miners Act of 2019, and Senate Bill 27, the American Miners Act. These bills will put Westmoreland retirees’ health care under the umbrella of the UMWA Health and Retirement funds and will provide lifetime coverage.

“I urge all active and retired UMWA members at all former Westmoreland operations, their families, friends and community leaders to contact their members of Congress and urge that they support HR 934 and S. 27. The promise must be kept to all retired UMWA miners, their dependents and widows.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 14, 2019

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

            “National Public Radio and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting recently ran a generally excellent investigative story on the rise of coal workers pneumoconiosis, or Black Lung, in America’s coalfields. It was an in-depth piece that went beyond the normal reporting on the issue.

            “However, there was one part of the story that contained an inaccurate statement from Ms. Celeste Montforton, a former employee of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), regarding the UMWA’s position on developing regulations to curtail coal mine dust, including quartz and silica. She said that she “thinks” the union resisted promulgating such regulations. That statement is false.

“The Union has never take such a position. We have always forcefully argued that exposure to silica, quartz and all other coal mine dust must be controlled through all environmental and technological means available if we are to successfully eradicate pneumoconiosis. I have written a letter to NPR asking that they correct their reporting on this point (see letter here).

            “Due to the nature of this erroneous statement and the need to ensure that the UMWA’s consistent strong advocacy for miners’ health and safety is not besmirched by Ms. Montforton’s statement, I have decided to make our letter public. I look forward to discussing this with NPR, getting the correction made and moving on.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FEBRUARY 11, 2019

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

“House Bill 2875, introduced in the West Virginia House of Delegates last week, is one of the most outrageous attempts to slash critical protections for miners’ safety and health on the job that I have ever seen. The sponsors and co-sponsors of this bill should be ashamed of themselves for kowtowing to the will of some coal operators who care more about the coal than they do about the coal miners.

“This bill would drastically reduce safety inspections in the mines and take away inspectors’ enforcement powers, it would remove the right for a representative of the miners to travel with the inspector during his or her inspection and it would remove all of the state’s underground ventilation laws. It would make serious reductions to the amount of time new, inexperienced miners would need to be supervised by an experienced miner, exposing those new miners to dangerous conditions they are unprepared for.

“Let’s get the facts straight: West Virginia has led the nation in coal mining fatalities for the last seven years in a row. Now is not the time for the state to even be considering reducing safety enforcement and putting new miners in needless danger. West Virginia lawmakers can make improvements to the state’s health and safety laws without acting as mere puppets for the industry.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JANUARY 24, 2019

“800,000 Americans who provide essential services to the rest of us will miss their second paycheck in a row because Washington politicians are trying to resolve political differences on their backs. Federal workers are standing in line at food banks, negotiating with creditors about their mortgages and keeping the heat on in the winter, taking donations of diapers and baby food all because some politicians are refusing to follow the democratic principles that have kept our nation moving forward for more than 200 years.

“Nearly 500,000 workers are now being forced to work without pay, in jobs that are critical to our nation’s safety and security. FBI agents, Coast Guard personnel, TSA screeners, air traffic controllers, airplane safety inspectors…they are still on the job but haven’t seen a dime for more than a month. We salute their dedication to the rest of us, but we also believe that a worker must be paid for his or her labor in a timely manner, no matter where they work or what they do.

“Making federal political policy through government shutdowns has never been a good idea, and never results in a good outcome for the American people. We urge all parties to recognize that in our system of government a majority rules, and that includes votes in Congress. If your proposal has the votes, then pass it. If it does not, then it is time to move on and get back to doing the business of the people.

“The Washington politicians must end this shutdown now. Stop holding the families of 800,000 American workers hostage in an attempt to subvert the democratic principles of our nation.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DECEMBER 28, 2018

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

“The UMWA today received notice from the United States District Court of the Southern District of West Virginia that our lawsuit against the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) regarding its unlawful lifting of the Pattern of Violations (POV) status at Pocahontas Coal Company, LLC’s Affinity Mine has been put on hold for at least two weeks due to the government shutdown. This is unacceptable and puts miners at risk.

“Our lawsuit demanded that the court immediately order MSHA to put the Affinity Mine back on POV status because without the extra enforcement that comes with such status, there is no reason to believe mine management will maintain the highest safety standards. In addition, other mines that are currently on POV status may feel free to ignore safety issues if they believe MSHA will continue to flout Congress’s express mandate regarding removing a POV status.

“Obviously, if government employees at the Court are not being paid, they should not work. It is a real shame that the critical work our government employees perform day in and day out is being held hostage to issues that do not pertain to them or the issues they deal with on our behalf. There are real people whose lives are at stake here. Every day we delay raises the risk. Congress and the President need to put our government employees back to work without delay.

 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DECEMBER 18, 2018

[HOUSTON, TX.] Six active and retired workers from Westmoreland Coal Company’s Kemmerer mine traveled here to witness today’s hearing in the US Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of Texas as the company’s lawyers argued for bonuses to be paid to high-paid executives of the bankrupt company.

            “It’s an outrage that Westmoreland is seeking to provide bonuses to a few salaried executives while demanding that hourly workers take cuts in wages, health care and retiree benefits,” said United Mine Workers of America International President Cecil E. Roberts. “They want to reward the very people who drove Westmoreland into bankruptcy while kicking the workers – the ones whose sweat and blood have provided decades of wealth to the company – to the curb.

            “As unfair as that is, the truth is they will probably get their bonuses, because American bankruptcy laws are stacked against workers and in favor of executives and the company’s lenders,” Roberts said. “The executives of this company have already received enormous bonuses in the last year, at the same time they were steering Westmoreland into bankruptcy.

