The protestors who are blocking CSX’s Poor Fork Branch near Cumberland say they have rejected an offer from KopperGlo Mining which would end the protest and essentially open the rail line back up. KopperGlo recently purchased the former Blackjewel Mining Cloverfork No. 3 mine. Chris Rowe, an out-of-work and unpaid coal miner who has become the unofficial spokesperson for the protestors, tells Trains News Wire that Tennessee-based KopperGlo offered to put the protesting miners back to work and pay them an average of $800 each toward their unpaid wages left in the wake of Blackjewel Mining’s bankruptcy filing in exchange for ending the protest and clearing the CSX tracks.
He also says KopperGlo has also offered to attempt to pay them the remainder of their unpaid wages over time as coal is produced going forward. Rowe says the protesting miners have rejected the offer.
“They’re offering $800 in exchange for $4,000 in unpaid wages,” Rowe says. “The way we see it, we’ve already worked for it once, so we’re not interested in doing the work twice and getting paid for it once.”
Calls to KopperGlo seeking comment were not returned.
Protestors, including several out-of-work and unpaid coal miners, continue their human blockade of the former Louisville & Nashville branch line while discussions to end the protest and possibly put the miners back to work are ongoing. The protest by former Blackjewel Mining employees began July 29 when they stood in the path of a CSX coal train attempting to leave the Cloverfork No. 3 mine near the small city of Cumberland in Harlan County.
The miners were employees of Blackjewel when the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a filing which eventually led to the company’s accounts being frozen and, as a result, its employees’ paychecks being recalled, leaving them unpaid for their work. The miners claim the coal loaded in the train’s approximately 80 hopper cars is coal they worked to produce but for which they have yet to be compensated. They have vowed to not let the train leave until they are paid for the work they have already performed, although they did allow CSX to retrieve the locomotives which pulled the train.
Rowe tells Trains that he and his group of protesting miners remain in discussions with KopperGlo in attempts to resolve the situation. The company recently purchased the mine and several other former Blackjewel sites at a bankruptcy auction to help settle Blackjewel’s debts. Rowe says he and many other miners are awaiting payment of as much as $4,000 in unpaid wages.
Rowe says CSX has not made any more attempts to move the train which was at the center of the protest. He says the railroad has expressed support for the miners, but he could not specify whether that support came from local employees of the railroad or from the railroad’s corporate offices in Jacksonville, Fla.
A spokesperson for CSX tells Trains the railroad has no new information to share about the situation.
Let’s look at practical realities as well as theoretical postulations.
How much money is involved?
How many unpaid miners?
What’s the average claim for back wages?
Is the total amount so large that the new owner cannot reasonably pay now?
One might wonder why the new owner took over the mine (and its liabilities) without having in hand enough cash to pay the miners as well as the power company and other vendors requiring the payment of old bills.
I stand with these miners. This is just another example of how corporations have little concern for there employees. Putting profits ahead of needs of their workers.
While this is no reflection on CXS it doesn’t help the Railroad either.
Not paying employees for work already done is ludicrous. As well as in some instances having less than ideal working conditions and safety standards. Stand Fast!
“Rowe says CSX has not made any more attempts to move the train which was at the center of the protest. He says the railroad has expressed support for the miners, but he could not specify whether that support came from local employees of the railroad or from the railroad’s corporate offices in Jacksonville, Fla. “
Support from the railroad corporate offices? I haven’t laughed so hard when I read that.
As of this morning (19 August) they’re still there.
Solidarity Forever!
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/19/us/kentucky-coal-miners.html?action=click&module=News&pgtype=Homepage
The comments below are not legal advice but simply a personal observation. They are to be relied on for no purpose whatsoever. For accurate and timely advice and information consult a legal practitioner in your jurisdiction.
CopperGlo bought the assets of Blackjewel in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, not a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. It is entirely possible that when they did so they acquired not only the assets but also the liabilities of Blackjewel. The difference, roughly, is that Chapter 11 is a restructuring but the debts are acknowledged and to be paid, whereas a Chapter 7 is a walk-away-from-the-corpse bankruptcy.
Having said that, the fact that CopperGlo thinks they can make a go of things, even with the debt burden from the Chapter 11 bankruptcy, tells me a couple of things. First, they at least think the mines can be profitable. Second, CopperGlo is making an attempt to pay back wages, but what they asking for is time to do so.
In the abstract this makes sense. You don’t dun a sick man, you wait. Unfortunately the miners probably were living from paycheque to paycheque and do not have the resources to wait. There will be secondary bankruptcies due to this event, ripples do spread out from the splash. The miners did the work, they should be paid. Unfortunately a moral right is not a legal right and even with a legal right remedies can come (if they come) far to late to be of any value.
