“To me, that was kind of a promise he did make to us,” Mr. VanSickle said about Mr. Trump, whom he supported last fall. “He promised to help miners, not just mining companies.”
Did he? Trump’s position on coal mining is the same as his position on most industries—kill the regulations and it will generate jobs. He has zero evidence that this is true. In fact, there’s a lot of evidence that it’s not true. But this variation on the trickle-down effect of corporate welfare has become deeply embedded in Republican mythology.
Trump has signed orders to allow coal mines to flush more toxic waste into the waters around where Mr. VanSickle lives. He’s waved rules on power plants emitting more toxins into the air. He’s made it easier to ignore the impending disaster generated by hundreds of millions of tons of coal ash. All those actions make the bottom lines more attractive for coal mine owners and energy companies. Not one of them does a thing to increase demand for coal or to put one coal miner back to work.
Many of the retired workers on the imperiled fund are retired expressly because their years in the mines have left them medically unable to continue.
The benefits can easily mean the difference between a middle-class retirement and economic hardship, since many retired miners are too young to qualify for Medicare. Others have chronic or debilitating health problems that would require expensive supplemental coverage — currently provided by the retiree plan — even with the Medicare benefit. ...
Mr. VanSickle, who lost parts of two fingers on the job, said his doctor advised him to retire two years ago, at 59, because he suffers from black lung, a condition associated with long-term exposure to coal dust.
Never let it be said that Donald Trump isn’t working to get people out of the middle class. It’s just that the direction he’s moving them is down.
Meanwhile, most of the companies that declared bankruptcy and dumped these miners on the mercy of Trump, are back out of Chapter 11 … with a kicker.
A year ago, Peabody Energy Corp's chief executive was presiding over $2 billion of losses as the world's largest private sector coal miner spiraled into bankruptcy.
Now, CEO Glenn Kellow and other top executives stand to reap tens of millions of dollars in stock bonuses under Peabody's bankruptcy exit plan, which sets aside 10 percent of newly minted shares for employees.
If that “for employees” part makes it sound like at least existing miners would also benefit, hang on a second ...
The executives would collect a big portion of that stock when the company exits bankruptcy, expected in April. The shares would be worth about $15 million for Kellow and between $3 million and $5 million for each of five other executives, according to a company estimate. …
By any estimate, the stock in Peabody's management incentive plan is unusually valuable for a bankrupt company.
Ditch the health care of people who are literally dying to generate your product, pocket enormous bonuses, get rewarded by Donald Trump with executive orders that pile on more profits.
That’s the way it’s done.