POLITICIANS STANDING-UP FOR THE 'WAR ON MINERS'?

(11/12/2015)

COMMENT By Bob Weaver Virtually no West Virginia politician will take up the slogan "War on Miners," although the state's history is riddled with their abuse as workers, from Matewan and the Battle of Blair Mountain to more modern day assaults of bankrupting companies and starting new ones, a tool of union busting, to the egregious and deadly safety record of Massey Coal, the former CEO Don Blankenship now being tried in court. Certainly not new to the industry, this week coal operator Alpha Natural Resources is seeking to eliminate health and other non-pension benefits for more than 4,500 non-union retirees, men and women who spent most of their lives in the mines. Alpha says in a recent bankruptcy court filing that the benefits cost it about $2.7 million in 2014. A hearing on the company's motion is set for Nov. 17 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond, Virginia.

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