QUANTICO, Va.—The Mine Workers have won a $400 million settlement from Patriot Coal Co., and its predecessor for the retirees involved, Peabody Coal, to cover the retirees’ and their families’ health care costs, the union said on Oct. 10. The U.S. bankruptcy judge in St. Louis who is hearing the Patriot bankruptcy reorganization must still approve the settlement,  It will […]

ST. LOUIS —It’s getting to be a regular thing. Every month, thousands of unionists, led by the Mine Workers, gather in St. Louis, or West Virginia, or New York City, to protest the bankruptcy proceedings involving Patriot Coal Co., the underfunded spinoff of giant Peabody Energy. Peabody deliberately set up Patriot to (a) dump retired miners’ health care costs on […]