Mar 4, 2016 5 min read

WAYNESBURG – In May, unemployment benefits will expire for the about 220 miners who lost their jobs when Emerald Mine closed in November.

Many of those workers who are still looking for work or considering entering training programs attended a meeting Thursday at the Mining Technology and Training Center in Ruff Creek to hear about resources available to help them transition to a new life.

One of the workers, Ted Fink, 31, of Carmichaels, who worked at the mine for eight years and has a wife and two children to support, spoke to the about 150 people in attendance about the difficulties he’s faced after Emerald closed.

“It’s not easy to wake up every morning and fill out job applications and then get an email back telling you you’re not qualified enough or we’re not hiring right now,” he said.

Fink said he has applied for 163 jobs, mining and non-mining, “from here to Alabama,” and so far has had only one interview.

He also checked out training programs that would lead to jobs paying only about $12 to $14 an hour, with very limited benefits, something which for him is not an option.

“For me, personally,” he said, “it was difficult to look at my wife and kids. I felt almost ashamed, not because I lost my job but because it was so difficult and I couldn’t find one to provide for my family.”

Fink said it was “inspiring” to see so many people attend the meeting who were there to try to assist the miners. “We’re not looking for handouts,” he said. “We’re just looking for a little opportunity and little bit of help.”

The meeting was organized by several Emerald miners who call themselves COAL, for Career Opportunities After Layoffs.

Representatives of more than 15 local and state agencies, schools and private businesses attended the session and spoke of what they can do to give miners the help they need.

The organizations covered everything from building trade apprenticeship programs, trade schools and temporary employment services to state programs that provide job trading grants, available for miners now through the state Careerlink, personal finance, mortgage refinancing and small business development.

Bob Wilson, founder and chairman of COAL, said he started the group to help fellow miners who were experiencing problems making a transition.

“Three months have gone by (since the mine closed) and the fog is lifting off some of these guys,” he said “These guys are not afraid of work. They just don’t know what direction to go because they’ve been in mining so long.

“I hope we can give them some direction; the main directive, to put it in one word, is hope.”

One of the problems workers are having, Wilson said, is that though they were eligible for 26 weeks of unemployment benefits, training programs often run 18 months to two years and don’t provide income to help the miners pay their monthly bills

State Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson, the keynote speaker, said she has been working with the United Mine Workers and U.S. Sens. Bob Casey and Pat Toomey to expedite an application for federal Trade Act funding that would extend the miners’ unemployment benefits.

Wilson said some miners also have been reluctant to take lower-paying jobs without benefits because it would make them ineligible for the one year of full medical coverage they are now receiving from Emerald.

Taking a job at a much lower wage also is difficult to many of the miners, some of whom were making six figures, he said. Wilson said he made about $106,000 last year working a lot of overtime.

“Me, I’m without kids, I can make the transition to $40,000 a year but I’m not sure how someone with a huge mortgage and kids in college can make that transition,” he said.

Wilson said he was not sure how many of the 220 miners laid off in November had yet to find jobs. Sign-in sheets indicated 75 miners attended the meeting.

Those in attendance were urged to use the resources available to them and most importantly, to not give up in their efforts.

“You guys can do anything,” said county Commissioner Blair Zimmerman, a retired miner. He spoke of the the efforts of the county and Greene County Industrial Development Corp. to bring new industry to the county and about the skills miners have picked up on the job.

“Coal miners are capable of doing anything, anything they put their minds to,” Zimmerman said.

Snyder also spoke of her and her husband’s careers, which several times led to the loss of jobs and the need to start anew.

“I can stand here today and tell you when I look back on those times, something better comes from it. Through the struggle something better came from it,” she said.

“You can retrain, you can find new careers, you must,” Snyder said.

Though times may now be difficult, she said, “I do believe there is hope for the future.”