It is not clear to me if the miners are represented by a union. If not they should be. Your suggestion that CSX call in the authorities in order to remove the train from the property is reminiscent of such incidents in Colorado where mining companies called in the Pinkerton Detective Agency and the National Guard in order to control unruly miners. These efforts were not always bloodless. Phelps-Dodge, for example, in 1917 was responsible for the Bisbee Deportation, and there were others in which the police and/or National Guard fired into the crowd killing not only miners but also women and children. So be careful what you ask for here.
Now. Why did Blackjewel go under? While acknowledging that coal is a contracting industry, there are several possibilities. One is just plain poor management. Inept people at the top have driven even major entities into the weeds. Another is some kind of corporate looting, although that usually results in a Chapter 7. I don’t have the corporate history of Blackjewel so I cannot make an analysis, but it would be worth an investigation.
If you want an example of the first possibility, consider the Milwaukee Road. They had physical plant issues and traffic issues but might have survived. If you want an example of the second possibility, consider Enron or, more recently, Toys’r’Us. In the Toys’r’Us example, there was raiding and looting, and when it collapsed many workers got nothing – but the raiders went off fat and happy, and it was all quite legal. That it is legal doesn’t make it morally right.
Workers can also push too hard. You have to dig into the corporate history at the time, but Studebaker (as an example) was having problems with a steel embargo – refusal to deal is restraint of trade and is therefore illegal, but only if you can get the man in the black robe to say so, and by the time that was cleared up and they were able to buy steel again and build cars, the UAW was pressing for wage hikes. Studebaker hadn’t been selling cars (because they couldn’t get steel) and didn’t have the money, which is why they finally quit, shut down their auto plants, and went and did something else with their remaining capital. Nobody won in this case – not Studebaker, not the workers.
My sympathies are with the miners, by the way. They did the work, they deserve to be paid for it. But it also seems that CopperGlo is attempting do deal with the issue, so it is not a clear-cut case of wage theft, but quite possibly a case of the money just not being there right now. Can CopperGlo make a go of this mine? I have no clue. Are the miners willing to listen to CopperGlo management after having been burned by Blackjewel? Hopefully yes but probably not. Do the miners have the resources to hold out until CopperGlo (assuming they are operating in good faith) can and does pay them? Probably not.
If I were CopperGlo management (and acting in good faith) I would throw open the company books and invite the miners to see for themselves. Then I would ask for the miners to come together and help formulate a repayment plan. I have always found in these situations that complete honesty and total openness works wonders. You never know – this mine might survive, and the miners might be paid.
I wish them all the best.
The above comments are general in nature and do not form the basis for an attorney/client relationship. They do not constitute legal advice. I am not your attorney. I am also not Jerusalem Slim.
Remember the miners of Ludlow, Colorado!
W Cook,
You’re wrong on several aspects of your statement…specifically what was included as part of the Bankruptcy auction. Any debts of BlackJewel MAY or MAY NOT be included as part of the purchase price, and normally from what I’ve read of other Chapter 11 cases debts are not part of the package and are still the responsibility of the bankrupt company. So the back wages, the coal train, and any other bills from PRIOR to KopperGlo taking over from BlackJewel most likely still belong to BlackJewel and most of those are low on the totem pole for reimbursement as a lot of those costs are unsecured.
The miners would have been smarter to take what KopperGlo offered them, it’s more than they have to in reality, that coal still belongs to BlackJewel(unless KopperGlo was stupid and bought it). The miners did not dig that coal out for KopperGlo, they dug it out for BlackJewel.
As for CSX, they could just decide to leave it there, though if I was running the company we’d get a police escort for a crew and the locomotives and haul it out of there as the company was contracted to do.
Solidarnosc!
time for changes in bankruptcy laws, employees and pension should be first in line, companies know in advance when their in trouble, way before it reaches the public. how many CEO’s and boards have their golden parachutes in place knowing whats going to happen months in advance?
The company is attempting to scam the workers. Stand your ground gentlemen.
Hats off gentlemen for standing your ground.
I am one of those coal miners too from rite there in the cloverlick hollow too. Im writing to reach out to someone who can get in touch with the peaple with Kopper Glo mining.. i once too stood on those tracks with those men therein cut too.. till i began to see how those guys are doing this for the wrong reasons now… they are just getting what they can get frm ppl wanting to help.. i have seen it with my own eyes as have many other of my co workers that just dont go back to the protest…it started off as being for the right thing but its has most definitely turned to the wrong thing… i have friends who worked with me at blackjewel and have also been to the protest where they have yet to receive any types of help…while there are and handful there that “live there” who probably dont need that job frm kopper Glo for a few more months cause they have put all the help brung in into there pockets… im gonna stop rambling about it… I was employed by Blackjewel for 3 yrs quite a while longer then any of the faces you have seen on tv… but i wrote thise to say.. that Cris Row can speak for himself and the rest those guys that like i said dont need to work for a few more months about turning Kopper Glows offer down cause i myself and many others that have been there a while will say otherwise… im ready to go back to work and be glad to go to work for them for there offer… i had already wrote this up as a loss and if anyone can get intouch with Kopper Glo we would happily oblige them on there offer…
Need Chris Anderson’s email, he is doing a story on the Boones Mill Va. depot
I do not practice labour law but I have to know the rudimentary aspects. Do not rely on the following for any purpose whatsoever. Consult a legal practitioner licenced in your jurisdiction for further, accurate, and timely information.
