UMWA rallies for change of venue
September 12, 2012 ·
The United Mine Workers of America rallied in Charleston yesterday. Union official Joe Carter stirred up the hundreds of members at a riverfront park.
“We want this
case heard hear in the coalfields,” Carter told the crowd. “Not in New York, but here in
the coalfields where we work and live.”
The union is
hoping to change venues for the Patriot Coal bankruptcy case from New York to West Virginia.
Patriot Coal
filed for Chapter 11 re-organization in July. The coal company is the second
largest employer of UMWA miners in the U.S. According to
the filing, Patriot wants to keep the case in New York because it’s
in the quote “best interests of the company, its creditors and other
stakeholders.”
It also states that Patriot's financial and
professional advisers are also in New York.
Most of the
combined 20 thousand retirees and dependents are in West
Virginia, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Ohio.
The filing also
says Patriot blames the bankruptcy on a
mismatch between the cost of the company's legacy obligations and its ongoing
ability to generate revenue.
Union members
marched to the federal courthouse in Charleston to show
support for the change of venue.