Archives: Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 22, 2017

UMWA mourns loss of miner in Alabama, steps up safety outreach

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

“The entire UMWA family is mourning the loss of our brother miner, Marius Shepherd, 33, a member of UMWA Local Union 2133, who was killed at the Seneca Coal Resources Oak Grove mine in Hueytown, Ala., on Monday. Our hearts and prayers go out to his family and we stand ready to assist them at this terrible time.

“Brother Shepherd died as a result of injuries sustained after leaping from a runaway locomotive underground. Our safety representatives have been on the site since immediately after the incident and are participating in the investigation along with the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.

“This is the ninth fatality in U.S. coal mines this year, one more than all of last year. All stakeholders in the mining industry – employers, government safety agencies, and workers – need to take steps to stop this deadly trend.

“I note that the Mine Safety and Health Administration has instituted a ‘compliance assistance’ program to address this. The UMWA is not and never has been in favor of so-called ‘compliance assistance’ programs, and this one is no different. MSHA is giving the operators leeway to select who can participate in this program and who cannot. To be effective, MSHA’s program must be training everyone receives. And, despite our 127-year history of dealing with mine safety issues and developing solutions to those issues, MSHA failed to reach out to us at all concerning developing this program.

​ “For our part, the UMWA is preparing to undertake a series of meetings, site visits, and mine inspections at the mines where we represent the workers. This outreach is to bring awareness of these recent accidents and their causes, to ensure training is adequate at the mine, and to give and receive feedback as to how we can prevent any more of these accidents in the future.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 15, 2017

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

“The entire UMWA family mourns the loss of our Brother, Rodney Osborne, who was killed at the Gateway Eagle mine in Boone County, W. Va., yesterday. Our hearts and prayers are with his young family at this most difficult time, and we stand ready to assist them in any way we can.

“Brother Osborne, a member of UMWA Local Union 1503, was just 32 years old. Our safety experts have already been in the mine and examined the area where the incident that took his life occurred. Our team continues to participate in the investigation into this tragedy and we will not rest until we fully understand what happened so that we can prevent it from ever happening again.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MAY 19, 2017

UMWA mourns loss of miner at Pinnacle mine

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

“The hearts and prayers of the entire UMWA family are with the family of our brother Luches Rosser, 44, a member of UMWA Local Union 1713, who was killed last night at the Pinnacle mine in Wyoming County, W. Va.”

“Our Local Union and International safety representatives are at the mine now, participating in the investigation of this incident. We stand ready to assist Brother Rosser’s family in any way we can.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAY 4, 2017

UMWA hails vote to pass permanent health care funding for 22,600 retirees, widows

[TRIANGLE, VA] The vote today by the United States Senate to pass the Continuing Resolution funding the government means that 22,600 retired coal miners, their dependents and widows will receive the health care they earned and were promised by their government for the rest of their lives, United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President Cecil E. Roberts said today.

“We have been fighting this battle since Patriot Coal’s initial bankruptcy filing nearly five years ago,” Roberts said. “Tens of thousands of our members, both retired and active, have marched, rallied, written letters and made phone calls to their representatives in Washington, urging passage of this legislation. They deserve the lion’s share of the credit for getting us to this day.”

The legislation, which was part of the Miners Protection Act, will incorporate into the 1993 Benefit Plan those beneficiaries who had lost health care coverage as a result of recent bankruptcies and closures of coal companies. These miners will be treated the same as beneficiaries under the Coal Act which provides that solvent coal companies must be responsible for their own retirees but when companies fail the government will step in to assist in providing retirement benefits.

“This will mean the difference between life and death for thousands of senior citizens throughout the coalfields,” Roberts said. “These elderly people have been living with the cruel anxiety of not knowing how long their health care would last. They didn’t know if they could get prescriptions they needed to live, get life-saving treatments for cancers or other illnesses, or stay in their nursing homes. Now they have the peace of mind they need to live out their lives without that to worry about.

“We are very appreciative of the bi-partisan coalition of Senators and Representatives who came together and worked so hard on this,” Roberts said. “Our lead sponsors in the Senate, Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), were relentless in their efforts. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-Oh.), Rob Portman (R-Oh.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Heidi Heitkamp (D-N. Dak.), Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) also worked very hard on this legislation.

