Amid coal bankruptcies, miners to rally in Waynesburg for benefits

By Daniel Moore, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

April 01--With a backdrop of shuttered, sold or bankrupt coal mines and power plants in southwestern Pennsylvania, the United Mine Workers of America wants to grab the attention of companies and lawmakers to save retirees' pensions and health care amid a sharp industry downturn.

The UMWA is organizing what it estimates will be more than 5,000 active and retired miners -- including some 25 buses with miners arriving from West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky -- to march today in Waynesburg, the center of a region heavily dependent on the coal industry.

Union officials have billed the rally in Greene County as "a demonstration of solidarity as the union works to overcome a series of challenges confronting its members." The industry has experienced a wave of bankruptcies in recent years, which has often meant the nullification of union contracts with mine operators. In addition, the union is facing the expiration of its national collective bargaining agreement at the end of this year.

Earlier this week, Alpha Natural Resources asked a bankruptcy judge to break the UMWA's contract in order to restructure its finances. Virginia-based Alpha, which declared bankruptcy last August, owns a pair of mines just miles from where the UMWA's rally is scheduled to take place.

Coal producers across the industry are facing the same challenges. A mix of cheap, abundant natural gas and environmental regulations have sapped coal demand from power plants, which still consume about 90 percent of coal mined in the U.S. Five major coal companies filed for bankruptcy in 2015, including Arch Coal, Walter Resources and Patriot Coal, and St. Louis-based Peabody Energy, the world's largest coal company, has warned it could follow this spring.

In bankruptcy proceedings, a company's obligation to fulfill retiree benefits and health care can be left up to a judge, as sections of the U.S. bankruptcy code allow companies to nullify labor agreements.

"Our message is companies can file papers and judges can make decisions, but we're the ones that make the decision whether to work under an agreement," said
Phil Smith, spokesman for the UMWA.

The union has achieved varying degrees of success in preserving benefits. Patriot Coal, a West Virginia coal operator that twice filed for bankruptcy, won approval to terminate its UMWA contract during its first bankruptcy in 2013. But the union was able to renegotiate new labor agreements with retiree benefits largely intact.

Last year, after Patriot's second bankruptcy in which it eventually sold off its mines to two different operators, the union struck new agreements with the two buyers.

Companies with heavily unionized workforces "very commonly" seek to change labor agreements in bankruptcy, said
Catherine L. Steege, co-chair of the restructuring and bankruptcy practice at Jenner & Block, a Chicago law firm. In that scenario, companies are required to bargain with unions and attempt to reach an agreement to present to a judge for approval.

"What happens more frequently than not is, as a result of the process, the parties reach an agreement on new labor terms," said
Ms. Steege, who frequently represents retiree interests in bankruptcy proceedings.

The sale of mines can also throw obligations to retirees into jeopardy. When Ohio-based producer Murray Energy bought five mines from Cecil-based Consol Energy, it ended benefits to more than 1,200 nonunion retirees who had worked for Consol.

With eight active underground mines, Greene County dug up nearly 39 million tons of coal in 2014 -- about two-thirds of the coal dug across Pennsylvania, according to the state's Department of Environmental Protection. At least 3,200 workers were employed in the county's coal mines, according to the state Department of Labor & Industry.

The UMWA held a similar rally in Waynesburg in 2011 when it was negotiating its current national contract. This time around, the rally will take on a greater sense of urgency,
Mr. Smith said.

"The world was different in 2011," he said.

The march is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. at the Greene County Airport on Route 21. Participants will head west about 1.5 miles to the Greene County Fairgrounds, according to a news release.

Speakers scheduled for the rally include UMWA President
Cecil Roberts;
Terrence Melvin, president of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists;
Warren Fairley, vice present of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers; and
Ron Baker, a member of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union.

Mr. Baker has made headlines lately for coordinating the nationwide boycott of Mexican-made Nabisco snack products after Mondelez International, Nabisco's parent company, closed a facility in Chicago and moved operations to Mexico.

Daniel Moore: dmoore@post-gazette.com, 412-263-2743 and Twitter @PGdanielmoore

___

Visit the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at www.post-gazette.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.