Miners continue strike in Alabama after contract rejected apnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from apnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
This means that the strike by more than 1,100 miners that began April 1 will continue.
“Our members made it clear that the tentative agreement was not sufficient enough to make up for the sacrifices made in 2016,” said UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts in a statement announcing the rejected deal. “So, the UMWA will continue to strike at Warrior Met until an agreement can be reached that provides these miners what they deserve.
“This is a democratic union. The membership has the final say in what their collective bargaining agreements look like.”
Roberts said the Warrior Met Coal miners will have the full support of UMWA District 20 and the International union as negotiations will now continue with the company.
Striking Alabama Miners Push Back on Contract Settlement
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The 1,100 workers at Warrior Met Coal, Inc. in Brookwood, Alabama are entering their eighth day of a strike over working conditions and “unfair labor practices.” The stories the workers tell about their day-to-day lives in the mines mandatory 12-hour shifts that make workers strangers to their children, injured miners forced back on the job, “healthcare” that leaves miners thousands of dollars in debt, and wages that are much lower than similar jobs in the area paint a picture of enormous exploitation for workers who do some of the most dangerous jobs in the country. The workers, organized by the United Mine Workers (UMWA), have been in a fierce contract negotiation battle with Warrior Met since late last month after the company presented them with a contract that made cuts to their wages, healthcare, pensions, and protections.
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On April 1, 1,100 coal miners working for Warrior Met Coal, Inc. in Brookwood, Alabama, went on strike after a break down in negotiations between the United Mine Workers of America and Warrior Met over unfair labor practices.
In the announcement of the strike, UMWA International president Cecil Roberts stated that after the bankruptcy of Walter energy in 2016, “These productive, professional miners at Warrior Met mined the coal that meant the company could become successful again,” and while Warrior Met “rewarded upper management with bonuses of up to $35,000,” they sought “further sacrifices” from workers and demonstrated “perhaps some of the worst labor-management relations we’ve seen in this industry since the days of the company town and company store.”