The coal industry is collapsing. Over the past decades mines have closed and thousands of jobs have been lost. Now, many union retirees could lose their health care.

Thursday morning eleven buses will leave from Cambria and Indiana counties to join a rally in front of the U.S. Capitol.  The United Mine Workers Association wants to make sure Congress hears their concerns and to not take away their health care.

In 1947, President Harry Truman signed a deal to avoid a massive coal strike. That deal with the UMWA provided lifetime retirement benefits to union workers.  Now, 70 years later that pension fund is running out of money.  The UMWA claims that coal company executives are filing bankruptcy, getting rich, and dodging a promise to fund the pension plan. 

There are numerous reasons behind the struggles of the coal industry.  EPA regulations have made producing coal more expensive, but economic analysts say those jobs began to fade even before that.  The boom in fracking has made natural gas, cheaper and more efficient. And the 2008 recession had a negative impact on the pension fund.

Lawmakers who are against extending the UMWA Pension Fund say it amounts to another bailout that the government cannot afford. 

In Cambria County, coal was once king.  The small town of Northern Cambria was built on the mines.  The work was hard and dangerous but in the end the employees say they were counting on the retirement benefits.  Jim Sabella is a union president who will be heading to the rally on Thursday.

“They got crippled in the mines. They got black lung in the mines. They’re not asking for a hand out. We earned it. Now they are trying to take it away. They made a promise. Now keep the promise,” said Sabella.

WTAJ will be on one of the buses heading to Washington, D.C.  Our live coverage begins on WTAJ News This Morning and we will have live video updates on Facebook throughout the day.