January - February - United Mine Workers of America

January–February 2009 120th Year, No. 1 

Time 

for 

Change 

UMWA members 

expect action from 

Obama administration, Congress

United Mine Workers 

journal 

UMWA Veterans...................................4 

There are thousands of UMWA members 

who wore their nation’s uniform, serving 

in conflicts all over the world. The 

UMWA Veterans Leadership Committee 

is working to bring veterans issues to the 

forefront in Washington. 

Interview with President Roberts.......8 

Our International President reflects on the 

victory of working families in the recent 

election and lays out the challenges our 

union faces in the coming year. 

We won! Now what?.........................10 

The UMW Journal previews several of 

the pressing legislative priorities facing 

the UMWA and all working families in 

Washington. 

Departments 

Actively Retired................................ 9 

Around Our Union.........................14 

Our Health and Safety....................18 

Poems/Books/Music...................... 19 

Districts in Action.......................... 20 

UMWA Health and 

Retirement Funds Reports............. 22 

Cover Photo: Barack Obama takes 

the oath of office to become the 44th 

President of the United States. Photo by 

Kaveh Sardari for Page One. 

Annie Shelton (center) stands between President Roberts and Secretary- 

Treasurer Kane and is surrounded by almost all the International Headquarters 

staff at a celebration for her retirement in December 2008. 

Longtime UMWA receptionist Shelton retires 

If you have ever visited or called the UMWA’s International Headquarters over 

the last 30-plus years, chances are very good that you talked to Annie Shelton. 

After a long and much appreciated career, Ms. Shelton, who first came to work at 

the union during the presidency of Arnold Miller, retired at the end of 2008. 

The union’s long-time receptionist worked at the front desk and was the 

first voice and face most people came in contact with at the UMWA. She took 

that responsibility very seriously. 

“First impressions go a long way,” Ms. Shelton said. “I wanted to make sure 

that when people called on the phone with a question or came into the building, 

they had a good experience. Even when I wasn’t feeling so good or I was having a 

bad day personally, I always tried to help make their day a little bit better.” 

“I can’t remember a time that I have come to the office and not seen 

Annie,” President Roberts said. “Her long commitment to the UMWA, our 

members, their spouses and their families sets a standard every one of us strives 

to match. We will miss her a great deal, but we are also very happy that she will 

be able to enjoy a retirement she so richly deserves. 

UMWA Health and Retirement Funds reports 

included in this issue 

Annual reports for the various funds under the UMWA Health and 

Retirement Funds umbrella are included on pages 22 and 23 of this issue 

of the UMW Journal. This is in compliance with U.S. Department of Labor 

regulations that require dissemination of these reports either through the 

mail or by being printed in the union’s official publication. These reports 

contain important information about the status of the Funds and your rights 

under the law and should be retained for future reference. 

David Kameras 

Produced by the UMWA Communications Department: Phil Smith, Department Director, Editor; David Kameras, Communications Coordinator; 

Matt Alley, Communications Specialist; Thelma Blount, Department Secretary; 

GO! Creative, llc, Design 

Official Publication of the United Mine Workers of America, 8315 Lee Hwy., Fairfax, VA 22031-2215, www.umwa.org 

© by the United Mine Workers of America. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is prohibited. The United Mine Workers Journal (ISSN 

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federal income tax purposes. 

2 January/February 2009 • United Mine Workers Journal

letters 

[Ed. note: The UMW Journal received several letters in the wake of the 2008 

elections. Here are a few of them.] 

Obama election brings 

hope 

I have been a coal miner for six years. 

I became a proud union member of 

Local 2300 on Apr. 23, 2007, and was 

offered the opportunity to work with 

the UMWA’s COMPAC committee in 

the recent election. 

I have to admit, my first choice 

for President was John Edwards. But 

as I witnessed now-President Barack 

Obama win the Democratic nomination 

for President, I was excited 

to learn that I would be a part of 

history. Working with the UMWA/ 

COMPAC allowed me to experience 

those who work so diligently to ensure 

our safety and security in union 

mines. This was also an opportunity 

to finally work on behalf of a politician 

who is not afraid to say he is for 

the working class and is pro-union. 

After listening to Barack 

Obama’s speeches on the need 

for workers’ rights, I knew we had 

someone willing to stand up for us. 

President Obama has said that he is 

for the Employee Free Choice Act 

(EFCA). EFCA is the answer to those 

companies who choose scare tactics 

as a way to intimidate their employees. 

The need for a president who 

will recognize our rights and sign the 

EFCA into law has been fulfilled. 

The UMW Journal welcomes letters. 

Please include your name, address 

and local number and keep letters 

as short as possible. Letters may be 

edited for length and clarity. Send to 

UMW Journal, UMWA, 8315 Lee Hwy., 

Fairfax, VA 22301-2215 or email to: 

journal@umwa.org. 

The UMWA has a long and 

respected history of fighting for 

workers’ rights, and I was proud our 

union endorsed Barack Obama to be 

our 44th president. He will not allow 

the rights of working families to be 

trampled by those who see us merely 

as a source of profit. The time for 

working families is now. 

Al Loring 

L.U. 2300 

It’s a new year and we have, thankfully, 

a new president of the United 

States. As Chairman of the Kentucky 

COMPAC Council and a member of 

the UMWA Pensioner Leadership 

Committee, I was pleased to see 

the UMWA’s strong endorsement 

and support for Barack Obama 

for president. 

President Obama is from a coal 

state, and he consistently supported 

coal and coal miners in his votes in 

the Illinois State Senate and the U.S. 

Senate. President Obama supports 

a strong future for coal through the 

development of carbon capture and 

storage technology. 

President Obama strongly supports 

the Employee Free Choice Act 

and has stated that if a majority of 

workers at a workplace want a union, 

they should have a union. 

Working families, including 

coal miners, throughout the country 

are experiencing tough times and 

genuinely need a U.S. president who 

cares about the people. I believe 

President Obama will do his best for 

the working people of the United 

States of America. 

I was pleased and proud that the 

UMWA leadership and membership 

had the courage to do the right thing 

for the members and families by not 

just supporting, but working for and 

voting for President Obama. 

Richard Litchfield 

L.U. 1802 

I had the opportunity to watch the 

swearing in of President Barack 

Obama, and after seeing all the 

millions of people gathered in our 

nation’s capital and listening to his 

speech, I am feeling more confident 

than ever that Americans made the 

right choice in the election. And I 

am more convinced than ever that 

our union made the right choice by 

endorsing him. 

I know it may not have been easy 

for a lot of UMWA members to vote 

for Obama, and I know some didn’t. 

But I think most members did vote 

for him, and we’re happy we did. 

The inauguration of the first 

African-American as president of the 

United States made history, but there 

is more to it than that. It also marks 

the end of a presidency that has 

had working families and especially 

union members and our families 

square in their sights. Good riddance 

to George Bush, I say. 

If you listen to what President 

Obama has said since he’s been 

elected and look at the appointments 

he has made so far, you can’t help 

but see that he is going to work hard 

to fix the economic mess we’re in, 

and he’s going to respect labor and 

unions and help us to grow stronger. 

That will help all of us. 

Mark Dorsey 

L.U. 1702 

United Mine Workers Journal • January/February 2009 3

Leading by example 

Union veterans defend values as they defended nation 

Historically, coalfield 

communities have 

always been among the 

first to offer up their 

sons and daughters 

when their nation calls. Hailing 

largely from rural and small-town 

America, these soldiers, sailors, 

marines and others are driven by a 

strong sense of patriotism and love 

of country to leave their homes and 

risk their lives to defend the nation. 

Although eventually, the uniform 

is put away, the commitment to service 

and civic duty it represents is not. 

Instead, it is transformed into a remarkable 

level of activism that serves 

their nation, and our union, well. 

“The military teaches you how 

to carry out instructions,” said Francis 

Martin, a member of L.U. 7635 

and a Korean War veteran. “Basically, 

that’s the way it has been 

in the union, back when 

I started out with John 

L. Lewis and up to the 

present time. It’s how 

you organize and get 

things done.” 

L.U. 1330 member Leo Cogar, a 

Vietnam veteran, agrees. “If you live 

through the experience, being in the 

service makes an adult out of you. 

It changes your outlook on life on a 

day-to-day basis. You learn to take 

care of your fellow workers, not just 

yourself, because sometimes your life 

depends on it.” 

Jack Simmons (l) Francis Martin (r) 

Unmet needs 

In their speeches, politicians frequently 

pay lip service to the need to 

honor America’s veterans. The reality 

is somewhat different. The Veterans 

Administration (VA), a Cabinet-level 

agency, operates the nation’s largest 

health care system, with 153 medical 

centers, 909 ambulatory care and 

community-based outpatient clinics, 

135 nursing homes, 47 residential 

Tony Brnusak 

Phil Smith 

Phil Smith 

rehabilitation treatment 

programs, 232 

Veterans Centers and 

108 comprehensive home-care programs. 