“I also want to thank Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, both of whom supported a permanent fix for these health care benefits and who worked together to make this happen,” Roberts said.

“In the House, Representative David McKinley (R-W. Va.) was our lead sponsor and strong advocate,” Roberts said. “Others who played key roles were Evan Jenkins (R-W.Va.), Mike Doyle, (D-Pa.), Bobby Scott (D-Va.), Steve Stivers (R-Oh.), Mike Bost (R-Ill.), Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), Jim Renacci (R-Oh.), Tim Ryan (D-Oh.), Andy Barr (R-Ky.) and Hal Rogers (R-Ky.). And Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi never wavered in her support for our retirees.”

Roberts noted that preserving the health care benefits was just one part of the Miners Protection Act. “As much as we enjoy this victory, our fight is not over,” he said. “We must waste no time to develop a solution to the pension crisis that is looming for even more retired miners and widows. If Congress does not act soon, 89,000 current pensioners and 30,000 of those who are owed a pension in the future will not get what they earned.

“We have been working on preserving the pensions since the Great Recession of 2008-09 caused this problem,” Roberts said. “We look forward to again solving this problem in a bi-partisan manner and ensuring that these retirees get the full spectrum of benefits they earned working in our nation’s coal mines, putting their lives and their health on the line every single day to produce the fuel that powered America.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MAY 1, 2017

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

“The inclusion of permanent funding for the health care of 22,600 retired coal miners, their dependents and widows in the 2017 omnibus appropriations bill is tremendous news. Swift passage of that bill by Congress this week will mean that those senior citizens and their families will finally have the peace of mind about their future that has eluded them for years.

“Many people in Congress have worked very hard to bring us to this point, both Republicans and Democrats. I especially want to thank our lead sponsors, Senators Joe Manchin, Shelley Moore Capito and Rep. David McKinley, all from West Virginia, who were lions in this fight. Senators Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman from Ohio, Bob Casey from Pennsylvania and Mark Warner and Tim Kaine from Virginia were also great leaders in this effort.

“I want to thank Senators Orrin Hatch of Utah and Ron Wyden from Oregon, who led the effort to move us through the Finance Committee, and all of the 18 Senators on that committee who voted in favor of this bill last September.

“And when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell weighed in late last year supporting a permanent fix for these benefits, that proved to be a decisive moment in the Senate. Our sincere thanks go to him, as well as to Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who played a critical role to ensure that this deal came about.

“In the House, Rep. McKinley went repeatedly to leadership, other members and whoever else would listen about this bill and never once backed away from this fight. Reps. Evan Jenkins (WV), Mike Doyle (PA), Bobby Scott (VA), Tim Ryan (OH), Steve Stivers (OH), Jim Renacci (OH), Hal Rogers (KY), Andy Barr (KY), Mike Bost (IL), Rodney Davis (IL) and so many others were stalwarts in this effort. Their collective efforts brought House leadership to the point of agreement, and I cannot say enough about them.

“Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has long been a champion of this effort, and we appreciate her willingness to go to the mat for us. I also want to thank Speaker Paul Ryan for considering and eventually agreeing to the permanent fix that was so badly needed.

“The thousands of UMWA members who marched, rallied, made phone calls and wrote letter after letter to their representatives in Washington were the keys to this. Their efforts made the critical difference, and to them goes the lion’s share of the credit for getting us to this point.”

“Now, let’s pass this and move on to preserving the pensions of 89,000 more retirees who earned them in blood and toil.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

APRIL 27, 2017

Current status of legislation to protect health care benefits

“Congress will pass a temporary, stop-gap funding bill today that will fund the government through May 5, 2017. It includes language that will extend your benefits through that date.

We expect that the full government funding bill Congress passes will include funding for your benefits. Language doing that is in both the House and the Senate version of the legislation. We believe that your benefits will be extended unless, for some reason, Congress shuts the government down.”

