A gathering of around 20 miners and retirees picketed outside the meeting calling for Arch to pay benefits tied up in the Patriot bankruptcy case.

Despite the drama, the company’s shareholders attended to business.

Director A Michael Parry retired from the board immediately after the meeting, in line with the company policy that requires member to retire from their position following their 75th birthday.

Shareholders voted Paul Hanrahan, Steven Leer and Theodore Sands to serve on the company’s 11-person board, as well as ratifying the appointment of Ernst & Young as Arch’s independent public accounting firm.

The Arch Coal Omnibus Incentive Plan, previously the 1997 Stock Incentive Plan, was approved by a majority of shareholders.

According to the meeting’s agenda, the plan aims to “assist in attracting and retaining highly competent employees, directors and consultants to act as an incentive in motivating selected employees, directors and consultants of the company and its subsidiaries to achieve long-term corporate objectives and to enable stock-based and cash-based incentive awards to qualify as performance-based compensation for purposes of the tax deduction limitations under Section 162 (m) of the code”

Stockholders also approved the named executive compensation of the company in an advisory vote.