1. Unpaid wages are generally a priority claim. The problem is, in many jurisdictions this extends to only a few hundred dollars, after which the balance becomes a back-of-the-line unsecured claim. In a bankruptcy, the secured creditors are paid first, and there usually is little or no money to pay these unsecured wage claims.
2. In many jurisdictions the limits, both monetary and time, are set by the federal standard which is the Fair Labour Standards Act of 1938. Unfortunately many of the specifications of this Act have not been updated since 1938.
3. In many bankruptcies, if the money ain’t there, it ain’t there.
4. The officers of the company are protected by the corporate veil. It is possible to pierce the corporate veil and hold the officers of the company, individually and separately, responsible for the unpaid wages but this requires demonstrating malfeasance of some kind on the part of said officers. This turns things criminal and historically, by the time it is all said and done it is years down the road and there is no money left. Revenge does not pay the bills.
5. The best bet of the miners is to band together, retain legal counsel, and litigate for the unpaid wages. They also should not expect full recovery, and what recovery does occur will not occur for quite some time.
6. This is the sort of behaviour on the parts of employers which gave rise to the labour movement in the first place. Perhaps it is time for the pendulum to swing back in that direction. Big Bill Heywood, where are you now that we need you?
The above comments are generic in nature and do not form the basis for an attorney/client relationship. They do not constitute legal advice. I am not your attorney. Don’t mourn, organize!
When the Union’s inspiration through the workers’ blood shall run
There can be no force greater anywhere beneath the sun.
Yet what force on Earth is weaker
Than the feeble strength of one?
For the Union makes us strong.
Solidarity, Forever.
Solidarity, Forever.
Solidarity, Forever.
For the Union makes us strong.
The above comments are generic in nature and do not form the basis for an attorney/client relationship. They do not constitute legal advice. I am not your attorney. Get T-Bone to the mike.
When KopperGlo bought the mine at the bankruptcy auction the liability of the unpaid worker was known and was part of the actual part of the mine. Any machinery out for repair is also a liability to pay to get your machine returned. And any electric bill is also a expense the new buyer will have to pay and the power company will not take 30% KopperGlo should pay 100% of the worker claim as the liabilities come with the assets of what they settled on to buy. If KopperGlo took possession of the coal in those hoppers as that was the mine assets just like the unmined coal in the mountain, then it must pay the cost of getting it out of the ground. That coal was not a shippable asset without the cost of the work to mine that coal.
The bigger problem will be the new miner rate that KopperGlo will pay hiring new coal miner to dig future coal. Most States have law that require payment in a day or week for any labor performed. Wait till KopperGlo sees the new demurrage bill for all that train delay that they will have to pay. They will sure be a prepay account to be serviced by CSX.
Corn hole on the main! Nice placement, gents!
KopperGlo does not owe back wages to the miners. Blackjewel is the one they should be trying to collect their back wages from, through the bankruptcy process. Of course, that may take a few years. Regardless of what ‘should be’, the court will simply go by the law as it actually is. Therefore, KopperGlo’s offer is generous and should be accepted. Would you rather have the bankruptcy result in another shuttered mine? Would you rather not have a job? Things are tough in the coal industry today, in case you folks haven’t heard. Volume is down, and volume is one of the things that keeps a company from falling into bankruptcy. Companies have to make ends meet, just like all of us do, and we should be able to understand that. It’s time to pull together and make a go of Cloverfork No. 3.
PS I wish the mining company good luck on trying to local authorities to move the miners.(the impression I have is that the local sheriff wants to thru the owners in jail for the checks)
What is probably worse about this is the company probably did not set any money aside to cover the withholding taxes due the IRS and the state of Kentucky.
It would be nice if whomever signed the payroll checks that bounced were held criminally liable for issuing the checks without sufficient funds.
As I’ve often said this is my opinion, I’m no lawyer just a worn out truck driver. If you need a lawyer call your state bar association. There are plenty of lawyers out there. You just have to have a case where there is enough interest.(money or public good)
Agreed, take the money from the Board of Directors and top officers of the company. To easy to declare bankruptcy and walk away from the workers.
I am 100 % for the minners.
They deserve to get paid for one of the most danageruos jobs in america
Dont give in to the big company
Your have our support !
Mr. Blume; I believe you hit the nail solidly on the head! To your comments I will only add “amen”!
I hope the miners prevail in this action.
Good for them, hang in there brothers. Just another example of how some big companies try and stick it too the working folks. They should get their pay plus interest.
how many employees and how much money?