Yet the serious needs of many 

veterans go wanting. 

“We’re going to have more and 

more returning veterans who will 

need VA services,” agreed Tony Brnusak 

of L.U. 2300, a Vietnam veteran. 

“A lot of them are coming back 

wounded and burned out. A lot of 

them are going to need training too, 

either in college or vocational school.” 

L.U. 1582 member Steve Bowles, 

who served in both the Kosovo and 

Iraq conflicts, believes it is the challenges 

uniquely faced by veterans 

that keeps them together and mobilized 

for action. “The biggest issue 

right now is the Veterans Administration, 

the need to put more money 

into it,” he said. “I think the VA is 

behind the ball tremendously. I know 

we need more facilities in states 

like West Virginia. There are a large 

number of guys coming back now, 

and they are the ones who won’t 

be able to get help. It is especially 

important to combat veterans like 

me who are more likely to use their 

services for post-traumatic stress disorder 

(PTSD) and the like, and this is 

where they’ve really been behind.” 

UMWA Veterans 

Leadership Committee 

Last year, the UMWA established 

the UMWA Veterans Leadership 

Committee, comprised of service 

veteran activists who are determined 


to ensure that veterans are honored 

for their sacrifices and receive the 

benefits and services that a grateful 

nation has promised them. The 

group played an important role in 

the last election by educating union 

members about differing positions 

on veterans issues held by the two 

presidential candidates. Since then, 

some 2,400 UMWA members have 

joined the committee. 

“Service veterans know what it’s 

like to fight for a just cause, as well as 

the need to work together and stay 

united in the face of extreme challenges,” 

said President Roberts, a 

Vietnam veteran. “In a way, our union 

is much like the Army. We draw from 

each other’s unique backgrounds— 

experiences which I believe are 

enhanced by serving one’s country— 

while providing mutual support to 

pursue our objectives.” 

Now, with the election behind 

us, its founding members think there 

is much work yet to be done. “I’m 

sure there will be improvements in 

the system under President Obama, 

but there should be a continuing role 

for the committee,” said Martin. “We 

have a lot of veterans going through 

veterans hospitals these days, and 

they need help.” 

“We need to have better veterans 

benefits and better hospital care,” said 

Cogar. “They’re understaffed and 

need more equipment and medicine.” 

“I think the committee is a good 

thing,” said Brnusak. “We’ve got to 

keep on talking about veterans benefits 

so that people will listen.” 

Other avenues 

Another channel that can be used 

by union veterans to voice their 

concerns is the Vietnam Veterans of 

America (VVA), the only national 

Vietnam veterans organization congressionally 

chartered and exclusively 

dedicated to Vietnam-era veterans 

and their families. VVA’s goals are to 

promote and support the full range 

of issues important to Vietnam veterans, 

to create a new identity for this 

generation of veterans and to change 

public perception of Vietnam veterans. 

With some 58,000 individual 

members, 46 state councils and 630 

local chapters, the organization is 

strongly supported by the UMWA. 

Although eventually, 

the uniform is put away, 

the commitment 

to service and civic 

duty it represents 

is not. 

“Our main efforts are on Capitol 

Hill,” said John Rowan, VVA National 

President and CEO. “We tackle 

legislative issues and fight the VA 

bureaucracy toward getting more 

plentiful—and more effective—programs, 

as well as larger budgets. 

“Over the years, Agent Orange 

and PTSD have taken their toll,” he 

said. “In February we will be announcing 

formation of a Veterans 

Health Council, whose purpose 

is to get health care providers to 

reach out to veterans and to educate 

them about problems they need to 

look out for. Our contention is that 

long-term PTSD leads to cardiac 

arrest. We’re trying to create a 

new branch of medicine— 

military medicine.” Rowan’s 

organization has also 

worked with trade unions 

to address occupational 

health hazards. 

But regardless of 

how they make their 

issues known, UMWA 

Phil Smith 

veterans draw on both their military 

and union experiences to form a 

powerful voice that helps to improve 

the lives of this close-knit band of 

brothers and sisters. “There’s more 

than one way a decision is made 

and advanced,” said Jack Simmons, 

a member of L.U. 340 and a veteran 

of World War II. “I was uneducated 

when I went into the Army, but when 

I came back, people were knocking 

on my door, offering me work. 

“Being a veteran commands 

respect, and having served in two 

local unions, as Recording Secretary 

and President, I can say that being 

a union activist does too,” Simmons 

said. “There are different ideas 

among different bodies of men and 

women, and that shapes how you go 

about getting your program across 

to people. I learned much in my 42 

months in the service, but I’m also 

union head-to-foot, 62 years 

of it. People 

listen to 

that.” 


Dawn 

new 

of a 

era 

An interview with 

International President 

Cecil E. Roberts 

As new leadership takes the political reins in Washington, 

the UMW Journal sat down with President Roberts to discuss 

the state of the union and its near-term objectives. 

Phil Smith 

UMW Journal: Americans have just witnessed the historic 

inauguration of a new president who represents a 

dramatic change of direction for the nation. How will that 

change affect our members directly? 

President Roberts: Although the election of Barack 

Obama was great news for all working Americans, 

UMWA members have much to be particularly proud of. 

Hailing from a coal-mining state, President Obama 

plans to invest in the future of coal in America. His choice 

of Rep. Hilda Solis, a close friend of labor, to head the 

Department of Labor bodes well as we work with the new 

administration to gain an Assistant Secretary for Mine 

Safety and Health who will be a true watchdog on behalf 

of miners. The new president has committed to reforming 

our nation’s health care system so that everyone who 

needs care will get it, and he will work hard to preserve 

Social Security and Medicare for our retirees. 

Perhaps most important, by supporting the Employee 

Free Choice Act, Obama plans to restore the right to 

organize and bargain collectively again in America, a right 

we have been denied for far too long. As our economy 

spins deeper into recession and millions of Americans are 

losing their jobs and homes, the case for union membership 

is the strongest since the 1930s, when the UMWA 

was the leader in building America’s labor movement, 

helping to create the now-endangered middle class in our 

country. 

I am proud that the UMWA was a leader in the fight 

to secure this victory. The UMWA released over 200 staff 

and members throughout the nation to work on Obama’s 

behalf through the AFL-CIO’s Labor 2008 campaign, 

helping him win several critical states in the election. And 

our members recognized who their real friend was in the 

campaign. In battleground states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, 

Virginia, Indiana, Colorado, you name it, UMWA members’ 

votes for Obama made a critical difference. 

UMW Journal: With a new administration and a new 

Congress in place, how will the UMWA be working on its 

highest legislative priorities? 

President Roberts: With the same level of determination 

and effort that has served us so well in the past— 

that helped us save the Coal Act and win passage of the 

MINER Act despite strong opposition from the most 

anti-labor White House in memory. 

Now we have to prepare for the biggest labor battle in 

more than 70 years: passage of the Employee Free Choice 

Act. For too long, employers have had a free hand to flout 


“The future strength of our union depends on our ability to organize new members.” 

labor law in this country with little expectation of receiving 

anything more than a slap on the wrist from federal 

agencies and courts. The Employee Free Choice Act would 

change that by giving employees the right to form a union 

at any workplace if a majority of workers sign a card saying 

that they want a union. 

For coal miners, it’s a matter of life or death. The fact 

is that 26 of the 29 coal miners killed on the job in 2008 

were working in nonunion mines. Simply put, union 

mines are safer mines. With the Employee Free Choice 

Act, coal operators would no longer be able to fire union 

supporters almost at will. No longer would they be able 

to threaten to close mines 

if a union is organized. 

No longer would miners 

concerned about safety have 

to choose between keeping 

quiet and keeping their 

jobs, or speaking out and 

getting fired. 

And it’s no better for 

people who work in health 

care, manufacturing, even 

public sector jobs. The climate 

of fear when it comes 

to working people having 

a true voice on the job—no matter where they work—is 

bad and getting worse. We’ve got to reverse that. 

Already, the bad guys are circling the wagons. Big 

business groups such as the National Association of Manufacturers 

and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are wielding 

a huge war chest to convince any wavering members 

of Congress that the Employee Free Choice Act would 

mark the end of civilization. Make no mistake—this will 

be labor’s biggest effort on Capitol Hill this year, and we 

intend to help lead that effort. The future strength of our 

union depends on our ability to organize new members. 

UMW Journal: Climate change, which has obvious bearing 

on the future of the coal industry, was much talked about 

during the presidential election. What is likely to take 

place on that front? 

President Roberts: We can expect several competing legislative 

initiatives to be introduced—some responsible, some 

not—and we intend to be a major player in that debate. 

During the last Congress, we strongly supported a bill 

introduced by Sens. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Arlen 

Specter (R-Pa.) that offered a realistic approach to a growing 

problem. The bill recognized that our nation’s energy 

security needs will require domestic coal to fuel our 

electrical grid for decades to come. Importantly, it would 

have further protected the economy and workers if carbon 

emission controls exceeded expected costs, and linked U.S. 

climate change action with those of developing countries, 

where future greenhouse gas emissions growth will occur. 

