Vol. 68/No. 31
August 31, 2004
As we go to press… Bankruptcy judge
throws out UMWA contracts at Horizon mines
BY BRIAN TAYLOR
PITTSBURGH—Federal bankruptcy judge William Howard ruled August 9 that mine bosses at Horizon Natural Resources don’t have to honor contracts between the United Mine Workers of America and the company at six union mines in Illinois, Kentucky, and West Virginia. The union-busting decision eliminates medical coverage for 1,000 working miners and 2,300 retirees. Howard sided with the bosses, agreeing with their claim that contract obligations made their property unattractive to prospective buyers.
“They go and hide under the shield of America’s bankruptcy laws and screw the workers,” said Phil Hepp, president of UMWA Local 9055 in Illinois. “Are we angry about that? Damn right we are. Most of us are in our late ’50s. Where are we going to turn for health care?”
“Workers at the Starfire mine,” Darrell Keyes, UMWA Local 5890 president in Kentucky, told the Militant, “can’t understand how one person can make a decision like this affecting so many peoples’ lives.”
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