Mine Workers (UMWA) members are rallying in St. Louis today to stand up to Patriot Coal's plan to shed promised health care benefits for tens of thousands of retirees and their dependents. As previously reported, UMWA says Patriot Coal was created to fail so Peabody Energy and Arch Coal—the companies that most of the retirees actually had worked for—could get rid of their obligations to former workers. Fairness at Patriot Now will be live-blogging the rally and will march to Peabody headquarters.

You also can follow the AFL-CIO's Cathy Sherwin on Twitter to get live updates. 

Update: More than 750 members and supporters of UMWA participated in the rally and march.  Via press release, UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts said:

Thousands of retirees across the coalfields of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia are wondering this morning if they will soon have to choose between paying the mortgage or getting needed medications. Peabody dumped its health care obligations to these people without a second thought, and now they’re crowing about it.

Peabody talks about the billions it saved when it dumped these obligations. Some of those ‘savings’ are here with us today. They are the retirees with black lung who need oxygen every minute. They are the widows with cancer whose needed medications are at risk. They are the people living on fixed incomes who will have to choose between eating or getting their medicine.

Peabody, Arch Coal and Patriot Coal may be proud of the financial con-game they’re playing on these retirees to get out of decades of promises and obligations. But the truth is that this is a sickening display of corporate greed that has overstepped the boundaries of decency. In an America where there are few boundaries for corporations, that’s saying something.