Another bill we supported, introduced by Rep. Rick 

Boucher (D-Va.) which had strong bi-partisan support, 

promised to spur development of carbon capture and sequestration 

technologies, thereby protecting the environment, 

the nation’s economy 

“I am no stronger than 

the collective solidarity 

of our membership.” 

David Kameras 

and future coal jobs all at the 

same time. 

The reality is this: 

First, climate change will be 

addressed by Congress in 

some form either this year 

or next. Second, with coal 

accounting for much of the 

world’s electricity, including 

more than 50 percent in the 

U.S., simply walking away 

from using coal to generate 

electricity is a fantasy. I am 

cautiously optimistic that common sense will prevail, and 

common ground will be achieved. 

Make no mistake. The UMWA will not stand idly by 

and let our members become the fall guys for some misguided 

energy policy. We intend to fight hard to get our 

message out to both returning and new members of Congress, 

as well as with the new administration, to ensure 

that a practical solution, such as the earlier Bingaman- 

Specter and Boucher bills, is adopted. 

UMW Journal: Occupational health and safety are vitally 

important to every worker. Where do you see the new 

administration heading? 

President Roberts: I think we can expect to see a vast 

improvement under President Obama. But to tell you the 

truth, almost anything would be better than what American 

workers suffered over the past eight years. 

Only two months after first taking office, George W. 

Bush killed the ergonomics standard, which had been 

more than 10 years in the making and could have protected 

1.8 million workers each year from repetitive strain 


injuries. He slashed enforcement 

budgets, staffing levels and inspection 

activities at federal safety 

regulatory agencies. 

He refused to strengthen the 

rules to prevent chemical explosions. 

He cut training grants. He 

ignored safety concerns when he 

opened the southern border to foreign 

trucking. He shut labor out of 

the National Advisory Committee 

on Occupational Safety and Health. 

He even blocked funds to monitor 

the health of 9/11 rescue and 

recovery workers. 

Miners had it even worse. After 

stacking the top ranks of the Mine 

Safety and Health Administration 

(MSHA) with industry cronies, 

Bush delayed a final rule on hazard 

communication, and further 

delayed, weakened or withdrew at 

least 17 other regulations intended 

to protect the health and safety of mine workers. He weakened 

safeguards against fires on conveyor belts in mines. He 

shifted MSHA’s culture from enforcing safety regulations to 

providing operators with “compliance assistance.” 

Moving forward, we expect a much friendlier environment. 

However, there is much work to be done and 

damage to be undone. We need to build on the success of 

the MINER Act by gaining quick passage of the S-MINER 

Act, which would give MSHA the tools it needs to be a 

true, tough watchdog for mine health and safety. We need 

to continue the fight for tougher regulations regarding 

belt air, safety chambers, tracking and communication 

devices, respirable dust levels, Black Lung funding and a 

host of other issues, and to demand strong enforcement 

of the rules that are already on the books. 

UMW Journal: As of now, you are the second-longest 

standing president of the United Mine Workers, behind 

only John L. Lewis. Based on your lengthy experience, 

how to you view the current state of the union and where 

it is heading? 

President Roberts: It’s been almost 14 years since my good 

friend and brother Rich Trumka was elected Secretary- 

Treasurer of the AFL-CIO, and I was privileged to become 

president of the UMWA. A lot has happened since then. 

“The UMWA will not 

stand idly by and let 

our members become 

the fall guys for some 

misguided energy policy.” 

Phil Smith 

We have negotiated three 

national coal agreements that have 

produced significant wage, pension 

and benefit gains for our members, 

including the historic 20-and-out 

and 30-and-out pension provisions. 

Indeed, pensions have more 

than doubled since 1995. 

In an era of union-busting 

not seen since the 1930s, and 

while many of our fellow brother 

industrial unions have been losing 

members and making concessions, 

we have held our own. 

As a member of the Executive 

Committee of the AFL-CIO’s 

Executive Council, I have had the 

opportunity to directly participate 

in guiding the direction of the 

entire U.S. labor movement, and 

to reach across trade and craft 

lines to improve cooperation and 

enhance solidarity. 

Equally important, we have made enormous legislative 

gains, despite hostility from both Capitol Hill and the 

White House, and against well-funded lobbying by major 

corporations and many of our employers. We scored 

the first major improvement to the nation’s mine safety 

laws since 1977, while positioning ourselves for greater 

victories in the near future. And after more than a decade 

of struggle to get the government to keep its Truman-era 

health care promises to UMWA retirees, we secured a 

stable funding vehicle for our Plans. 

Yet ultimately, I am no stronger than the collective 

solidarity of our membership. Time and time again, when 

the union has sent out the call, our members have stepped 

up to the plate with solidarity, determination and militancy, 

because we have all learned from more than a century 

of experience that the stakes are high and the issues we 

face affect every one of us. 

There has been no greater honor for me than to 

be asked to lead this great union. Every single day, I am 

grateful for the opportunity and humbled by the responsibility 

it carries. With a new era at last dawning in America, 

I am proud to join arms with my brothers and sisters and 

confident that, through our collective strength, we will 

improve the lives of workers and their families within our 

union and throughout our nation. 


Irvin Smith 

Former L.U. 1440 President Irvin 

Smith is a 34-year member of the 

UMWA, but he has been organizing 

since before he joined our union. In 

1964, he organized workers for the 

Machinists Union at Capitol Manufacturing 

Co. in Columbus, Ohio. 

“We lost the first election by three 

votes, but came back a year later and 

won by three votes,” he said. “We 

didn’t give up... amen.” 

In 1974, Smith became a member 

of UMWA L.U. 8840 at U.S. Steel’s 

mine at Thacker, W.Va., where he 

worked as a general laborer, mason, 

scoop operator and shuttle car 

operator. Then in 1981, Old Ben Coal 

bought the facility and soon after shut 

it down. Smith went to work for A.T. 

Massey Raul Sales’ Tall Timber Coal 

Co. in February 1983. A year-and-ahalf 

later, the UMWA struck Massey 

when the company refused to sign the 

1984 BCOA agreement. 

Smith didn’t return to work until 

five years later. “They didn’t have a 

union at Massey, and there was no 

contract. So I slipped around the job 

site and got union cards signed. Then 

I went to the mine superintendent and 

told him, ‘You are looking at the new 

president of UMWA Local 1440, District 

17.’ The superintendent stormed 

off out of the lighthouse mad.” 

And what does the McCarr, Ky., 

resident think of how Massey is run 

now? “I remember that [CEO] 

Don Blankenship said that coal 

production was first, before 

everything else, even safety. 

He has a house high on a hill 

where he can look around at 

everyone. He is not well liked in 

this area.” 

There are some who still 

believe that political elections 

don’t mean anything, but 

Smith is having none of that. 

“I’m happy with the new president, 

Barack Obama. And if we can get the 

Employee Free Choice Act passed, I 

believe that we can organize Massey 

and other companies like it. We really 

need that bill, because without it, 

these young guys are afraid to speak 

out for fear of getting fired.” 

“Irvin Smith is a fine individual,” 

said Region 2 Director Gary Trout. 

“This is a guy who has worked all of 

his life for the union.” 

International District 17 Vice 

President Joe Carter agrees. “Brother 

Smith is just a good union man. He 

has always been supportive of the 

Actively Retired is a regular feature highlighting UMWA retirees still working 

on behalf of the union. If you’d like to recommend a retiree to appear in Actively 

Retired, write to the UMW Journal, UMWA, 8315 Lee Highway, Fairfax, VA 

22031, Attn: Actively Retired. Please include your name, local union, a telephone 

number and a brief explanation of why you’re nominating the individual. 

actively 

retired 

union, and helpful in any way that 

we ask. When we call on him, he’s 

always available. He’s been retired 

for some time, but he always takes 

an active role.” 

“If we can get the Employee Free Choice Act passed, I believe 

that we can organize Massey and other companies like it. 

We really need that bill, because without it, these young 

guys are afraid to speak out for fear of getting fired.” 

Smith retired in 1997 after he 

was hurt on the job. Since then, he 

has served as a member of COMPAC, 

He has remained married “to 

the same sweet woman since 1962.” 

As someone who served his country 

in Vietnam—he was wounded in 

Operation Buffalo in the Demilitarized 

Zone in 1966—Smith feels 

a special kinship with President 

Roberts and all of the other union 

veterans of that and other conflicts. 

“The UMWA draws strength from 

the sacrifices made by these brothers 

and sisters,” he said. “That’s one 

reason why the Mine Workers is the 

best union going. We’re always trying 

to help people.” 


Government 

in action 

Keeping them honest 

What UMWA members expect from the new administration and Congress 

Working families across America voted overwhelmingly 

for change last November. In state after 

state, the votes of UMWA members, our families, 

our neighbors and millions more working people 

just like us were the difference not just for President Barack Obama, 

but also for U.S. Senate and U.S. House candidates who promised a 

changed federal government—one that respected the value of the 

work we do to keep America strong. 

