Jul 26, 2011 By For The Greene County Messenger 2 min read

The United Mine Workers of America said that subsidiaries of Alpha Natural Resources have signed the 2011 National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement, covering two large coal mines run by Alpha in Greene County.

?The agreement, which was announced July 13 and is retroactive to July 1, covers nearly 1,400 working miners at the Cumberland and Emerald mines.

“Alpha agreed to substantially the same contract for these mines that we negotiated with the Bituminous Coal Operators Association (BCOA) in June,” UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts said.

There are a few local issues that are different in the Alpha agreement, but that the pay, health care and pension benefits language is the same as in the BCOA agreement, he said.

“The miners at those mines have already overwhelmingly ratified this agreement, so there will not be another vote and the contract will take effect immediately,” Roberts said. “That means miners’ pay will be increased by $1 per hour immediately. That means their health care will be preserved with no cuts or added costs. That means that health care and pensions for current and future retirees is secured.”

The BOCA contract will run through Dec. 31, 2016. It provides two $1 hourly wage increases in the first six months of the agreement and $1 an hour in each subsequent year of the agreement. The average UMWA miner would be paid about $30 in 2016.

Additionally, the company agreed that if it reopened the company’s idled Wabash mine in Illinois before the end of 2013, the UMWA would remain the collective bargaining representative for the miners there and this agreement would be in effect.