A UMWA spokesman told ILN that union president Cecil Roberts as well as American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations union president Barbara Easterling were among those arrested for trespassing as the group sat in front of the federal courthouse where the Chapter 11 hearings were being held.
The group called the rally a “peaceful act of non-violent civil disobedience” timed to align with the soon-to-be-called decision in Patriot’s bankruptcy that would dictate if the producer had the right to cut benefit plans for about 23,000 miners.
Many of the demonstrators, from Kentucky, Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and other states, would be directly affected by benefit cuts.
Meanwhile, reductions in pay, benefits and working conditions would affect more than 1700 current Patriot workers.
“I spent 32 years working underground to earn those benefits and I’m not giving them up without a fight,” retired West Virginia miner Joe Brown said.
“We had a deal. Miners accepted lower wages so we could get medical care when we retired.
“We kept our end of the bargain and there’s no reason these corporations should get away with breaking the promises they made to us and our families.”
The UMWA noted that Patriot Coal, which was spun off by Peabody Energy in 2007, received 43% of its liabilities and just 11% of its assets.
The following year, Patriot acquired Arch Coal spin-off Magnum Coal.
Patriot ultimately filed for bankruptcy reorganization last July.
The union has been vocal about the companies’ moves since the filing, calling Patriot “designed to fail” and pointing out that its own chief executive officer Ben Hatfield referred to the situation as one that didn’t “smell right”
“Peabody Energy and Arch Coal executives claim that because Patriot and Magnum were spun off years ago, they have nothing to with the current litigation,” Roberts said.
“But nearly all of the retired miners who may lose their health care worked most or all of their careers for Peabody or Arch, not Patriot.”
The most recent rally is one of several the union has organized since the Chapter 11 proceedings began in 2012 and they have become more frequent as the hearings come to a close while a federal judge deliberates.
“There’s a great song lyric by Woody Guthrie: ‘Some rob you with a six gun and some with a fountain pen’,” Roberts said.
“This is robbery pure and simple and we’re not going to stand for it.”
The union vows it will continue its fight even after the judge rules.
“We’ve got our own lawsuit underway in West Virginia,” Roberts said.
“We’ve got a bill in Congress which will hold the original employers of these workers accountable and we will continue to follow these companies and these corporate executives wherever they go.”
