Judge Frees Patriot Coal To Eliminate Retiree Benefits for 20,000

[The Straight Story]

Today, in a decision long dreaded by union coal miners, a bankruptcy court in St. Louis agreed that Patriot Coal has the right to void its collective bargaining agreements and cancel its pension and retirement obligations to 20,000 workers and family members.

The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) argued in court that Patriot should not be let out of its debts, charging that its parent company, Peabody Energy, had designed Patriot to fail as a ploy to get out of $1 billion in retiree obligations. According to a financial analysis by Temple University Professor of Finance Bruce Rader, Patriot Coal was spun off from Peabody Energy with 42 percent of Peabody’s liabilities, but only 11 percent of its assets.

However, Judge Kathy Surratt-States of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Eastern District of Missouri ruled that Patriot can stop payments to the union pension fund as soon as July 1 and no longer has to cover the full cost of retiree healthcare plans, instead paying a fixed amount into a healthcare fund administered by the union.

In her 102-page decision, Surratt-States wrote:

Unions generally try to bargain for the best deal for their members, however, there is likely some responsibility to be absorbed for demanding benefits that the employer cannot realistically fund in perpetuity, particularly given the availability of sophisticated actuarial analysts and cost trend experts.

http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/15064/judge_frees_patriot_coal_to_eliminate_retiree_benefits_for_20000/

[brewens]

1. I have a wing-nut friend taking early retirement from the state of Idaho, partly because he's

worried about what might happen with his pension and benefits. He has reason to worry.. I told him we can see how things are going to go. Before long they will go after his pension.

All of us state taxpayers that don't have pensions will be told that we can't afford to pay taxes to provide guy like him with a pension. That will be the end of it. Probably their medical plan too. In his case, he'll have it coming to him.

[liberal N proud]

2. Yet he will continue to vote republican.

[Wellstone ruled]

3. Damn,know how these folks feel.

Thank you ERISA and NLRB. This will really smack the Rethug Work For Less State Miners. Really sucks.

[Brigid]

4. Here's the American Dream for ya . . .

Work your butt off for 30 years or more, get ready yo retire and get the pension and benefits yanked out from under you. Only in America.

PS: My dad worked for Peabody for 24 years. Then he got forced out for getting older. Then he wound up working for another energy company down in Colombia and dying of a heart attack. All this was back in the '80's. Good times.