The Warrior Met Coal strike has reached the one year mark, making it possibly longest in Alabama history. 'We didn’t want to do this,' the union president said.
United Mine Workers of America International President Cecil Roberts said the words in thinking back on the last year, one day short of the first anniversary of the union’s strike against Warrior Met Coal.By all accounts, no one saw it lasting this long.Roberts, who has been president of the union for the past 26 years, said today it was the first major strike of his tenure.“It should have ended months and months ago,” he said.
The old agreement with the union was negotiated as Warrior Met emerged from the bankruptcy proceedings of the former Walter Energy, which declared bankruptcy in 2016. “We were basically promised back in 2016 that if we did this contract, that if we made the company viable over the course of that contract, we would go back to whatever everyone else is making and back to the benefit package,” Turner said.In the tentative offer, the company proposed a $1.50 raise over five years, the union says.t appeared a settlement had been reached, but that was rejected after the union members voted down the tentative agreement by 95%, Roberts said.
According to Warrior Met Coal’s quarterly reports, the company last year incurred $21.4 million in non-recurring expenses directly attributable to the strike for security and other expenses, and $33.9 million in idle mine expenses. According to Roberts, the union has provided just under $20 million to its striking members over the last year, including healthcare coverage, and has been able to pay about $1.8 million using contributions from other unions and private individuals. The union could continue to pay out strike benefits for the next four to five years, he said.
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