Now comes the time for 

the politicians to live up to 

their promises. As we know 

from long experience, it’s 

easy for politicians to say 

they’re going to do something. 

But when it comes 

to actually doing what they 

promised, sometimes they need 

to know someone’s watching, ready 

to hold them accountable. 

As the Obama administration 

and the new Congress begin working 

to solve the tremendous challenges 

facing the United States, the UMW 

Journal will be taking a periodic look 

at what they’re doing, and how that 

squares with what they promised. 

We’re watching. And so 

should you. 

Priority #1: Fixing the 

Bush economic disaster 

The United States and much of 

the rest of the world are suffering 

through the worst economic times 

most can remember. Caused initially 


Government 

in action 

by the collapse of the banking and 

mortgage systems as a result of lax 

oversight and too-friendly regulations 

by the Bush administration, the 

economic disaster is deepening every 

day. The numbers are staggering: 

• 2.5 million jobs were lost in 

2008, over 524,000 of them in 

December alone; 

• The national unemployment rate 

jumped to 7.2 percent in December, 

and some analysts are predicting 

it will top 10 percent by the 

middle of 2010; 

• Ohio has run out of money in its 

unemployment insurance fund, 

more states will follow and others 

are overwhelmed with claims. 

In response, the incoming Obama 

administration has been working for 

months on an economic stimulus 

plan that will likely include a mix 

of middle-class tax cuts with a fast 

infusion of money for infrastructure 

work on highways, roads, bridges 

and more. Though President Obama 

is urging Congress to move quickly 

to approve the package, several details 

remain to be worked out. 

Quick passage and implementation 

of the stimulus package is 

critical for working families, including 

UMWA members. Due to the 

worldwide recession, industrial 

production that is directly related to 

UMWA members’ jobs—in the steel 

industry, for example—has been cut 

back. UMWA members have been 

laid off at Cliffs Mining’s Pinnacle 

mine in West Virginia and at Consol 

Energy’s Eighty-Four mine in Pennsylvania. 

Other mines producing 

metallurgical-grade coal are under 

pressure as well. 

“Though coal mining has by 

and large escaped many of the worst 

aspects of this recession, that won’t 

last forever,” President Roberts said. 

“We’re seeing layoffs among our 

members who produce met coal, and 

that will only get worse if steelmakers 

and other basic industries don’t start 

producing again. We are in strong 

support of President Obama’s 

plan to get our industrial base 

 

moving again.” 

“The only reason there is a 

middle class in America 

today is because of the rise 

of labor unions in the 1930s 

and ’40s. And the reason 

working families have seen 

their real incomes shrink 

over the last decade is 

because of the loss of union 

membership and power of 

the labor movement.” 

Jimmy Thomas, 

L.U. 1928 

Obama’s already connected 

with the people. He’s going 

to contribute some good 

programs. He knows what 

the working person wants 

and needs, and will help the 

average citizen, unlike the past 

president. I think he’s going to 

be a champion on mine safety 

and health. Before he ran for 

public office, he was a community 

organizer, a fighter for 

working people. He is in touch 

with the working people. 

David Kameras 


Government 

in action 

The UMWA will also be 

pushing for additional 

improvements to mine 

safety and health laws in 

Congress with the passage 

of the Supplemental MINER 

(S-MINER) Act, which passed 

the House last year but 

stalled in the Senate. 

Don Stewart, 

L.U. 1613 

Obama’s election means we’re 

going to see job creation, fair 

wages, the Employee Free 

Choice Act and a stimulus 

package that starts from the 

bottom, instead of from the 

top. I think you’ll see some 

people appointed to MSHA and 

OSHA that are more workerfriendly—people 

that are more 

for the working guy than for 

the corporate guy. This is long 

overdue after eight years of a 

complete lack of respect for 

working people as far as I 

am concerned. 

David Kameras 

Priority #2: Safe and 

healthy workplaces 

In the eight years of the Bush 

Administration, more than 40,000 

workers were killed on the job in the 

United States. Hundreds of thousands 

more were injured, many of 

them too badly to ever return to 

work again. In the coal industry, 

265 miners were killed from Jan. 20, 

2001 to Jan. 19, 2009. 

“We’ve suffered through an eightyear 

period of indifference to workers’ 

health and safety that will forever stain 

the Bush administration as the most 

anti-worker administration in modern 

history,” said Secretary-Treasurer 

Kane. “But we have strong reason to 

believe that those days are behind us. 

President Obama promised to appoint 

leaders at the Department of Labor, at 

the Mine Safety and Health Administration 

and at the Occupational Safety 

and Health Administration who will 

put workers’ safety first, not production 

and profits first. 

“Though those appointments 

are not yet all made, his choice for 

Marjorie Corwin, 

L.U. 2488 

Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis, is a 

good one,” Kane said. “She has been a 

long-time friend of working families 

and the labor movement throughout 

her public career and we think will 

be someone who truly cares about 

working families, because she is from 

a working family. Both her parents 

were union members, and she has 

not forgotten where she came from.” 

The UMWA will also be pushing 

for additional improvements to mine 

safety and health laws in Congress 

with the passage of the Supplemental 

MINER (S-MINER) Act, which 

passed the House last year but stalled 

in the Senate. 

Priority #3: The Employee 

Free Choice Act 

In 2007 alone, over 20,000 workers 

were illegally fired from their jobs 

for trying to form a union. Many 

thousands more were threatened, 

intimidated, reassigned, relocated or 

in some way disciplined just because 

they had the courage to stand up for 

themselves and their families and 

I think Obama will do a great 

job. He’s already started on 

that by appointing the right 

people. I’m hoping that there 

will be successful efforts to 

get more jobs for people, affordable 

housing and health 

care. Of course we need the 

Employee Free Choice Act so that people have a choice to get a union 

and have a voice on the job. With more workers in unions, we’ll finally 

see pay come up, and people will have more job security. 

David Kameras 


Government 

in action 

Michael Ryan, L.U. 8843 

Although it will be tough, I feel President Obama will turn this country 

around. I look forward to an administration where the President’s pick 

to lead MSHA will be someone 

who will be fair and just, 

unlike the previous administration’s 

pick, who was in 

the back pocket of the coal 

operators. Obama has the 

potential of being the most 

positive change coal miners 

have ever seen. 

Matt Alley 

in the 1930s and ’40s,” Roberts said. 

“And the reason working families 

have seen their real incomes shrink 

over the last decade is because of the 

loss of union membership and power 

of the labor movement. 

“If we are to rebuild America 

and work our way out of the economic 

disaster left to us by George 

Bush and his big business cronies, 

then a renewed and strengthened 

labor movement must be part of the 

solution,” Roberts said. “Any other 

course will keep us all on the slippery 

slope to economic ruin.” 

demand fair treatment and a voice 

on the job. 

“America’s labor laws are broken,” 

said President Roberts. “The 

employers and their armies of unionbusting 

consultants have figured 

out loopholes in the law big enough 

to drive a steamroller through, and 

that’s just what they’ve been doing. 

“Employers know it’s illegal to 

fire someone for union activity, but 

they fire them anyway,” 

Roberts said. 

“If they ever have to 

face a penalty, it will 

be years away and 

not anything serious. 

In the climate of fear 

and intimidation 

that is so prevalent 

in American workplaces 

today, the choice people have 

is not whether they want a union or 

not, it’s whether they want a job or 

not. That’s just wrong and needs to 

be changed.” 

The Employee Free Choice Act 

is the solution to this problem. It will 

restore workplace rights for millions 

of Americans by: 

• Allowing employees to form 

unions by signing cards authorizing 

union representation, or by 

holding a secret-ballot election 

should the workers—not the 

companies—choose to hold one. 

• Establishing stronger penalties for 

violation of employee rights when 

workers seek to form a union, and 

during first-contract negotiations. 

• Providing for 

mediation and 

arbitration of firstcontract 

disputes. 

The U.S. House 

passed the Employee 

Free Choice Act last 

year, but it was never 

brought up for a 

vote in the Senate. 

President Obama was a cosponsor of 

the legislation in 2008, and consistently 

stated his support during the 

campaign and since. The entire U.S. 

labor movement is working hard for 

passage of this bill. 

“The only reason there is a 

middle class in America today is 

because of the rise of labor unions 

Manuel Anaya, 

L.U. 3106 

I think Obama has the ability 

to work with both sides, so we 

can finally get something done 

instead of people in Washington 

pointing fingers at each 

other. We’ve got to undo much 

of what happened under the 

prior administration. We need 

labor people in MSHA, instead 

of rewarding corporate cronies 

who are looking for a title. 

We’ve had people in there who 

were hired based on who they 

knew, not what they know. 

David Kameras 


around 

our Union 

Moore Photography, Inc. 

