Union officials labor to aid laid-off miners
For dislocated miners like Ron Adams, the months after a layoff often bring more questions than answers. Some may want to try and find work at other mines, others may want to pursue new careers, and most want to know what happens to their benefits and pensions now that they are no longer working underground.
Ed Yankovich, president of United Mine Workers of America District 2, which includes members from all of Pennsylvania, a portion of New York and Allegany and Garrett Counties in Maryland, said that as soon as layoff notices are sent, the union meets with miners to explain all options available to the workers and to outline the benefits and pension process.
“We had representatives from the state talk about unemployment, people from our health and welfare funds explain pensions, and the guys at the career center talk about getting enrolled with them,” he said. “We try to coordinate to answer all the questions our people might have.”
Miners have the option of joining what is called a “combined panel,” which allows unemployed workers to be placed on a list for a chance to be called to work at other mines. According to Article 2 of the UMWA contract, when openings exist at other Consol mines, such as Bailey or Enlow Fork in Greene County, three of every five hirings must come from active or laid-off union members who had expressed a desire to work there.
Yankovich said many of the men who worked at Dilworth will collect unemployment, but just as many are eligible to receive their 20-and-out or 30-and-out pensions.
According to the contract, a miner, regardless of age, with 20 years of service at a mine owned by a company that has signed the pact is eligible to apply for and receive a pension.
For example, a 45-year-old miner with 26 years of service will be rated based on the number of years he’s worked in the mines, and for the rest of his life he will receive the payments as if he were age 55. His widow would be eligible to receive 75 percent of that pension, according to Yankovich.
Miners who have at least 30 years of services are eligible to apply for and receive their pension benefits as if they were at age 62, regardless of their age. In both cases, miners do not qualify for health-care coverage until they reach 55.
Those who are laid off typically receive a year of health care through their former employer after their separation date, but Yankovich said miners under 55 receive no health-care coverage from the union.
With benefits explained and some miners on board to return to other mines if needed, Yankovich said most of the work with dislocated miners centers on the retraining and job-seeking efforts happening at the UMWA Career Centers, the closest of which is in Washington, Pa.
The centers are grant-funded and allow for peer counselors and job coordinators to work with laid-off miners to find them new work or get them back to school.
Peer counselors work with each miner individually to assess his skill level and to give guidance as to the areas in which he may find employment.
Job coordinators go out to companies and meet with employers to find out what kinds of employees are needed and how people from the career center can meet those needs.
“Our union has the philosophy of providing services for our members from cradle to grave, and this is another way to do that,” Yankovich said. “With layoffs and closings that happen in this industry, we need to help people find re-employment in viable, family-sustaining jobs.”
Adams was asked by officials with the career center to attend a job fair last month at the Carmichaels-Cumberland Township Fire Hall and to be prepared to meet with prospective employers, in an attempt to find out what jobs may be best suited for him.
“I’m looking to see what I might be interested in, because I have been in the mine for so long,” he said. “I am hoping to get some exposure.”
At the job fair, representatives from state agencies, school districts and even Greene County government met with laid-off workers like Adams to discuss what positions they have available and what skills are needed for the jobs.
Yankovich said the job fairs are an important part of the re-employment process for the miners, because it shows them what the job market is like right now, and miners can learn if they have the necessary skills or feel that they should go back to school to pick up new skills.
Ron Bowersox knows what the career centers have provided and is working with them to help laid-off miners throughout western Pennsylvania find new work after decades underground.
A native of Kittanning, Bowersox now spends many of his days in Washington and Greene counties, meeting with miners, attending job fairs like the one Adams visited in Carmichaels and working to see where opportunities may arise.
Bowersox spent 23 years as a miner until 1995, when Rochester and Pittsburgh Coal Co. laid off workers at the Jane Mine near Indiana, Pa. In 1996, the first grants helped form the UMWA Career Center, and Bowersox has been working ever since, starting there as a peer counselor and now an administrative assistant to Executive Director Clemmy Allen.
He said the centers can offer a comfort to miners that other employment agencies cannot.
“Most guys don’t want to come in and talk to strangers about their skills, but they feel more comfortable talking to people in UMWA shirts,” Bowersox said.
The career center partners with TeamPA CareerLink to assess workers so they can be placed at new employment or sent back to school to further their education. Miners are taught interviewing skills and computer skills and explore educational opportunities that may be available.
The career center will pay for miners to attend classes for up to two years and will even reimburse miners for mileage, books, parking and meal allowances. Schools are chosen based on decisions a miner makes about his future and how close the school is to an individual.
Bowersox said the transition can be tough, especially for miners who thought they would be working underground until they were able to retire.
“You feel for people, but until you get hit yourself and feel that reality check, then it finally hits home,” Bowersox said. “The average miner is married, has children, is making as much as $20 an hour, and to have that cut short is really hard for a lot of people.”
But through the change, he said, the career center has had a success rate that the union is proud to share.
Most people who return to work average $13 an hour in their new positions, and more than 3,500 miners have been served by centers in Washington, Indiana, Hazleton and Beckley, W.Va., over the past six years.
“Cooperation is the key,” he said. “The CareerLinks have been very important, and making contact with every miner after a layoff has been vital to our success.”
Bowersox said officials are pursuing more grant funding, because dislocated miners receive funds from specific grants awarded when their mine was idled or when they were laid off.