UMW deal: Biggest pay hike since ’74

[partylessinOhio]

December 21, 2006 01:45 am
UMW deal: Biggest pay hike since ’74

Union miners working for Consol set to vote today
By Bill Byrd
Times West Virginian

FAIRMONT — Union miners working for Consol Energy in West Virginia will vote today on a new five-year contract that could — if it is approved — set the stage for talks between the United Mine Workers of America and other major coal producers. ...Besides a $4-per-hour pay hike over the next five years, the tentative pact improves retiree pensions, health insurance and other benefits, the letter states.

...
Other details in the letter which was given to local miners at meetings Tuesday:

• The wage hike will be $4 per hour over the term of the five-year contract, starting with $1.50 per hour on Jan. 1; another $1 in 2008; and 50 cents each year thereafter through Jan. 1, 2011.

• Each active miner will get a lump sum wage bonus of $1,000 on the first payday in January.

• The shift differential for afternoon shift work has been increased to 40 cents per hour and 50 cents per hour for midnight shift.

• One graduated vacation day for miners with 19 or more years is added. Further, any miner with a graduated day may now use one graduated vacation day per year in the same manner as sick and personal leave.

• Pensions for active miners are increased by $10 per month per year for all service. The pension multiplier will increase by $4 per month immediately, with another $4 increase on Jan. 1, 2009. An additional increase of $2 per month will be effective on Jan. 1, 2011.

• No changes in health care co-payments for all retirees and active workers. The $750 deductible is eliminated and so is “the $1,000 payment” (unexplained in summary). Also eliminated is the earnings limit for retiree health care, “so retirees may earn any amount and still retain health benefits.”

• Life insurance benefits are increased to $80,000 for non-violent deaths and $160,000 for violent deaths. Accidental death and dismemberment benefits are increased to $50,000 for the loss of one limb and $100,000 for the loss of two limbs.

• Death benefits for retirees are increased to $8,500 for retirees with a surviving spouse or dependent and $7,000 for retirees without a dependent.

• Eye care, dental and orthodontic benefits are increased by 10 percent immediately and by an additional 10 percent in 2010.

• Sickness and accident benefits are increased to $375 per week in the first three years of the tentative agreement and to $400 per week in the last two years.

• The clothing allowance is increased to $275 in the first three years of the contract and $290 thereafter. ...

http://www.timeswv.com/local/local_story_355014545.html

UMW seems to have done very well for these miners and their retirees.

[liberal N proud]

1. Glad to see someone may get a well deserved pay increase

To tell you the truth, they can't pay those guys enough to do the work they do.

[ajacobson]

2. Big changes in coal industry

Due to the boost in oil prices, coal use is up as an alternative. This has changed the economics of the coal industry drastically, even from that of five years ago. A lot of mining operations that weren't viable previously are now profitable. The leverage the union has increased since the major operators don't want any work stoppages now that the money is good. The challenge to the union is organizing the non-union operations which have recently bought up the many marginal coal sources that weren't profitable to mine previously (and the source of many of the accidents we've heard about recently).