The Mine Workers (UMWA) will appeal a federal judge’s decision today to dismiss a class-action suit the union and a group of active and retired miners filed against Peabody Energy and Arch Coal in October. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Charleston, W.Va., charged that the companies had violated federal pension laws when they transferred the health and pension benefits of more than 10,000 active and retired miners to the newly created Patriot Coal Corp. in 2007 to avoid their obligations to the miners.  

Members of the Mine Workers (UMWA) are rallying in St. Louis today, encircling the headquarters of Peabody Energy, as part of ongoing efforts to make the company and associated companies live up to the obligations they made to their workers. While the union reached an agreement with Patriot Coal to make sure that retired miners who primarily worked for Peabody receive those benefits, the long-term funding for those benefits has not yet been secured. Those health care costs were spun off into Patriot, which subsequently filed for bankruptcy. Today's rally is aimed at making Peabody live up to its obligations and fund health care for its retirees.

In a victory for some 3,100 retired Mine Workers (UMWA) members and a setback for Peabody Energy and its attempt to duck its health care obligations, a U.S. Court of Appeals’ bankruptcy appellate panel today reversed a lower court’s ruling that would have allowed Peabody to shed its responsibilities.

Members of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) who work at Patriot Coal operations in West Virginia and Kentucky yesterday ratified a settlement the union reached with the company late last week that makes significant improvements in terms and conditions of employment over a federal Bankruptcy Judge’s order from last May.

More than 2,000 Mine Workers (UMWA) members and retirees, other union members and faith and community activists rallied outside the St. Louis corporate headquarters of Peabody Energy in the latest action demanding fairness for the active and retired miners caught in the 2012 boardroom-orchestrated bankruptcy of Patriot Coal.

The Mine Workers (UMWA) union just announced it has reached a settlement with Patriot Coal on new terms and conditions of employment that makes significant improvements over what federal Bankruptcy Judge Kathy Surratt-States ordered on May 29, and what Patriot implemented on July 1.

Several thousand current and retired Mine Workers (UMWA) and their supporters—including striking fast-food workers—rallied this morning outside the St. Louis headquarters of Arch Coal, protesting the company’s move to slash health care benefits for retired and active miners through corporate chicanery and bankruptcy maneuvers.

A number of workers and retirees were arrested as they sat down in non-violent civil disobedience on the front steps of the Arch Coal building.   

AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker and United Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts were among 30 arrested at a rally in West Virginia Tuesday while protesting Patriot Coal's attempts to abandon its commitments to retirees, most of whom worked for Peabody Energy and Arch Coal before those companies created Patriot. Roberts and others say Patriot specifically was created to fail so the original companies could eliminate retiree health care and pension costs.

Thousands rallied Monday outside the Peabody Energy headquarters in St. Louis, and 12 were arrested for nonviolent civil disobedience. The rally protested cuts Patriot Coal is scheduled to make after July 1 to retiree health care benefits of former Peabody workers. The workers' benefits were spun off into Patriot in what Mine Workers (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts says was an intentional plan to get out of obligations made to them.

Update: Earlier we reported Patriot Coal left the negotiation table with UMWA. A new report from BNA says Patriot Coal will return to the talks. The company denies it left the negotiations. UMWA told BNA: “We are glad this odd incident is behind us and that Patriot has changed its mind and is willing to return to the bargaining table.”  

On Tuesday, negotiators from Patriot Coal walked out of talks with the Mine Workers (UMWA), leaving thousands of retirees in danger of losing their health care. The company also canceled talks scheduled through next week, UMWA reports via press release. UMWA President Cecil Roberts reported that the company and the union were only about $30 million to $35 million apart. Meanwhile, hundreds of high-paid executives at the company will be receiving about $25 million in bonuses.