Roberts wins Debs Award 

President Roberts in October received 

the Eugene V. Debs Award, 

named for the legendary leader of 

the Brotherhood of Locomotive 

Firemen and the American Railway 

Union, who co-founded the Industrial 

Workers of the World and as a 

candidate for U.S. president pulled in 

3.5 percent of the vote while sitting 

in a jail cell. 

With nearly 300 union supporters 

on hand, Roberts used the 

occasion to urge strong support for 

then-candidate Barack Obama to 

counter the reactionary policies of 

the wealthy. “For eight years, the very 

rich and very powerful have had a 

party,” he said. “We watched 3 million 

jobs shipped out of this country 

to communist China and to Mexico 

and all around the world. The White 

House pushed deregulation, and coal 

miners got killed in coal mines in 

record numbers. Two million more 

people entered poverty, but they 

partied on.” 

Logistec Pact Signed 

The UMWA Nov. 7 reached an agreement with Logistec 

Stevedoring, ending a nearly two-month lockout of 

workers at a coal-handling facility in Sydney, N.S., harbor. 

“Our members stayed strong and stuck together,” said 

President Roberts. “The support these members received 

from sister local unions in District 2 and Western Canada 

also boosted morale by showing our Logistec brothers 

that they were not alone in their struggle.” 

The five-year pact, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2008, features 

pay increases, signing bonuses, improved grievance and 

arbitration procedures, improved sick-day and vacation 

language, recognition of Davis Day as a contractual 

holiday, improvements in work schedules, shift premium 

increases, training reimbursement for tuition and books 

and company-provided tools. 

The 18 members of Cape Breton L.U. 2268 had 

worked without a contract since the beginning of the year 

when Logistec locked them out Sept. 15 after refusing to 

budge from inadequate proposals at the bargaining table. 

The company then engaged in hardball tactics, including 

going to court to secure an injunction against informational 

picketing by the workers. 

“This bargaining unit included young men for 

whom this was their first time in a labor dispute,” International 

Auditor/Teller Bobby Burchell noted. “The 

company made it tough to negotiate, but thanks to 

solidarity, our members showed they would stay united 

for a solid contract.” 

Farmington Disaster 

Nov. 20, 2008, marked the 40th anniversary of the 

Farmington Mine Disaster, an explosion at Consol 

No. 9 in Mannington, W.Va., which claimed the lives 

of 78 miners and helped usher in the 1969 Coal Mine 

Safety and Health Act and other mine safety bills. 

Nineteen are still entombed in the mine. 

“A lot of men died, and these laws are written in 

their blood,” said President Roberts at a memorial 

service marking the occasion. “We can’t ever allow the 

industry to regress when it comes to health and safety 

for the men and women who mine our coal.” 

Edna Tucker 

The UMWA is celebrating the life of Edna Tucker, who 

at 101 is the oldest living former staff member of the 

union. Originally from Massachusetts, Ms. Tucker joined the 

UMWA Washington, D.C., Headquarters staff in February 1950, 

providing support services in the Office of the Secretary- 

Treasurer for 20 years before retiring in 1970. 

“I remember that she went to conventions and operated 

bookkeeping machines,” said her son, Dean Fournier, who 

lives a mile away from the adult family home in Seattle 

where she currently resides. “She moved here in 1998 after 

many of her D.C.-area friends had died, as had her New 

England siblings. She is the oldest surviving member of her 

generation, with one surviving younger sister.” 


around 

our Union 

Phil Smith 

Monumental achievement 

Four days before it packed its bags and left town, the Bush administration 

finally designated the Ludlow Tent Colony in southern Colorado 

as a National Historic Landmark. 

The path to this achievement took nearly three years to complete. 

Activists worked with historians and National Park Service (NPS) staff to 

research deeds and determine how much of the historic site is contained 

on UMWA land. Their initial application prompted the NPS to conduct 

its own investigation and eventually prepare its nomination, to be forwarded 

to an advisory committee appointed by the White House. 

Secretary-Treasurer Kane testified before the committee last October, 

which voted unanimously to recommend the designation to the 

NPS, and Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne made it official on 

Jan. 16. 

“This action is a long-overdue recognition of the historic importance 

of what took place at Ludlow. A courageous group of miners and 

their families were attacked, machine-gunned, and women and children 

burned alive, for standing up for simple justice in the coal mines,” Kane 

said. “The landmark designation ensures that successive generations of 

Americans will learn the lessons of Ludlow, for they are lessons working 

people forget at our peril.” 

In Memoriam: William Blizzard 

William C. Blizzard, a labor activist, 

reporter, photojournalist 

and witness to history, died Dec. 29 

in Ripley, W.Va. He was 92. 

His father, Bill Blizzard, led the 

“Red Neck Army” of coal miners 

in an organizing march over Blair 

Mountain into Logan County, where 

they were met by state and private militias 

and an aerial bombardment by 

U.S. armed services, the only such domestic 

action in history. The younger 

Blizzard’s account of the 1921 battle, 

When Miners March, charts the early 

history of the UMWA in the state and 

in the Ohio Valley. 

“Bill Blizzard experienced the 

grim realities of living in a coal 

camp, saw the brutality of the mine 

guards, heard the cries of wives and 

children put out of their companyowned 

houses when miners did 

nothing more than talk about 

freedom,” President Roberts said. 

“He understood that the fight for 

a better life for the working class 

did not end at Blair Mountain—it 

continues today. Bill’s words remind 

us that without strong unions working 

on behalf of their members, 

we will soon be back to where we 

were 92 years ago at the beginning 

of Bill’s life—living and working at 

the whim of giant corporations and 

their hirelings. He was a lifelong 

supporter of the UMWA, and we 

will never forget his efforts and his 

eloquence on our behalf.” 

David Kameras 


around 

our Union 

C.W. Mining 

Liquidated 

federal bankruptcy court in 

A Utah ordered C.W. Mining 

Inc., a strongly anti-union operator 

in Huntington Canyon in Emery 

County, Ut., into Chapter 7 

bankruptcy after the company 

didn’t pay a customer $24 million 

for coal it failed to supply. 

The company, which operated 

as Co-Op Mining Co., had used 

defamation lawsuits aimed at 

the mostly immigrant miners, the 

UMWA and others in an effort to 

intimidate workers and forestall an 

organizing effort there. 

Robena Disaster 

More than 200 union members and friends 

gathered under a tent near Carmichaels, 

Greene County, Pa., on a freezing Dec. 6 to honor 

the 37 miners killed 46 years ago at U.S. Steel’s 

Robena No. 3 Mine. 

“I believe that outside the bonds of 

family, there is nothing stronger than the 

bond between fellow workers,” said Secretary-Treasurer 

Kane. “We need to remember 

that they were more than cogs in an industrial machine.” 

Two gas and coal dust explosions took place that fateful day in 1962, 

caused by the ignition of bodies of methane gas by friction sparks or an electric 

arc. The methane had accumulated in a portion of the face development that 

was not ventilated for a short period of time and was moved over operating 

equipment when completion of a permanent stopping in the section resulted 

in a reversal of face ventilation. 

David Kameras 


Celebrating King in the Big Easy 

around 

our Union 

At the same time that millions of 

jubilant Americans were gathering 

in Washington, D.C., to witness 

the historic inauguration of Barack 

Obama, dozens of UMWA activists 

and staff joined hundreds of other 

trade unionists in New Orleans for the 

annual AFL-CIO Martin Luther King, 

Jr., Holiday Observance. 

After listening to welcoming 

remarks from AFL-CIO Secretary- 

Treasurer and UMWA International 

President Emeritus Richard Trumka 

and other labor leaders, the UMWA 

participants spent two days of community 

service moving and installing 

several truckloads of fill to repair 

baseball diamonds in some of the 

city’s depressed neighborhoods. 

Then came two days of conferences 

examining post-Hurricane Katrina 

New Orleans and analyzing the 2008 

election, followed by a parade through 

the city’s streets ending at the Louisiana 

Superdome, site of much of the 

storm’s tragedy and suffering. 

At one point in the proceedings, 

the UMWA delegation broke away 

for a visit to the Lower Ninth Ward, 

the part of New Orleans that received 

Katrina’s greatest destruction, meeting 

with and giving support to residents 

who have yet to rebuild their homes 

lost in the 2005 storm. 

David Kameras 

Robert Green, a Lower Ninth 

Ward resident who lost his mother 

and granddaughter in Katrina’s 

floodwaters. 

David Kameras 

Cherry Coal Mine Disaster 

Nov. 13, 2009, marks the 100th anniversary of the 

Cherry Coal Mine Disaster, an explosion that took 

the lives of 259 men and boys in Bureau County, Ill., 90 

miles southwest of Chicago. 

The disaster began when a spark from a kerosene 

lamp touched off a load of hay destined for a mule 

stable, and a fatal decision to reverse a fan pulled flames 

up the escape shaft and set ablaze a wood staircase, 

leaving only the main shaft for escape. Twelve men made 

several trips in the shaft’s cages to rescue the trapped 

miners below before themselves succumbing to the 

flames. Many of the miners died from a poisonous gas 

called black damp, which is caused by coal burning 

in an atmosphere lacking oxygen. Since the fan house 

was severely damaged from the reversing of the fan, it 

could not provide air to those who still might be alive. 

