https://socialistaction.org/2016/09/10/coal-mineworker-retirees-demand-pension-and-health-coverage/
Coal miner retirees demand pension and health coverage
/ 23 hours ago
oct-2016-miners
By MARK UGOLINI
Thousands of retired miners and supporters converged on Washington,
D.C., on Sept. 8 to demand government action to shore up retiree pension
and health care benefits. These benefits have been under a constant
barrage of attacks from coal companies, which are determined to shed
themselves of responsibility for the health and security of both union
and non-union miners and retirees.
Retirees and their dependents also want assurance that existing health
benefits and pensions will remain in place. The United Mineworkers of
America (UMWA) says the health and future of 120,000 retired miners and
their families are at stake.
UMWA reports that their members traveled in more than 120 buses to the
protest—from Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.
Under the impact of the coal company assault over many years, gains in
retiree health care and pensions that were won in past union battles
have been eroding. Current laws under attack by coal companies provide
some guarantees for lifetime care for mine workers. These were largely
won in 1946 from militant strikes that involved over 400,000 union miners.
During 1945 and 1946, a strike wave that spread throughout the country
also involved other industries—including railroad, auto, and steel.
President Truman assisted the coal companies’ strike-breaking strategy
by attempting to force arbitration, and eventually by threatening the
UMWA with a $3.5 million fine. However, the eventual settlement included
some gains for the miners, including safer working conditions and a
“promise” of health benefits and retirement pension “from cradle to grave.”
One D.C. protester was Bill Musgrave, a retired miner from Boonville,
Ind., and UMWA Local 1196. Musgrave, who has been diagnosed with cancer,
told the Evansville Courier: “It took me a while to [find out you have
to] fight as hard to keep something as you did to get it initially. …
Unfortunately the government has decided to back out of the obligation
they made to the mineworkers in 1946. … Seems like the government, they
have the money to bail out the bankers and the corporations, and we’re
not even asking for a bailout.”
A married couple attending the protest described the need for additional
medical coverage given out of pocket family medical costs of over
$13,000 per month. Cindy Scherzinger told the Courier: “You go to union
meetings, and it looks like a retirement home. Everyone there has their
own set of problems.”
Coal companies, especially those with union-organized mines, have been
declaring bankruptcies, and pressing courts to allow them to evade
pension and health-care obligations to their workers. One of most recent
examples was Patriot Coal, a subsidiary of Peabody Energy that closed
down via bankruptcy last year.
The attack on retirees is part of a broader attack against all union
miners. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, since 2014 nearly
191,000 coal-mining jobs have been lost. Many mines that have not closed
down suffer large-scale layoffs and dismissals. Workers are being thrown
out on the street, and those who remain face ever increasing forced
overtime hours, and steadily degrading and unsafe working conditions.
This trend will likely continue as capitalist owners are always finding
new ways to expand their profits, and as they have demonstrated, will
close mines in a heartbeat as they see new and greater opportunities for
profit elsewhere.
Coal companies are also under pressure as the economy shifts away from
fossil fuels, an absolute necessity to address the urgent problem of
global warming. And it has long been well known that generating energy
with fossil fuels is also devastating to the health of mine workers, who
for years have been victims of black lung disease, and other chronic
illnesses specific to work in mines.
The economic impact of this necessary transition to clean energy needs
to fall squarely on the coal companies and their capitalist investors,
who bear full responsibility. Guaranteed jobs at top union wages must be
provided to any worker displaced during a transition to clean and
renewable energy sources.
“Our party stands in solidarity with mine workers and retirees currently
under attack from the coal bosses,” said Jeff Mackler, Socialist Action
presidential candidate in a statement released on Sept. 8. “It’s part of
the generalized global crisis of capitalism, lashing out at workers and
the oppressed everywhere—making the working class pay more and more in
every way to satisfy the ruling class’s insatiable drive for profits.
And both capitalist parties, the Democrats and Republicans, are in
lock-step agreement on the goal of maximizing profits for corporations
at the expense of the working class. We desperately need our own party,
a Labor Party, to advance our political interests.
“We support pensions for all at top union wages, and for closing down
the profit-gouging ‘health’ insurance industry to establish a universal
and free national health system that meets the medical needs of all
‘from cradle to grave.’”
.
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September 10, 2016 in Labor, Vote Socialist Action. Tags: coal, miners
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