Patriot Coal Corp. got a bankruptcy judge’s go-ahead yesterday to enter into a new labor agreement with the nation’s biggest miners’ union, ending a long, acrimonious dispute that the company had worried would push it into liquidation, The Washington Post reported yesterday. Hon. Kathy Surratt-States granted St. Louis-based Patriot’s request to put in place a collective bargaining deal ratified by some 85 percent of United Mine Workers of America members who cast ballots on the proposal last Friday. Some 1,800 current or laid-off Patriot workers in West Virginia and Kentucky were eligible to vote. The settlement restores most wage cuts that Patriot had sought as part of its efforts to emerge from bankruptcy protection. Pension benefits for thousands of retirees also will be maintained, and active employees will continue earning pension credit as part of the deal, which Patriot said will save the company $130 million a year over the next several years.