Miraculously, 21 men survived eight days by going into 

the far recesses of the mine and barricading themselves 

to block the smoke and black damp. 

The Town of Cherry has designed a monument 

to mark the centennial of this disaster, and activists 

are trying to raise $15,000 for the effort. For 

more information, contact Jack Rooney at jack@ 

cap-strategies.com. 


our 

health&safety 

Drug test diversion 

It remains unclear what will happen with a misguided 

drug and alcohol initiative launched during the waning 

months of the Bush administration. 

The rule would require all mine operators to establish 

a drug and alcohol program based on guidelines drawn 

from regulations governing the 

transportation industry. Yet the 

vast majority of coal miners 

already are tested for drugs and 

alcohol, and most coal companies 

have already implemented testing 

programs. According to MSHA’s 

own data, 80 percent of coal miners 

already have to pass pre-employment drug and alcohol 

screening tests. Seventy-five percent of miners are subject 

to random testing by their employers, and under current 

regulations, all miners who are working in a section of a 

mine where a safety incident occurs can automatically be 

tested for drugs and alcohol. 

Ironically, although much of the incentive to devise 

this new rule was prompted by recent major coal mine 

disasters, such as Sago, Aracoma, Darby and Crandall 

Canyon, there was no indication of drugs or alcohol being 

To push this rule, MSHA established 

a hearing format that effectively 

denied most UMWA members 

the opportunity to testify. 

contributing factors to those tragedies. In each of those 

cases, the actions or inactions of mine management and 

MSHA itself were to blame. 

To push this rule, MSHA established a hearing 

format that effectively denied most UMWA members 

the opportunity to testify. It 

devoted thousands of hours of 

government employees’ time and 

millions of dollars of taxpayers’ 

money on the rule instead of 

focusing on more pressing safety 

and health issues. 

For example, data published 

by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and 

Health show that black lung disease is once again on the 

rise, afflicting thousands of miners, even younger miners 

who have been working in the industry only a short time. 

The UMWA has been aggressively seeking action from 

MSHA to protect miners from respirable coal and silica 

dust for many years, yet nothing has happened. Instead, 

Bush’s MSHA Assistant Secretary of Labor told a reporter 

that “there’s no way I’m going to get that done with what I 

have on my plate.” 

Shoemaker rescuers take honors 

The Mine Rescue Team at Consol’s Shoemaker Mine in Marshall County, 

W.Va., came in first place in competition with all Consol teams in 2008. 

UMWA members of the team include Carl Cochran, Jr., Ed Fisher, Bob 

Haines, Ted Hunt, Travis McNabb, Okey Rine, George Starkey, Ron Taylor 

and Cliff Ward. 

Belt air rule 

On the last day of the year, 

MSHA published the final rule 

for “Flame-Resistant Conveyor Belt, 

Fire Prevention and Detection and 

Use of Air from the Belt Entry.” The 

UMWA has consistently opposed 

the use of the belt entry to ventilate 

working sections because of fire 

hazards in that entry. Nonetheless, 

the final rule continues to permit the 

use of the belt entry for ventilation. 

In other provisions, the rule also 

requires better belt maintenance, 

standardized evacuation and 

emergency gear signs, installation 

of smoke sensors in underground 

working sections and reduction of 

dust levels on the belt line. 


Poems • Books • Music 

The Record 

The boss came in and said with a grin, “Listen, boys, here is the plan. 

A record’s in sight and we’ll get it tonight ‘cause I’m a longwall mining man.” 

When all was in place, the shearer ripped the face and run for the record began. 

Crews held their breath never dreaming of death nor doubting the long wall man. 

The belts ran full, the coal did roll till the bearings on the drives grew hot. 

On some unguarded place far from the face a trickle of fire began. 

Unheeded, unknown, the fire leapt high, far from the portals and fan. 

A little smoke trickled down and caused some to frown at the longwall mining man. 

But the danger seemed slight so on through the night the longwall continued to run. 

The record they sought was at hand, they thought, so they labored as hard as they could. 

Killing for Coal 

The 1914 Ludlow Massacre is 

revisited in Killing for Coal, by 

University of Colorado-Denver 

Professor Thomas G. Andrews. 

This big-picture view of an iconic 

tragedy examines 50 years of 

militancy in America’s coal fields 

leading up to the event, and the 

collision between the Wild West and 

the nation’s growing demand for 

fossil fuels. The $29.95 hardbound 

volume is published by Harvard 

University Press. 

Jewell Ridge 

Coal 

Jewell Ridge Coal is a cd containing 

10 original songs about living and 

working in the coal mining community 

of Jewell Ridge, Va. Both the 

UMWA and former President John 

L. Lewis are mentioned in some of 

the selections. For more information, 

contact Jeni Hankins and Billy 

Kemp at bkjh1743@gmail.com. 

As the hours crept by their spirits were high and they took chances that no miner should. 

Then someone gave the alarm! They were in danger of harm, so they tried to exit the mine. 

But the smoke and the fire had grown hotter and higher. 

The escapeways were all blocked and caved in. 

Then the men all knew that their chances were few and each moment they grew more grim. 

They searched through smoke and no one spoke as their self-rescuers started to fail. 

Some tried to barricade, some chose to pray. 

They searched every spot but all was for naught. 

They worked and they tried, some even cried for their luck had expired on that day. 

The mine rescue teams came from near and afar and tried desperately to rescue the men. 

But try as they might they failed all that night though they tried again and again. 

The teams worked long, the men had worked hard to fight through that difficult maze. 

The crews risked their lives to bring home the prize of the miners from out of that mine. 

But sorrow and tears, nightmares and fears will haunt them the rest of their days. 

They’ll remember the night they all lost the fight to bring the men out of that place. 

Now the spirits of the men lost in the mine will wander and search for all time. 

Neither forgotten nor forsaken still their lives have been taken. 

It’s happened since mining began. 

Remember records and such just don’t mean very much 

When paid for by the lives of man. 

Carl R. Hatch 

L.U. 8622 


DISTRICTS 

in action 

District 2 

Long-time District 2 activist James 

“Toby” Fleegle recently died tragically 

in a house fire. A Korean War 

veteran, the lifetime resident of 

the Central City, Pa., area worked 

for the Reitz Coal Co. He was a 

prominent member of Miners for 

Democracy, an international organizer 

under President Arnold Miller 

and a long-serving president of L.U. 

6410. At his burial, Helen, his wife 

of 49 years, said, “He was born a 

union man, and died a union man.” 

L.U. 6410 

officers at 

a District 2 

convention. 

Front row: 

Nicholas Bruno, 

International 

President 

Arnold Miller, 

John Pribish. 

Back row: John 

“Bimba” Severn, 

Adolph Bonus, 

James “Toby” 

Fleegle. 

District 12 

L.U. 7110 recently 

had a plaque 

made to display 

at union meetings, 

which are 

held the first 

Tuesday of every 

month. The 

local union was chartered 

in 1935. Over the years, it has 

absorbed through merger Locals 7315 

(1956), 1337 (1997), 7455 (1999) and 

6756 (2001). George Lidwell, age 95, 

is the union’s oldest member, holding 

a union card for more than 75 years. 

Former L.U. 

1393 Financial 

Secretary, Gene 

Fox passed away 

Dec. 12. Gene 

was a UMWA 

member for 53 

years and worked 

at Consolidation Coal’s Coffeen 

Mine in Hillsboro, Ill. He was also 

Local 1393’s Financial Secretary 

for over 16 years. He was an active 

union member throughout retirement 

and never missed a UMWA 

meeting or convention. 

Region III secretary Janet Filkins 

retired in December 2008. A retirement 

party was held in her honor in 

Harrisburg, Ill. 

District 17 

For 13 years, Subdistrict 28 and its 

Freedom Fighters, a women’s 

auxiliary that lent crucial support 

during the Pittston strike, have held 

L.U. 1259 President James Woody 

hands a $1,000 donation check to 

Shirley Hall, Chairperson of the 

Freedom Fighters and spouse of 

pensioner James Hall. 

an annual fish fry in Castlewood, 

Va., financed by donations from 

local unions and a raffle. For the 

most recent event on Sept. 20, 2008, 

L.U. 1259 was a tremendous 

supporter, donating $2,000 directly 

to the Freedom Fighters. The 

Freedom Fighters and Subdistrict 28 

officials are very appreciative of the 

support of L.U. 1259 and of all the 

locals who so generously gave so 

that this traditional event could be 

held once again. 

District 22 

During September, October and early 

November, COMPAC representatives 

from Locals 1332 (McKinley 

Mine), 1620 (Black Mesa Mine), 1629 

(Gallup City workers), 1924 (Kayenta 

Mine), 2005 (Navajo Nation Head 

Start) and 3106 (Dicaperl) participated 

in the Labor 2008 campaign. 