“And now they are to be rewarded for that?” Roberts asked. “As far as I am concerned U.S. Bankruptcy Courts have become little more than venues for official corporate looting at the expense of working and retired Americans.”

            The miners, from Westmoreland’s mines in Kemmerer, Wyo., and Beulah, N.D., volunteered to make the trip to demonstrate to the court that although the proceedings are far from the company’s mines, the hourly employees are watching what is happening.

“This is about our lives,” said Martin Argyle from Kemmerer. “I’ve worked at that mine for 45 years. I earned my health care, and now when I need it the most Westmoreland wants to take it away from me. I don’t know how I’ll survive without it.”

 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DECEMBER 18, 2018

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

            “The news story from NPR and Frontline this morning about a new epidemic of Black Lung among coal miners was well done, but it failed to drive home who the real culprits are for the rise of this insidious workplace disease: The coal companies that chose to break the law and ignore the respirable dust standards in place over the last 30 years.

            “The fact that younger miners are getting this disease is especially damning to the industry, because it shows that even in the last decade or less, a large number of coal operators chose to put their employees’ lives at risk simply to be able to mine coal faster. That is criminal, and the perpetrators of this crime should be locked up.

            “It takes three things for a mine to be consistently operated in a safe and healthy manner: First, a company that is willing to follow the law; second a government that is willing to enforce the law; and third, a workforce that is empowered to speak up for itself about health and safety issues in the mine. When any one of those three things are missing, miners are at risk. When they are all missing, as was the case in the mines NPR/Frontline cited in its story, miners die.

            “For the National Mining Association to say that it ‘can’t be responsible for what happened in the past’ is outrageous. The industry must be held responsible, because if they had followed the law in the first place there would not have been excessive dust in the mine atmosphere.

            “This report comes at a critical time, as the contributions the companies make to the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund are about to be cut by more than half at the end of the year. This will cause the deficit in that Fund to skyrocket, sticking taxpayers with a bill that the companies should continue to be responsible for.

            “No coal company has gone out of business because it pays an extra 55 cents in contributions on every ton of coal it mines to that Fund. It is clear that the need for this fund will be long-lasting as younger miners are afflicted with Black Lung because their employers chose to not follow the law. Now is not the time to cut back on coal company contributions to this Fund.  

    ​       “This is a problem that is caused by coal companies and should be paid for by those same coal companies, not taxpayers. Congress must act quickly, before the end of the year, to extend the current contribution rates for the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund.” 

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

“I am deeply troubled by the statements made by some, including at least one incoming member of the House of Representatives, that U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) should be prevented from taking the position of Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

“As a West Virginian, I find such opposition insulting. We just reelected Sen. Manchin to a new term of office, and we expect him to be offered the exact same rights as any other Senator. We are no less American citizens than residents of any other state, including New York, and our Senators and Representatives have the same rights to hold committee leadership positions as any other Senator or Representative from any other state does.

“Further, I am extremely disappointed that some of those newly elected to the House of Representatives would insert themselves into what is a procedural issue in the Senate. I’m wondering if they don’t really understand the bi-cameral nature of Congress. They have exactly zero input into who should be doing what in the Senate.

“But before they started insulting a good Senator and all the people of the state he represents, they should have taken the time to come to West Virginia, meet the people here and find out what our communities and our lives are actually like. We may not be as tech-savvy or fashionable as the people of New York City, but we are Americans just the same. We have hopes and dreams for ourselves and our kids just like people everywhere do. And we elected Sen. Manchin to represent us because he reflects who we are.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NOVEMBER 30, 2019

[TRIANGLE, VA.] The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) yesterday filed a complaint in the United States District Court for Southern District of West Virginia, charging that the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) unlawfully released Pocahontas Coal Company, LLC’s Affinity Mine from MSHA’s Pattern of Violations (POV) status in August.

The Complaint charges that, “Defendants are in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) for unlawfully ignoring the statutory and regulatory requirements for terminating a POV Notice and replacing it with another process that was not created by Congress or otherwise properly promulgated.”

MSHA placed the Affinity mine on POV status on October 24, 2013, because of a long record of significant safety violations.  POV is an enforcement tool that enables MSHA to increase regulatory scrutiny at a mine with a long history of serious safety and health violations. For a mine to be released from POV status, Congress mandates that there must be a full inspection of the mine in which no Serious and Substantial (S&S) violations are found. That was not the case prior to Affinity being released from POV status.

“When MSHA announced it was releasing the Affinity mine from POV status, we immediately questioned that decision,” UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts said. “The agency did not follow the law as clearly spelled out by Congress when it enacted the POV enforcement tool as part of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Act of 1977 (Mine Act).

“We filed this complaint because this decision by MSHA is a direct threat to miners’ health and safety anywhere in the United States,” Roberts said. “Mines that are not operated safely deserve the extra scrutiny they get under POV status, and management needs to prove that it can operate safely before that status is lifted. But that is not what happened here. If the agency can flagrantly ignore the law and lift POV status at Affinity and get away with it, then it will do so again. We want to make sure that cannot happen.”

The UMWA’s complaint asks that the Court declare that MSHA’s actions violates the Plaintiff’s rights under the APA and the Mine Act, that it issue a writ to compel MSHA to take all appropriate action to enforce Section 104(e) of the Mine Act by enforcing the POV Notice at Affinity Mine, and that it set aside as unlawful MSHA’s action in terminating the POV Notice at Affinity Mine.

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