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“Bloody Harlan” Revisited: Blackjewel Miners Draw On Labor History While Facing Uncertain Future
By: Sydney Boles | Ohio Valley ReSource
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Curtis Cress sat in the gravel beside a railroad track in Harlan County, Kentucky. Tall and thin with a long, black beard, Cress is every bit a coal miner, or, he was until a month ago. “It’s part of my heritage, you know? My dad and papaws had always done it,” he said. “And I’m… Read More
Few Answers For Unpaid Miners After Day One of Blackjewel Sales Hearing
By: Brittany Patterson | Sydney Boles | Ohio Valley ReSource
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Blackjewel coal miners will have to wait at least another day to learn if the sale of the bankrupt coal company’s mines and equipment will deliver their overdue paychecks. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of West Virginia recessed Monday after an all-day hearing that yielded few results. The court is scheduled to… Read More
Blackjewel Miners Continue Protest As Bankruptcy Hearing Looms
By: Brittany Patterson | Sydney Boles | Ohio Valley ReSource
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Miners left unpaid by the bankrupt Blackjewel coal company say they are prepared to keep up their protest on railroad tracks in Harlan County, Kentucky, where they are blocking delivery of a load of coal. As their protest grows and gains attention, a bankruptcy court hearing on Monday could determine whether and when the miners… Read More
Blackjewel Miners Block Railroad To Demand Pay From Bankrupt Coal Company
By: Sydney Boles | Brittany Patterson | Ohio Valley ReSource
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Some coal miners left without pay by the bankruptcy of coal company Blackjewel LLC are protesting by blocking a coal train in eastern Kentucky. The stand-off began early Monday when five miners blocked the train from leaving the Cumberland, Kentucky, plant. Despite police asking them to leave, miners spent the night blocking the railroad to… Read More
Coal Miners Back in Washington Fighting for Benefits
By: Becca Schimmel | Ohio Valley ReSource
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United Mine Workers and supporters were on Capitol Hill Wednesday in an effort to shore up their pension and health benefits. More than 43,000 coal miners in Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia are growing anxious about losing their retirement benefits. The coal miner’s union says its pension fund will be insolvent in three years if Congress doesn’t… Read More
As Disabled Miners Hit D.C., Lawmakers Introduce Bills To Fund Black Lung Benefits
By: Sydney Boles | Ohio Valley ReSource
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Democratic members of Congress introduced legislation Tuesday to provide additional funding for coal miners suffering from black lung. The bills came as a contingent of Appalachian miners afflicted with the disease lobbied lawmakers for more support. “It doesn’t only take your health. It takes your identity,” Barry Johnson said of the disease. Johnson is a… Read More
Miners to Advocate for Money for Black Lung Trust Fund
By: Associated Press
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SOUTH WILLIAMSON, Ky. (AP) – As black lung disease surges in Appalachia, some coal miners are going to Washington, D.C., to lobby for restoration of a tax that coal companies pay to a trust fund to help former workers with the illness. The Lexington Herald-Leader reports about 120 miners will advocate in the nation’s capital… Read More
Laid-Off Employees Of Bankrupt Blackjewel Mining Seek Pay, Answers
By: Brittany Patterson | Sydney Boles | Ohio Valley ReSource
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Patrick Fitchpatrick has worked at Blackjewel’s D-11 coal mine in Cumberland, Kentucky, for more than a year. He said he enjoyed the work right up until he was told not to come in last Monday. “Everything was smooth sailing and then one day it just all goes to hell,” he said. The country’s sixth-largest coal… Read More
Retired Miners Make One More Push For Pension Protection On Capitol Hill
By: Becca Schimmel | Ohio Valley ReSource
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Retired coal miners joined lawmakers from the Ohio Valley on Capitol Hill Wednesday for another attempt to protect miners’ pensions. Pensions are at risk because of a downturn in the coal market, the lingering effects of the 2008 recession, and coal company bankruptcies which have all reduced the amounts companies paid into a shared, or multiemployer, pension… Read More
Retired Miners Rally Over Pensions in Washington
By: Associated Press
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) – Dozens of retired coal miners visited lawmakers in Washington to call for legislative action to preserve the pensions of about 87,000 retirees and another 20,000 working miners. United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts says the 2008 recession and mining company bankruptcies have endangered the miner’s pension plan, established in… Read More