Several members leafleted at the 

entrances to the mines and power 

plants on and around the Navajo Nation, 

participated in phone-banking, 

made house calls, attended labor rallies 

in Albuquerque and Phoenix and 

assisted at various voting locations. 


DISTRICTS 

in action 

District 31 

The contract for L.U. 1332-B 

(fence crew) at the McKinley Mine 

expires on Feb. 28. Negotiations 

are ongoing. 

District 31 

Applications for the 2009-2010 Harry 

Morris Scholarship are now available 

by contacting L.U. 1501 Financial 

Secretary Mike West, 42 Little 

Sycamore Sq., Fairmont, WV 26554, 

304-366-4248, maw551955@yahoo. 

com. Any descendent of a member of 

L.U. 1501 is eligible. 

Secretary-Treasurer Kane, L.U. 1570 member Bill Deegan and L.U. 1570 

President John Palmer at a luncheon honoring Deegan upon his retirement. 

Honoring Our Pensioners 

UMWA District officials recently honored the following retirees for their years of service as members of the UMWA. 

70 Year Pins District 2 L.U. 1412 John Blazavich, Sr. 

District 12 L.U. 9111 Albert Chismar L.U. 9746 Winston Robinette, Sr. 

District 31 L.U. 4047 Carl W. Prickett L.U. 9909 James Oliveto 

60 Year Pins District 2 L.U. 1269 Clair Koontz L.U. 1386 George 

Adams L.U. 4426 Michael L. Sabolic District 12 L.U. 1092 Robert Gossett, 

Malcolm Strader L.U. 1148 Frank Brazinski L.U. 1487 Marion L. Veach 

L.U. 1605 Paul Dickerson L.U. 1825 Steven Perardi L.U. 1907 James Burton 

L.U. 5138 Richard Johnson L.U. 9819 Bill Jack, James Sullivan District 17 

L.U. 0340 Eugene Ferrell L.U. 0750 James Caldwell L.U. 1374 Homer Dye 

L.U. 1440 Ray Curry Scott Daniels L.U. 1569 Arvil Kennedy L.U. 1607 Arthur 

Smith L.U. 2232 Elbert G. Hale L.U. 2236 Jess Lusher L.U. 6426 Roy Foster 

L.U. 7086 Billy H. Bailey, Mason Farley, Marvin Proffitt L.U. 9177 Arrowood Hill 

District 31 L.U. 1058 James E. Foy, Clifford J. Pugh L.U. 1352 Samuel 

Gallogly L.U. 1501 Howard Hinebaugh L.U. 4047 Jack Hess 

50 Year Pins District 12 L.U. 1122 Earl Artist, Robert Barrett, 

Gerald Dearston, Willard Rotert L.U. 1148 Marko Prpich L.U. 1392 Robert J. 

McCrary L.U. 1605 Kenneth Huddleston L.U. 1802 Paul D. Heady L.U. 9878 

Harold V. Angel District 17 L.U. 1259 Jack Jones L.U. 7555 Donald Morgan 

L.U. 7950 William Austin District 22 L.U. 1281 William C. Spangler 

Unfortunately, due to the numbers of members receiving pins, the UMW Journal 

cannot run photos of pin recipients. In order to receive a membership pin, you 

must submit an application to the District office. Pins are not automatically 

issued. Your district representative will send the names to the UMW Journal. 

40 Year Pins District 2 L.U. 0488 Thomas Timko, Sr. L.U. 0762 

Robert Baker, Richard Vought L.U. 1269 Fredrick C. Johnson, Milton Morley 

L.U. 1980 Ronald L. Howell, Bruce A. Rush L.U. 2258 John Simpson L.U. 2300 

Fred B. Clemmer L.U. 2494 John Gregory L.U. 6290 Robert Decker 

District 12 L.U. 1092 Jerry Peveler L.U. 1392 Ted Pyatt L.U. 1393 Robert L. 

Jones L.U. 1545 William Colp L.U. 1602 Harold G. Mitchell L.U. 1605 Raymond 

C. Ford, Gilburn Harper, James A. Hopper, Gerald D. Saint, Larry Simpson 

L.U. 1907 James E. Allen L.U. 2216 Mark Stanton L.U. 2470 Tom Eubanks 

L.U. 5138 Billy Lee, Kenneth Lynn, William Townzen L.U. 9653 William Tapp 

District 17 L.U. 0781 Paul Ritchie L.U. 1440 Scott Daniels L.U. 1503 James 

Farley, Howard Green, Barry Harvey, Bobbie Slaughter L.U. 1569 Eddie A. 

Braden L.U. 1607 Jimmy Gibson, John Gibson L.U. 2232 Carl Ray L.U. 2274 

Billy R. O’Quinn L.U. 2286 Jerry Wilson L.U. 2888 McKinley McGlothlin 

L.U. 2935 Roger Madden L.U. 6046 James Adkins L.U. 6426 Robert Bench 

L.U. 7086 James F. Lyons L.U. 7555 Carlos Mounts L.U. 8783 Ronnie Murphy 

L.U. 8843 Gary Perry District 31 L.U. 1058 Delmar W. Pratt, John R. Serean 

L.U. 1304 James Hornyak L.U. 1444 Charles S. Carr, Milton T. Evans, 

Richard L. Evans, Phillip R. Ferguson, Lawrence G. Flowers, Arthur D. 

Garletts, James W. Garletts, Larry A. Idleman, Robert D. Lambert, Douglas 

Love, Donald L. Lycliter, Donnie E. Moreland, Howard W. Nethken, Samp 

O’Dell, Jr., Wesley G. Paugh, Charles A. Reall, Carl Rinker, Dennis Riley, 

William H. Secrist, Larry E. Steadman, Harold Stewart, Henry J. Udovich, 

Daley E. Uphold, Denver A. Whitehair, Sr. L.U. 1570 Encil R. Byard, Jerry 

Myers L.U. 1638 Sheridan L. Smith, Sr. L.U. 1702 Buddy B. Ammons L.U. 1949 

Chester Gross L.U. 6362 Clarence S. Farmer, Sr. L.U. 9695 Ronald K. Zambori 

L.U. 9909 Delbert Ammons, David C. Feathers 


UMWA Health & retirement funds annual reports 

SUMMARY ANNUAL REPORT 

FOR UNITED MINE WORKERS OF 

AMERICA 1974 PENSION PLAN 

This is a summary of the annual report for the 

United Mine Workers of America 1974 Pension 

Plan, EIN 52-1050282, Plan No. 002, for the period 

July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2007. The annual 

report has been filed with the Employee Benefits 

Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, 

as required under the Employee Retirement Income 

Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). 

Basic Financial Statement 

Benefits under the plan are provided through a trust 

fund. Plan expenses were $601,882,599. These expenses 

included $38,805,209 in administrative expenses 

and $563,077,390 in benefits paid to participants 

and beneficiaries. A total of 133,626 persons were 

participants in or beneficiaries of the plan at the end 

of the plan year, although not all of these persons had 

yet earned the right to receive benefits. 

The value of plan assets, after subtracting liabilities 

of the plan, was $6,704,558,329 as of June 30, 2007, 

compared to $5,983,737,760 as of July 1, 2006. During 

the plan year the plan experienced an increase in its 

net assets of $720,820,569. This increase includes 

unrealized appreciation and depreciation in the value 

of plan assets; that is, the difference between the 

value of the plan’s assets at the end of the year and 

the value of the assets at the beginning of the year 

or the cost of assets acquired during the year. The 

plan had total income of $1,087,669,406 including 

employer contributions of $21,897,226, realized gains 

of $245,000,338 from the sale of assets, and earnings 

from investments of $820,771,842. 

Minimum Funding Standards 

An actuary’s statement shows that enough money 

was contributed to the plan to keep it funded in 

accordance with the minimum funding standards of 

ERISA. 

Your Rights To Additional Information 

You have the right to receive a copy of the full annual 

report, or any part thereof, on request. The items listed 

below are included in that report: 

1. an accountant’s report; 

2. financial information and information on 

payments to service providers; 

3. assets held for investment; 

4. loans or other obligations in default or classified 

as uncollectible; 

5. transactions in excess of 5% of the plan assets; 

6. information regarding any common or 

collective trusts, pooled separate accounts, 

master trusts or 103-12 investment entities in 

which the plan participates; and 

7. actuarial information regarding the funding of 

the plan. 

To obtain a copy of the full annual report, or any 

part thereof, write or call the office of Dale R. Stover 

who is Director, Finance and General Services, UMWA 

Health and Retirement Funds, 2121 K Street N.W., 

Washington, DC 20037, (202) 521-2200. The charge to 

cover copying costs will be $15.00 for the full annual 

report, or 12 cents per page for any part thereof. 

You also have the right to receive from the 

plan administrator, on request and at no charge, a 

statement of the assets and liabilities of the plan and 

accompanying notes, or a statement of income and 

expenses of the plan and accompanying notes, or 

both. If you request a copy of the full annual report 

from the plan administrator, these two statements 

and accompanying notes will be included as part of 

that report. The charge to cover copying costs given 

above does not include a charge for the copying of 

these portions of the report because these portions 

are furnished without charge. 

