About 900 miners, nearing 16 months on strike in Tuscaloosa County, received a $2,000 strike benefit from the United Mine Workers of America today at a rally in Brookwood, according to the union.
It’s yet another show of support for the members participating in what is believed to be the longest strike in Alabama history.
The UMWA’s ongoing walkout against Warrior Met Coal began on April 1, 2021. Since then, the union says it has paid out more than $21 million to strikers. Today’s $2,000 strike benefit is part of another $1 million in support from the union.
Earlier this month, delegates to the UMWA’s Constitutional Convention unanimously passed a resolution pledging support “for the Union to be victorious in its struggle against Warrior Met.”
The old agreement with the union was negotiated as Warrior Met emerged from the 2016 bankruptcy proceedings of the former Walter Energy. Union members say they made numerous concessions at that time in pay, benefits, holidays, overtime and in other areas to keep the company going and get it out of bankruptcy. Those concessions, they say, have not been restored in subsequent offers from the company.
In a quarterly earnings report in May, Warrior Met reported $6.7 million in expenses directly attributable to the UMWA strike in 2022, with additional idle mine expenses of $3 million. 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.
At the rally, AFA-CWA President Sara Nelson and Starbucks Workers United leader Jaz Brisack, who led the initial Starbucks organizing campaign in Buffalo, N.Y. spoke to the strikers, their families and supporters at the rally.
UMWA International President Cecil Roberts said the union has continued to pay strike benefits and cover strikers’ healthcare, but still needs some help, as inflation has increased gas and food prices.
“We recognize that this is a big withdrawal from the UMWA strike fund, but these workers, their families and their communities need this money and I’m proud to say that we answered some prayers with this bonus benefit check,” he said.
