“We have to go and defend our retirees’ healthcare and pension that they have earned.”
Union Square, Washington D.C. was a sea of coal miners Thursday, rallying to keep what they were promised 70 years ago:their pensions and their healthcare.
Senator Shelly Moore Capito from West Virginia said, “If we do the right thing good things always happen, and that’s what this is about today.”
The agreement was made in 1946. President Truman wanted to end a coal mine union strike, and miners wanted coverage for dangerous jobs that would later deteriorate the health of many of them.
Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia introduced a bill to help keep that agreement.
Thursday he told us, “You have around 23,000 retired miners, mostly widows, that will lose their healthcare. Next year they’ll start losing. 120,000 will lose their pensions.”
A vote could change all of that and take reserve money from mine reclamation funds and pump it into the pension and healthcare plans.
Sen ator Manchin said, “The bottom line is the miners of America. The mine workers of America have made the country we have and enjoy today.”
Some coal miners say this is their last hurrah for the year, but they plan to keep fighting until either the money runs out or they get what they were promised.
