Boilermakers from around the country stand in solidarity with the UMWA on Capitol Hill.
Miners implore legislators to pass retirement funding bill
BOILERMAKERS from across the country joined the United Mine Workers of America and other supporters on Capitol Hill Sept. 8 in urging lawmakers to pass legislation to prevent the loss of the coal miners’ health care and retirement benefits. Congressmen, senators, clergy, and UMWA President Cecil Roberts addressed the crowd of nearly 10,000 during the three-hour rally.
One of the Boilermakers in attendance, BM-ST Tres Howard, Local 455 (Muscle Shoals, Alabama), said that in addition to supporting the Mine Workers, he hoped the rally sent a message to lawmakers that denying health care and pensions for working people is not okay. “Once they open a hole, it starts small and grows big,” he said. “This could affect all unions.”
The government has a complex history with UMWA health and retirement funding. It started with the 1946 Krug-Lewis agreement, which was a promise by the federal government that if miners — involved at the time in a month-long strike — would go back to work, they would receive a pension and health care throughout retirement. This promise also included benefits for surviving spouses. Lawmakers have revisited and updated the agreement several times over the decades, always in support of the miners.
The benefits that originated with Krug-Lewis are now on a path to insolvency, due to company bankruptcies and recent challenges in the coal industry. This puts 120,000 miners and their families at risk of losing their health care and pension (an average of $520 a month), with 22,000 losing benefits at the end of this year. Passage of the Miners’ Protection Act (Senate Bill 1714) and the Coal Healthcare and Pension Protection Act (House Bill 2403) would redirect money from the Abandoned Mine Lands Fund to UMWA pensions and health care. There is bipartisan support for the bill, which is currently stuck in committee and not scheduled for a vote.
“Each one of us here made a decision to show up at the rally to let Congress know that they must keep America’s promise to the mine workers and protect their pension and health care.”
–Bobby Godinez
International President Newton B. Jones called the plight of the UMWA “a national disgrace.” He said coal companies must honor their commitments to Mine Workers, and Congress must step up and keep the promise made to these workers long ago.
Jones added: “The war on coal that is being waged by the current administration and the Green Movement is “a callous affront to the very people who have helped keep the lights on in America over generations. This nation must not allow the Mine Workers to be treated as acceptable collateral damage. The Obama administration itself admits that its environmental policies will have no measurable impact on climate change. It needs to stop sacrificing blue collar American workers to secure a ‘feel good’ legacy.”
Organizer Bobby Godinez, who traveled from California, was one of the many Boilermakers who stood in 97-degree heat in solidarity with the Mine Workers. He said that when he heard the UMWA was in a fight to protect member benefits, he was not going to stand idly by. “Each one of us who came made a decision to show up at the rally to let Congress know that they must keep America’s promise to the mine workers and protect their pension and health care,” he said. “We are in this fight together, and we will not stop until we win! Solidarity forever!"
To help the UMWA get the bill out of committee and before legislators for a vote, contact your representatives in the House and Senate. For more information, visit the UMWA website at http://umwa.org/take-action/
