Workers at two mines owned by subsidiaries of Alpha Natural Resources are receiving a $1 per hour pay raise immediately now that management signed the Mine Workers (UMWA) national collective bargaining agreement today. The agreement covers nearly 1,400 miners at the Cumberland and Emerald mines in Greene County, Pa., and will be retroactive to July 1.

UMWA President Cecil Roberts said there are a few local issues that are different in the Alpha agreement, but that the pay, health care and pension benefits language is the same as in the national agreement.

“The miners at those mines have already overwhelming ratified this agreement, so there will not be another vote and the contract will take effect immediately,” Roberts said.

That means miners’ pay will be increased by $1 per hour immediately. That means their health care will be preserved with no cuts or added costs. That means that health care and pensions for current and future retirees is secured.

The company also agreed that if it reopened the idled Wabash mine in Illinois before the end of 2013, the UMWA would remain the collective bargaining representative for the miners there and this agreement would be in effect.