You also have the legally protected right to examine 

the annual report at the main office of the plan (UMWA 

Health and Retirement Funds, 2121 K Street, N.W., 

Washington, DC 20037) and at the U.S. Department of 

Labor in Washington, D.C., or to obtain a copy from the 

U.S. Department of Labor upon payment of copying 

costs. Requests to the Department should be addressed 

to: Public Disclosure Room, Room N1513, Employee 

Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department of 

Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, 

D.C. 20210. 



AMERICA combined benefit fund 

This is a summary of the annual report of the United 

Mine Workers of America Combined Benefit Fund, 

EIN 52-1805433, Plan No. 501, for the period October 

1, 2006 through September 30, 2007. The annual 







of the plan, was $7,545,106 as of September 30, 

2007, compared to $(43,969,186) as of October 1, 

2006. During the plan year the plan experienced an 

increase in its net assets of $51,514,292. This increase 

includes unrealized appreciation and depreciation in 

the value of plan assets; that is, the difference between 

the value of the plan’s assets at the end of the year and 

the value of the assets at the beginning of the year or 

the cost of assets acquired during the year. During the 

plan year, the plan had total income of $182,127,518 

including employer contributions of $66,851,296, 

participant contributions of $64,001, and earnings 

from investments of $7,088,603. Plan expenses were 

$130,613,226. These expenses included $28,747,858 

in administrative expenses, $99,774,259 in benefits 

paid to participants and beneficiaries, and $2,091,109 

in other expenses. 








3. assets held for investment; and 

4. transactions in excess of 5% of the plan assets. 

To obtain a copy of the full annual report, or 

any part thereof, write or call the office of Dale R. 

Stover who is Director, Finance and General Services, 

UMWA Health and Retirement Funds, 2121 K Street 

N.W., Washington, DC 20037, (202) 521-2200. The 

charge to cover copying costs will be $2.50 for the 

full annual report, or 12 cents per page for any part 

thereof. 

You also have the right to receive from the plan 

administrator, on request and at no charge, a 













Health and Retirement Funds, 2121 K Street, N.W., 

Washington, DC 20037) and at the U.S. Department of 

Labor in Washington, D.C., or to obtain a copy from the 

U.S. Department of Labor upon payment of copying 

costs. Requests to the Department should be addressed 

to: Public Disclosure Room, Room N1513, Employee 

Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department of 

Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, 

D.C. 20210. 



AMERICA cash deferred savings 

plan of 1988 

This is a summary of the annual report for the United 

Mine Workers of America Cash Deferred Savings 

Plan of 1988, EIN 52-6377947, Plan No. 003, for the 

period January 1, 2007 through December 31, 2007. 

The annual report has been filed with the Employee 

Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department 

of Labor, as required under the Employee Retirement 

Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). 


Benefits under the plan are provided through a trust 

fund. Plan expenses were $32,210,991. These expenses 

included $776,296 in administrative expenses 

and $31,434,695 in benefits paid to participants 

and beneficiaries. A total of 13,838 persons were 

participants in or beneficiaries of the plan at the end 

of the plan year, although not all of these persons had 

yet earned the right to receive benefits. 


of the plan, was $262,055,482 as of December 31, 

2007, compared to $262,658,858 as of January 1, 

2007. During the plan year the plan experienced a 

decrease in its net assets of $603,376. This decrease 

includes unrealized appreciation and depreciation in 

the value of plan assets; that is, the difference between 

the value of the plan’s assets at the end of the year and 

the value of the assets at the beginning of the year or 

the cost of assets acquired during the year. The plan 

had total income of $31,607,615 including employer 

contributions of $477,822, participant contributions 


UMWA Health & retirement funds annual reports 

of $16,222,170, realized losses of $188,149 from 

the sale of assets, and earnings from investments of 

$15,095,772. 








3. assets held for investment; 

4. transactions in excess of 5% of the plan assets; 

and 

5. information regarding any common or 

collective trusts, pooled separate accounts, 

master trusts or 103-12 investment entities in 

which the plan participates. 


any part thereof, write or call the office of Dale R. 

Stover who is Director, Finance and General Services, 

UMWA Health and Retirement Funds, 2121 K Street 

N.W., Washington, DC 20037, (202) 521-2200. The 

charge to cover copying costs will be $3.84 for the 

full annual report, or 12 cents per page for any part 

thereof. 















Health and Retirement Funds, 2121 K Street, N.W. 

Suite 350, Washington, DC 20037-1879) and at the 

U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C., or to 

obtain a copy from the U.S. Department of Labor upon 

payment of copying costs. Requests to the Department 

should be addressed to: Public Disclosure Room, Room 

N1513, Employee Benefits Security Administration, 

U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, 

N.W., Washington, D.C. 20210. 



AMERICA 1992 Benefit Plan 


Mine Workers of America 1992 Benefit Plan, EIN 

52-1805437, Plan No. 501, for the period January 

1, 2007 through December 31, 2007. The annual 






The value of plan assets, after subtracting liabilities of 

the plan, was $17,988,284 as of December 31, 2007, 

compared to $6,175,949 as of January 1, 2007. During 

the plan year the plan experienced an increase in 

its net assets of $11,812,335. This increase includes 

unrealized appreciation and depreciation in the value 

of plan assets; that is, the difference between the value 

of the plan’s assets at the end of the year and the value 

of the assets at the beginning of the year or the cost of 

assets acquired during the year. During the plan year, 

the plan had total income of $64,742,492 including 

employer contributions of $59,802,376, participant 

contributions of $36,761, realized gains of $7,858 

from the sale of assets, and earnings from investments 

of $4,613,923. 

Plan expenses were $52,930,157. These expenses 

included $9,184,681 in administrative expenses and 

$43,745,476 in benefits paid to participants and 

beneficiaries. 










To obtain a copy of the full annual report, or any 

part thereof, write or call the office of Dale R. Stover 

who is Director, Finance and General Services, UMWA 

Health and Retirement Funds, 2121 K Street N.W., 

Washington, DC 20037, (202) 521-2200. The charge 

to cover copying costs will be $2.76 for the full annual 

report, or 12 cents per page for any part thereof. 













You also have the legally protected right to 

examine the annual report at the main office of the 

plan (UMWA Health and Retirement Funds, 2121 K 

Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20037-1879) and at the 










AMERICA 1993 Benefit Plan 


Mine Workers of America 1993 Benefit Plan, EIN 

52-1888497, Plan No. 501, for the period January 

1, 2007 through December 31, 2007. The annual 







of the plan, was $5,106,078 as of December 31, 

2007, compared to $3,542,806 as of January 1, 

2007. During the plan year the plan experienced 

an increase in its net assets of $1,563,272. This 

increase includes unrealized appreciation and 

depreciation in the value of plan assets; that is, 

the difference between the value of the plan’s 

assets at the end of the year and the value of the 

assets at the beginning of the year or the cost of 

assets acquired during the year. During the plan 

year, the plan had total income of $42,728,555 

including employer contributions of $42,192,885, 

participant contributions of $18,961, and earnings 

from investments of $507,805. 

Plan expenses were $41,165,283. These expenses 

included $6,864,534 in administrative expenses and 

$34,300,749 in benefits paid to participants and 

beneficiaries. 



report, or any part thereof, on request. The items 

listed below are included in that report: 







any part thereof, write or call the office of Dale 

R. Stover who is Director, Finance and General 

Services, UMWA Health and Retirement Funds, 

2121 K Street N.W., Washington, DC 20037, (202) 

521-2200. The charge to cover copying costs will 

be $2.88 for the full annual report, or 12 cents per 

page for any part thereof. 


plan administrator, on request and at no charge, 

a statement of the assets and liabilities of the plan 

and accompanying notes, or a statement of income 

and expenses of the plan and accompanying 

notes, or both. If you request a copy of the full 

annual report from the plan administrator, these 

two statements and accompanying notes will be 

included as part of that report. The charge to 

cover copying costs given above does not include 

a charge for the copying of these portions of 

the report because these portions are furnished 

without charge. 

You also have the legally protected right to 

examine the annual report at the main office of the 

plan (UMWA Health and Retirement Funds, 2121 K 

Street N.W., Washington, DC 20037-1879) and at the 









Working families are struggling and America’s middle class is 

disappearing. Corporations cut jobs, wages, pensions, health care 

and safety protections, while intimidating workers who want to 

bargain for good contracts. We need to build strong unions so our 

economy works for everyone, not just the CEOs. The Employee Free 

Choice Act means that if a majority of workers want to form a 

union and bargain for a better life, they can get their union. 

Help pass the Employee Free Choice Act. Go to: 

www.EmployeeFreeChoiceAct.org 

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1/26/09 1:44:00 PM 

Printed in the U.S.A.

January - February - United Mine Workers of America

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