Miners ponder futures
Robert Phillips of Carmichaels, laid off last week from the Emerald Mine, hopes to take advantage of a re-training program.
Jamie Martine of the state Department of Labor and Industry speaks to laid off Emerald Mine coal miners Monday.
WAYNESBURG – Robert Phillips of Carmichaels was among the last group of union miners to leave the Emerald Mine when the 38-year-old coal mine in Waynesburg closed for good last week.
“I’m hoping to go back to school,” Phillips said Monday morning at a meeting at the Greene County Fairgrounds organized by the state Department of Labor and Industry and the county’s state CareerLink office.
“I’d like to look into another trade, maybe electrical and maybe start my own business,” Phillips said.
Another job in the mines, however, doesn’t appear to be an option.
“I just don’t know how good the future of mining is going to be,” he said.
Alpha Natural Resources announced in August 2014 it would close Emerald, as the operation removed the remaining coal that could still be mined profitably. It gave a 60-day notice to employees in September that the mine would close by Nov. 24.
Friday was the final day for 214 of the remaining miners represented by the United Mine Workers. Eighteen union workers remain on the job to load out remaining coal and complete reclamation work.
Phillips, 45, had worked at Emerald for the last nine years.
He said he has a mortgage and four stepchildren. And, his wife has back problems, which is one of the reasons why he remained at Emerald until the end so he could take advantage of the medical benefits.
“I’ll do what I have to do to get by,” Phillips said. “I know for a time I’m not going to have money for anything else but paying the bills.”
After the initial announcement of the closing, a number of the miners who had enough years retired, said Frank Rutherford, UMW international representative for District 2. Some also left after finding other jobs.
“They’ve known this has been coming for a while,” Rutherford said. “But no doubt, it still hurts. Where are they going to find a job that pays the kind of money they made in mining?”
Alpha initially said many of the employees at the mine would be transferred to its nearby Cumberland Mine, which it is planning to expand. About 130 miners from Emerald have found jobs at Cumberland, Rutherford said. Under the union contract, laid off miners at Emerald have “panel rights,” which require the company to offer them jobs at Cumberland when they become available, based on job qualifications and seniority.
More than one of the miners who attended the meeting Monday said they believed the company had not followed the union contract in transferring Emerald miners to Cumberland.
“I think we got the shaft,” said Raymond Glaspell of Grafton, W.Va., who worked at the mine for 12 years. “They picked the guys they wanted, instead of going by the UMWA contract.”
Glaspell said a grievance has been filed in regard to the hiring at Cumberland. For himself, Glaspell said he plans to wait to see if he can get in at Cumberland through the panel, and if not, will look for another mining job or maybe enroll in technical school.
Though the coal industry does not look bright, given proposed regulations on power plants, several laid off miners said they still hoped to get a job in coal mining.
Randy Aston, 44, of Cameron, W.Va., said he would probably end up at another mine. Aston, who was an electrician at Emerald, said he has already talked to several people in regard to another mining job.
Some mines are still hiring, Aston said. In the last few years, a large percentage of the industry’s workforce had reached retirement age and as result mining jobs are still available, he said.
The meeting Monday was held to provide laid off miners information about unemployment benefits and various career options, said Barbara Cole, office manager at Greene County CareerLink. Two other sessions were held Monday afternoon.
Cole said her office still receives a few requests from companies seeking miners. “But not many; we don’t have much mining left,” she said.
Those who were laid off will be eligible for 26 weeks of unemployment, Cole said. Those who receive benefits, under a new requirement, must also look for work during that time, she said.
Cole also noted laid off miners may be eligible for up to $8,000 in training money through the Southwest Training Services that can be used for training programs at approved institutions.
Many of those who worked at Emerald are already highly trained and may only need to obtain the proper certification to move into another field, she said.
Even those Emerald miners waiting to see if they will get called to work at Cumberland, “should still take advantage of everything that’s out there,” Cole said, just in case.
Cale Fornili, 32, of New Salem, is doing just that.
“I’m going to try to take advantage of the options, maybe go back to school and get a CDL, or go back and get my nursing degree,” he said.
Before he started at Emerald four years ago, Fornili had a job at a dialysis center. He took the job at Emerald because it was much better pay.
Fornili said he hopes to apply for money available for retraining. He said he has ruled out finding a job in coal mining or in the natural gas industry.
In those industries, “It’s constant boom or bust, feast or famine,” Fornili said. “It’s not something I feel I can plan a future on.”
In addition to CareerLink and the Department of Labor and Industry’s Rapid Response Services, others sharing information at the meeting included Southwest Training Services, Office of Unemployment Compensation Benefits and the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation.
The UMW also had representatives from its health and retirement fund on hand and Alpha Natural Resources had personnel to accept the miners’ panel forms.
Several schools with training programs also were in attendance including Westmoreland County Community College, Penn Commercial Business and Technical School, Rosedale Technical Institute and Douglas School of Business.