1,000 Greene miners strike
FRANKLIN TWP. – Nearly 1,000 Greene County coal miners hit the picket lines Wednesday after a round of late-night negotiations between a Maryland coal company and union officials did not resolve a labor dispute. On Wednesday, about 2,500 people turned out at the Greene County Fairgrounds to show their support of the striking miners at Cumberland and Emerald mines in Greene County and to send a message to Foundation Coal Holdings Inc. officials.
“Foundation has chosen to violate sections of the National Labor Relations Act,” United Mine Workers of America District 2 President Ed Yankovich said. “We have not yet received the necessary information to barter a just contract… we will stand strong in our principles and we will not yield.”
“This is a step that we sincerely hoped we didn’t have to take and hoped we would avoid,” UMWA President Cecil Roberts said. “Unfortunately, the Foundation subsidiaries, which operates these mines, left us no choice. Their attempts to divide us and pit miner against miner and local union against local union drove us to this point.”
On Wednesday, the raucous crowd, overflowing the grandstand at the fairgrounds, chanted and cheered in solidarity regarding the walkout.
“Foundation Coal has met their match,” Bud Abbott, president of Local 2258, said. “We are a family and we deserve what we work for.”
William George, state president of the AFL-CIO, also joined in the banter.
“They wanted a war, well, they got one,” George said.
According to union officials, the UMWA negotiated a national contract with mine operators in December, but Foundation Coal has refused to cover employees at three mines under the new agreement. The company has argued that the three mines – Emerald and Cumberland mines in Greene County and the Wabash Mine in Illinois – have different needs not addressed by the blanket contract.
While the workers in Illinois also were striking Wednesday, Foundation Coal announced that it is closing the Wabash mine because of financial troubles.
Despite the announcement, Roberts said the UMWA would continue to stand for the Wabash miners as well as the Greene County miners.
“Foundation Coal Holdings’ statement today that the Wabash Mine needed ‘significant cost reductions and major capital investment’ speaks for itself,” Roberts said in an afternoon press release. “This mine was likely to close whether we reached an agreement or not. That the company chose to make its announcement today is very revealing…we will continue to fight for every miner and family at all three mines. Closing Wabash will not change that fact.”
Peter Vietti, a spokesman for Foundation Coal, said that despite the rally and the closing announced Wednesday, he is optimistic that a quick resolution can be reached to resume work at the Greene County mines.
“Suffice it to say, but formal negotiations are not happening today,” Vietti said. “However, we are determined to commit as many resources as possible to reach an agreeable solution. Our primary concern is to restore each operation, including Cumberland and Emerald.”
Vietti said Foundation Coal employs about 3,150 people at 13 mines nationwide.
“Our members at the Pennsylvania mines have worked incredibly hard to make Foundation one of the most profitable coal companies in the United States,” Roberts said. “Yet, their employers do not see fit to take even modest steps to reward the miners for their efforts.”
According to Roberts, Emerald and Cumberland mines alone generate about 70 percent of the company’s coal profits.
Foundation Coal Holdings Inc. is the fourth largest coal producer in the country and produced about 66 million tons of coal in 2005, according to the company’s Web site. Officials at Foundation said that as of 2005, the company controlled roughly 1.7 billion tons of proven and probable coal reserves.