UMWA to help transition for displaced mine workers
About 500 workers at Emerald Mine near Waynesburg will be displaced when Alpha Natural Resources closes the digging site late next year, but union and government officials say few will go without work.
The company, based in Bristol, Va., announced on Aug. 6 its plan to close the longwall mine in the latter half of 2015, but said it hopes to transfer some of the ousted workers to nearby Cumberland Mine.
“Anytime when you’re going to have a closure of a facility, it’s a difficult thing,” said Ed Yankovich, international vice president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) District 2.
“It’s certainly going to have an impact on Greene County, on the tax base and on residual jobs. What our concerns are most are the members we represent there,” he said.
Alpha Natural Resources cited a depressed coal market, a challenging domestic regulatory environment and the fact that the mine is nearing the end of its reserves as reasons for the closure.
Yankovich said a contractual obligation between the two mines will require Cumberland Mine to hire some of the Emerald Mine workers once the first layoffs occur.
Cumberland Mine will have a need for additional workers, said Yankovich, because a new section of the mine is opening, and it will need to be worked.
“There will be opportunities,” he said.
The union is also exploring options to potentially move workers to the Cumberland Mine before the closure of Emerald Mine.
“Since they’ve announced the closure, we’re looking into the (collective bargaining agreement) to see if any other parts of it may apply,” he said.
Yankovich said there will be an initial round of layoffs followed by a final round.
Also working in the favor of this group of workers is the coal industry’s cyclical nature of hiring, said Yankovich. Due to a proportionately large number of workers hired in the late 1970s and early 1980s, many are coming to the end of their working lives.
“There’s a big group of workers who have retired or are wanting to retire,” Yankovich said. “There are some folks at Emerald who, at the closure of Emerald, will choose to retire.”
Yankovich said that the UMWA will be there to help the workers transition to the next job, whether at Cumberland Mine or, possibly, mines in northern West Virginia.
“(The closure) is very regretful. What’s most important is that we’re going to do everything we can for these guys like we’ve always done,” he said.
“There are miners who are experienced in the Pittsburgh (coal) seam, who are familiar with running the equipment, who can find work.
“We will try to mitigate and help them move.”
Greene County commission Chairman Chuck Morris echoed Yankovich’s hopefulness for a good outcome.
“It’s certainly not a good thing when a company closes a mine altogether, but between (the transition of workers to Cumberland Mine) and the normal retirements that are occurring, it doesn’t look like many people will be out of work,” said Morris. “There should not be a significant loss of employment.
“From what I understand, the Cumberland Mine, they project, will live on for a while yet,” Morris said.
State Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson, and state Sen. Tim Solobay, D-Canonsburg, said Wednesday in a joint statement that they pledge to seek all available resources to counter the effects of the planned closing.