Archives: Press Release

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.”

Read the letter that Senator Manchin sent to the Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch:

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.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JANUARY 17, 2017

No time to waste to protect health care and pension benefits for retired miners, widows

 

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

“With today’s introduction of the Miners Protection Act (MPA) by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and 18 other Senators from both parties, this critical legislation is now available for action in both houses of Congress. Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va) introduced it in the House on Jan. 2. I thank them and all of the bills’ co-sponsors in both houses.

 

“Congress passed a temporary stop-gap measure at the end of the last session in December that preserved retiree health care benefits for 16,500 people for a four-month period. That is clearly insufficient, as both Republican and Democratic leadership in both houses have indicated. Congress must act, and act fast, to resolve this issue and allow these senior citizens to live their lives without a continuing sense of doom hanging over their heads.

 

“This issue has been before Congress for more than four years now. Representatives and Senators of both parties support the MPA, and have for years. The Senate Majority Leader and the President-elect support the long-term preservation of health care benefits for these retirees, which we appreciate very much, although we need to preserve their pensions as well. The funding source is already there, and a way to pay for it without increasing the deficit is there as well.

 

“There is simply no reason not to act, and act quickly. We cannot allow the health care and pension benefits these miners earned in sweat and blood to be stripped away from them. They did everything our nation asked of them, providing the fuel that made America the greatest power on earth.

 

“Lives are on the line. Regional and local economies are on the line. Congress has stepped up and honored America’s moral promise to these miners on multiple occasions. It must do so again, and without delay.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DECEMBER 16, 2016

UMWA statement on passing of Bill Usery

[TRIANGLE, VA]  UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts issued the following statement today:

“I was very saddened to learn of the passing of my friend, William J. “Bill” Usery. He had a long and extremely successful career as someone who could bring labor and management together to find mutual ground, even in the most difficult circumstances.

“It is not a stretch to say that Bill Usery was, in many ways, responsible for the health care benefits retired coal miners, their dependents and widows enjoy today. His work as a federally-appointed mediator in the 1989-1990 UMWA strike at Pittston Coal resulted in an agreement to end the strike, with the union succeeding in maintaining retiree health care benefits.

“In the wake of Pittston strike, then Secretary of Labor Elizabeth Dole established the Dole Commission, which Bill chaired. That Commission found that retired miners had a reasonable expectation of lifetime health care benefits. Based on that finding, Congress in 1992 passed the Coal Act, which continues to provide for retiree health care benefits today.

“Bill Usery didn’t care what your politics were or what your ideology was. He just wanted to get results that benefitted both labor and management, so that workers could continue to provide for their families. In times like these, the world can use more people like Bill Usery. He will be sorely missed.”