Take Action

UMWA Rally
August 4th 
10:00 AM
Brookwood Town Park
15689 Al-216 
Any and all support is appreciated, financial or dry food, can goods or products for school children.

The United Mine Workers of America Local has been on strike since April 1, 2021 at Warrior Met Coal in Brookwood, Alabama, just outside of Tuscaloosa. The workers walked off the job after their contract expired and the membership voted down the tentative agreement that had been proposed.

In 2016 the local union agreed to concessions to help the previous owner of the mine during a time of bankruptcy. The mine sold with the promise the workers would be rewarded for their sacrifice. While the pandemic impacted the coal industry just like everything else, CEO Walter J. Scheller, III says the company is, ​“strongly capitalized and well-positioned to restart our growth trajectory.”

To complicate things for the striking miners, the new owners are a group of Hedge Funds. United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts stated the concessions of the miners saved the new company $1.1 billion dollars. In the past five years the company has made another 3.4 billion dollars most of which flowed back to the hedge fund investors.

The new owner’s contract offer would have restored the workers back to their 2015 pay, still leaving them six years behind in compensation. To add insult to injury management gave managers a $35,000 bonus earlier this year after the miners had worked 16 hour shifts and seven day weeks during the pandemic to keep the coal moving for steel production.

The new owners brought in replacement workers to try and keep the mine running to break the strike. The workers have also been targets of violence as several strikers have been struck by vehicles in deliberate attacks on the union members.

This is simply one more infuriating story if “wealthy investors” swooping in and taking money of the pockets of the workers and putting it in their own pocket. The coal this mine produces is used for steel production and does 2000 feet in the ground with, with miners having to travel up to ten miles underground to reach the coal face. It is the miners who risk their lives miles underground, 16 hours a day, seven days a week to remove this coal, while hedge fund managers and their investors occupy high rise offices on Wall Street and have enjoy fancy dinners and mansions off the blood and sweat of the miners.

 A rally for the strikers is being planned for Wednesday, August 4, 2021 at10AM at the Brookwood Town Park. These families are hurting and they need our help. Retiree Chair Chuck McDonald is planning on attending the rally and would love to have company. Plus any donation of canned food, school supplies or financial donations would be appreciated.

For more information, contact Chuck McDonald by calling the local number 256-353-7893 and leaving a message or emailing Chuck at cmcdon2195@aol.com.

Hedge Fund managers and Real Estate Developers have raided the pockets of workers for generations. If you remember it was Ann Romney’s hedge fund, wife of Mitt Romney, that bought up Delphi Stock for pennies on the dollar and then wanted full value of the stock, threatening to starve GM for parts until they gave the hedge fund the money GM owed Delphi workers. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

By John Davis

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) awarded the $6 billion contract for the next generation of postal vehicles to Oshkosh Defense, a company with a reputation for tough military trucks built with union labor with just a small number of electric vehicles on order.

But instead of using this opportunity to expand quality jobs under a decades-old union contract, the company plans to refurbish a vacant warehouse in another state and build these vehicles without a commitment to union wages or representation.

Let’s Build Back Better and put letter carriers in union-made vehicles that are good for the planet. Add your name and sign the petition if you agree.

The tax credit of an additional $4,500 for union-made electric vehicles made in the U.S. is a win for UAW members, unorganized autoworkers, and the entire labor movement. The provision:

  • Supports the high standards in wages, benefits, and safety that UAW members have bargained for in the auto industry
  • Incentivizes nonunion companies to stop spending millions on union busters and to allow their workers to form their unions freely
  • Encourages U.S. auto manufacturers to bring back jobs they offshored

March 27, 2021

Letter regarding dependent verification:

I have received several questions regarding the letter of dependent verification, the main issue is about privacy of information on federal 1040 tax form.  The attached is a letter and this is a second letter that provides a better explanation regarding the different ways you may provide verification as well as protecting your private information, especially the figures and amounts on your 1040 tax document form. 

In brief if you send in your front page of your 1040 federal form you can white-out or black out all figures that relate to money as well as your first five digits of your social security number.  Please leave the last four.   

This verification of legal depends is required as a legal obligation that the uaw retiree health care trust is obligated to perform periodically.  Hope this helps clear up some of the confusion.  Please pass the word to other retirees on your email list or one's that you come in contact with.

In solidarity,

Chuck McDonald, chairman

Dependent Verification Letter

Union members in the public sector are once again under attack and need our support. The Snyder-appointed Civil Service Commission is using the cover of a global pandemic to engage in underhanded union busting targeted at State of Michigan workers. This is not only an attack on dedicated state employees, but also their ability to provide quality public services to the people of Michigan. At a time when state workers have been on the frontlines of protecting the people of Michigan from the coronavirus, these anti-worker commissioners are trying to undermine the right of state employees to collectively bargain. Stand with our brothers and sisters and tell the Civil Service Commission to end these anti-union attacks.

Call your Representative’s office right now at 1-866-287-6350, and call your Senator’s office at 1-888-329-5096. Make sure you let them know who you are, where you live, and that any federal legislation dealing with this pandemic protects frontline workers and working families across America.