(The Associated Press circulated the following article on February 24.)
LONDON, W.Va. — United Mine Workers of America president Cecil Roberts and nine others were arrested Thursday during a protest of a federal bankruptcy ruling that will cause thousands of coal workers to lose their medical coverage.
Traffic was backed up about a half mile in each direction on U.S. 60 as protesters sat down on the highway. More than 100 others rallied outside Massey Energy’s Mammoth operation, said Kanawha County Sheriff’s Lt. Bryan Stover.
Those arrested were arraigned on misdemeanor pedestrian violations and released on their own recognizance, Stover said.
“What we’re trying to do is keep this issue of the unfairness of the bankruptcy code in this country on a national scale,” Roberts said before his arrest.
The Mammoth mine was formerly owned by Horizon Natural Resources, which sold it to Massey after declaring bankruptcy.
A federal bankruptcy judge in Kentucky last August granted a request by Horizon to terminate its contract with the UMWA, allowing the coal company to drop health care benefits for thousands of active and retired miners and their dependents.
Massey officials contend the Mammoth mine would not be providing jobs at all had the bankruptcy judge not dissolved Horizon’s liabilities as part of its sale.