Patriot Coal Corp.'s CEO Ben Hatfield told a court that the bankrupt company's unionized workers would benefit if Patriot were allowed to implement $150 million a year in proposed cuts, Reuters reported yesterday. Hatfield said at a bankruptcy court hearing yesterday that the cuts are the only way to avoid a liquidation that would cost 1,700 miners their jobs. Hatfield testified on Patriot's proposed reductions, which the United Mine Workers of America union has lambasted as "nowhere near" fair. The plan would end pension contributions and create a separate entity to fund health care benefits, affecting Patriot's current workers and about 13,000 retirees and their families.
