120,000 coal miners face loss of retirement benefits [View all]
Some 120,000 retired union coal miners and their families are at risk of losing their health care and pensions in the coming months.
The growing insolvency of the various health and retirement funds overseen by the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) is rooted in the continuing global economic crisis and the resulting collapse of commodities prices, which has led to a string of coal operator bankruptcies, slashed production, and mass layoffs throughout the coal regions.
At immediate risk are health care benefits for 22,600 retired coal miners from Patriot Coal in West Virginia, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, and Ohio. The Patriot Retirees Voluntary Employment Beneficiary Association (VEBA) has already sent letters to about 16,100 retired miners informing them that due to critical funding shortages, their health care benefits will be discontinued as of December 31, 2016. Another 6,500 retirees will lose benefits early next year.
The insolvent VEBA plan for the Patriot retirees was brokered between the company and the UMWA following Patriot’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2012. Unable to reach an agreement on sufficient concessions from the UMWA after months of closed-door negotiations, the bankruptcy court approved Patriot’s reorganization plan in May 2013, granting the company permission to scrap its collective bargaining agreement with the union, and permitting Patriot to cease providing health care to its retirees.
Read more: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/12/07/mine-d07.html
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