Posted on 08/18/2015 9:31:35 AM PDT by aimhigh
SCOTT DEPOT, W.Va. (AP) -- Busloads of United Mine Workers of America miners and retirees roared in protest outside Patriot Coal headquarters Monday, as the bankrupt company looks to nix a union contract that includes pension contributions and health benefits.
From a makeshift stage on the bed of a tow truck, UMWA President Cecil Roberts bellowed out to a camouflage-clad crowd of 1,500 to 1,800 miners and led them in a march to nearby Patriot headquarters. UMWA packed twenty-two buses of miners from Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and elsewhere, according to union spokesman Phil Smith.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Here's the 2012 map:
Why demonstrate at the mine? Go straight to Washington,DC.
2000 Presidential election:
2004 Presidential election:
2008 Presidential election:
2012 Presidential election:
When it comes to pensions the only thing that matters is how much money is put into either your own retirement account or a hard actuarailly based independent pension plan. The UAW like most unions settle for promises that are not paid for. They know the companies will never pay but they tell their membership how they have won generous pensions.
They own it now, like most of the other unions. If they screw over the union members like some companies, or the government has, there's going to be a lot of bodies to keep Hoffa company.
The truth of the matter is that companies that has such contracts are legally required to have fully funded pension programs (with the exception of public/government employees apparently). Some companies do well at this, others shirk their contract obligations, usually due to malfeasance, and try to weasel their way out of paying (usually because the pension funds were looted/embezzled or mishandled).
If this were your 401K, IRA, SS, or pension fund, those people would be doing prison time. The largest problem right now is with PUBLIC/GOVERNMENT union pension funds.
Private sector unions are a small fraction of the US workforce, less than 10% at the high end, and most of those are trade unions. The public sector unions are the elephant in the room that need to be dealt with.
nah, you said nothing wrong....but nothing right either.....call it a “sin of omission” not of “commission.”
Freegards...
how did the union vote go?
these camo clad guys are terrorists. just wait to see the destruction they will let loose
I know it's fashionable to beat on union workers as hopeless rubes, totally dependent on Big Daddy Gummint ... particularly fashionable to do so among the supposedly conservative chattering class. Even professional chatterers, though, should occasionally check their prejudices against facts.
2015-16 WV House of Delegates:
2015-16 WV Senate:
Some areas are clearly still a work in progress. The WV Republican Party has organizational ineptitude issues. At the local politics level, the WV Demonicrat Party is not nearly as evil as the national D-Rat Party. The execrable Joe Manchin, for example, twice received enthusiastic, slobbering endorsements from the National Rifle Association and the National Right to Life Committee. I condemned those endorsements at the time. I was right. They were wrong. I hope they have learned.
So Caliph Baraq’s EPA killed King Coal and the union thinks some company management did it. Brilliant.
Dude, the problem with your theory is that the union goons rallied AT THE COAL COMPANY and NOT THE EPA or some government office. Therefore, they have NOT learned their lesson very well. Case closed.
You clearly can't tell the difference between union bosses with their bussed-in goons, and locals. Read the article. Quote from the article: "UMWA packed twenty-two buses of miners from Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and elsewhere, ". Study the election maps in #23. WV Coal Country went from supporting Gore in '00 to rejecting 0bama in '08 and '12. You're wrong. It's that simple.
Geeze ... I hate unions. I hate professional bullshitters even more, especially when they pretend to be conservatives.
then you were off topic on the article.
The only thing that matters are required contributions. A plan that does not require hard cash untouchable contributions then it is just a promise and not a plan. Social Security is public pension plan with all the same issues.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.