BY CLAY DENNISON
BESSEMER, Alabama - A standing-room-only crowd of more than
1,600 people, a large number of them retired miners and their
spouses, packed the Bessemer Civic Center September 7 for a
"Keep the Promise: Save the Coal Act" meeting called by United
Mineworkers of America (UMWA).
The Coal Act is federal legislation that guarantees company- funded, lifetime health coverage for UMWA retirees and their dependants. This Combined Benefit Plan currently covers 66,000 retirees, their spouses, and miners' widows. The rally kicked off a national campaign that will involve rallies in Indiana, Utah, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia and will culminate with a march in Washington, D.C., in November.
The president, vice president, and secretary treasurer of the UMWA were present on the stage, as well as district officials and area politicians.
Grant Crandall, general counsel for the UMWA, reviewed three recent federal court decisions favoring coal operators that chip away at the funding for the health plan. One decision said that the operators need pay into the health care fund only 90 percent of what they had been paying, another ruled that the fund had to reimburse the companies for "overpayments," and a third released companies who claimed to have stopped operations before 1974 from the obligation to pay into the fund.
Mike Holland, a trustee of the health fund, explained that the fund was in danger of being unable to pay medical bills as early as the first quarter of next year.
UMWA president Cecil Roberts explained the history of the fund - the promise of lifetime health care was one of the gains won by miners in a 1946 strike. He urged pensioners and widows who aren't currently members of the union to rejoin, and called on everyone present to sign up two associate members.