Vol. 80/No. 27      July 25, 2016

 

Coal miners vote down contract at 5 W.Va mines

 
Some 1,500 working miners organized by the United Mine Workers union at five Murray Energy-owned coal mines in northern West Virginia voted down a proposed contract June 28 despite union officials saying it was the best they could get. The current contract expires at the end of the year. Murray Energy Corp., one of the five largest coal companies in the United States, purchased the five mines from Consol Energy at the end of 2013.

The day after the rejection vote, Murray announced that it could slash 80 percent of its workforce nationwide in September. About half the workers at Murray mines are already laid off. The UMW negotiates the contract with the Murray Energy-run Bituminous Coal Operators Association.

The price of coal used in steel production has dropped by 75 percent and the price of coal used in electric generation has halved since 2011. At the same time coal use has declined with the increased use of natural gas and as a result of new government regulations. According to the Mine Safety and Health Administration, since 2009 the number of working miners has dropped by more than 30,000.

“We’re working hour to hour, not shift to shift,” James Zackal, a miner at Murray’s Ohio County mine, told the Militant by phone. “Barges full of coal are lined up on the Ohio River” waiting for a buyer. Some of the Murray Energy mines are idled on weekends and many miners are not working a full 40-hour week.

The contract that was voted down had no wage increase and a small increase in payments for health insurance. It would eliminate overtime pay for hours worked over eight hours in a day, granting it only after 40 hours in a week, and takes away vacation and floater days off.

UMW President Cecil Roberts had encouraged miners to approve the contract, saying that “the rapidly deteriorating status of the American coal industry means that it is important to lock in the best terms and conditions we can before things get any worse.”

A wave of bankruptcies and layoffs in the coal industry has included most of the largest coal companies. Among those that have declared bankruptcy in the last year are Arch Coal Inc., Alpha Natural Resources Inc., Walter Energy Inc., Patriot Coal Corp., and Peabody Energy Corp., the largest coal company in the U.S.

The coal bosses are using the bankruptcies against the miners and their union. In May, Alpha Natural Resources won the approval of a bankruptcy court judge to remove the collective bargaining agreement; Alpha had been a “me-too” signer to the BCOA agreement.

A Jan. 11 Wall Street Journal article said the coal industry’s shakeout “will result in more small, unlisted mining companies, record numbers of mines for sale and lower wages for workers.”

“There are a lot of good mines left,” Jeff Keffer, an executive with Longview Power and Mepco Holdings, which owns a mine in West Virginia, told the Journal. “They just have to go through the bankruptcy process, and reduce their debt burden.”

Coal bosses are worried about the rejection because this contract has been a model for other union contracts at mines east of the Mississippi River.
 
 
Related articles:
On the Picket Line
 
 
 
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