Some of the worst bastards in the free market are coal company operators. I remember, back in the 1980s, the support lots of us gave to the strikers at the Pittston Coal Company and the guys running that operations were scum, too. So, here’s a little news from the mines.
It’s over a deal at Patriot Coal (Wall Street Journal pay wall) but it’s another sniff at the horror of the legal system:
Patriot Coal Corp.and its mine workers have reached a settlement in their long-standing labor fight, a deal that gives the workers “significant improvements” over Patriot’s labor-contract changes approved by a judge in May.
The United Mine Workers of America said its 1,800 active or laid-off members in West Virginia and Kentucky can vote on the deal Friday.
“We have been able to restore, or at least improve upon, many of the most drastic changes that the judge ordered, including in the area of wages, health-care benefits, paid time off, pensions, and more,” UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts said in a Monday news release. Mr. Roberts said the union also cut a deal with Patriot that installs a “mechanism” to help retirees keep their health-care benefits.
In a separate news release, Patriot Coal President and Chief Executive Bennett K. Hatfield said the deal keeps the company “on track for reorganization—and not liquidation.”
After a trial, Judge Kathy A. Surratt-States of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in St. Louis in May cleared Patriot to reject its contract with UMWA and impose tougher work rules. Some of the contract changes went in effect in early July, but the two sides continued to negotiate even as the union appealed the judge’s decision.
The ruling allowed Patriot to stop contributing to a union pension plan on behalf of its current union workers. It also cleared the company to reduce overtime, planned wage increases and vacation time, among other concessions.
I’m certainly glad that it appears things will be a bit better for UMWA members. But, it’s just another example of the unfairness of bankruptcy laws — workers get screwed, through no fault of their own, and get their pensions taken away. Pensions are deferred wages, not a gift. But, when a CEO screws up or the market changes, it doesn’t matter — people who have worked for a generation and longer lose money they agreed not to take today in return for a commitment to have the money later on in life. Obscene.
