The United Mine Workers of America has expressed its opposition to Patriot Coal’s bankruptcy plans to sell several of its West Virginia coal mines to another producer unwilling to take on labor liabilities, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported today. In a Monday court filing, the UMWA called the plan “déjà vu all over again.” Patriot Coal emerged from its first chapter 11 filing less than two years ago with “painful and significant negotiated concessions from the UMWA,” including employee benefit and wage reductions and about $130 million in cuts of retiree health care and other benefit obligations, the UMWA’s statement reads. But the company filed again for Chapter 11 in May, blaming competition from natural gas coupled with a decline in demand, in part because stricter environmental regulations on electric power plants, according to bankruptcy documents filed last month by Patriot.
