International
President Cecil Roberts made the presentation in Charleston
while International Secretary Treasurer Dan Kane led a similar discussion in Evansville , Indiana
According
to a release from the union, the contract agreement, which was announced by the
UMWA and Patriot Coal on Monday, involves improvements in both health
care and benefits. Those improvements include:
*The
restoration of all but $1.00 per hour in wage cuts that were as high as $7.53
per hour for some job classifications;
*A
$0.50 per hour annual wage increase beginning New Year’s Day 2015;
*Patriot
will remain in the UMWA 1974 Pension Fund, meaning there will be no affect on
pension benefits for current retirees, and currently active members will
continue to earn pension credit;
*The
monthly premiums for health care benefits will be eliminated;
*The
annual out-of-pocket maximum for health care benefits will be reduced by
60 percent, from $4,000 to $1,600;
*Life
insurance benefits, vision care benefits, dental insurance and Accidental Death
and Dismemberment insurance will also be restored;
*A
Voluntary Employee Benefit Association (VEBA) will be created as the mechanism
for paying retiree health care benefits going forward. In addition, Patriot
gave the union a 35-38 percent stake in the company as part of the settlement.
In
the release, Roberts stated that this agreement significantly improves upon
what federal Bankruptcy Judge Kathy Surratt-States ordered on May 29.
“I
told Patriot management that I could not recommend that our members work under
the Judge’s order, and they understood that we would not,” Roberts said in
the release. “That understanding enabled us to work out this settlement over the
past months since the order came down.”
A vote
on the proposed deal for those laid-off workers in West
Virginia and Kentucky