For Immediate Release:        

March 8, 2017

MANCHIN, WYDEN, BROWN, CASEY AND WARNER URGE FINANCE COMMITTEE TO ACT ON MINERS PROTECTION ACT BEFORE MOVING LIGHTHIZER NOMINATION

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Joe Manchin, D-W.V., and Senate Finance Committee Democrats Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Bob Casey, D-Penn., Mark Warner, D-Va. today called on the Senate Finance Committee to protect coal miner’s pensions before advancing out of the Finance Committee the nomination of Robert Lighthizer to be the United States Trade Representative. Last week these senators sent a letter to Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) requesting the Miners Protection Act be attached to the waiver needed for the nomination of Mr. Robert Lighthizer to be the United States Trade Representative.

The Senators said: “We are disappointed Chairman Hatch has not responded to our letter last week or made a commitment to working with us to find a long-term solution to protect these benefits our coal miners earned through a lifetime of hard work. As of last week, 22,600 miners began receiving letters informing them that their healthcare benefits would be terminated at the end of April. The clock is ticking. Passing the Miners Protection Act should be the highest priority for the Senate Finance Committee and should be addressed as part of the waiver legislation needed for Mr. Lighthizer.”

To read the letter that retired miners received on March 1, click here.

Read the letter that Senator Manchin sent to the Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, or click here:

Dear Chairman Hatch:

On March 1, approximately 22,800 of our nation’s retired coal miners will receive notices like the one attached here informing them that their healthcare benefits will be terminated at the end of April.  This will be the third such notice that has been issued over the past four months. Our miners did everything we asked of them, and it is time that we uphold our end of the bargain and provide them with the permanent benefits they earned through a lifetime of work.

Last year, on September 21st, the Miners Protection Act was passed by the Committee on Finance on a bipartisan vote of 18 to 8 with your support.  As you know, we worked closely with our colleagues to ensure that the bill was fully offset and that no funding was diverted away from either abandoned mine reclamation efforts or annual payments to certified states.  Despite unanimous support from Senate Democrats, the Miners Protection Act was not included in the Continuing Resolution last December, and we seek your support today for a permanent solution that gives our miners and their families peace of mind.

We request that the Finance Committee attach the Miners Protection Act of 2017 (S. 175) to the statutorily-required waiver needed for the nomination of Mr. Robert Lighthizer to be the United States Trade Representative. Attaching the Miners Protection Act to this waiver will help ensure quick action so that thousands of our nation’s coal miners no longer face the insecurity that comes with the loss of their hard-earned health and retirement benefits.

The Miners Protection Act is a responsible, bipartisan solution to a real problem facing the American people, and we look forward to working with you to find a path forward for this critical legislation.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MARCH 1, 2017

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

“Letters advising some 22,600 retired coal miners and widows that their earned health care benefits would be cut off in 60 days were mailed from the UMWA Health and Retirement Funds today, causing needless anxiety and concern for these elderly Americans. This travesty is entirely caused because a small minority of those on Capitol Hill simply refuse to honor America’s moral commitment to our nation’s retired miners.

“This is the third such letter that has gone out to retired miners and widows in the last five months. The first two went out in October and November of last year, and instead of Congress passing a permanent solution to this issue, it passed only a four-month extension of benefits. Those benefits will run out on April 30, which triggered this new letter.

“Congress cannot keep kicking this can down the road. This is causing tremendous mental and in some cases physical trauma to these senior citizens. They will now have to begin contemplating whether to continue to get medicines and treatments they need to live or to buy groceries. They will now have to wonder if they can go see a doctor for chronic conditions like black lung or cancer or pay the mortgage.

“It is intolerable that any senior citizen in America has to be faced with this choice, but all the more so for these workers, who for decades put their health and very lives on the line for our country, providing the fuel that powered our nation. In return, our government promised 70 years ago they would have retirement benefits, and it has delivered on that promise time and time again – until now.

“There are several Senators and Representatives of both parties who strongly support legislation to fix this issue, and we appreciate their support very much. But we still must ask: Will this be the first Congress in history to turn its back on these brave Americans? We have 60 days to find out.

“Let us join together to pass the Miners Protection Act and allow our retired miners and widows to live out their days in the small measure of comfort they were promised and have earned.”