US mine workers threaten to strike Foundation Coal 3 page story

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN2829711220070328

US mine workers threaten to strike Foundation Coal
Wed Mar 28, 2007 2:04PM EDT

By Steve James

NEW YORK, March 28 (Reuters) - The threat of a strike at three of its mines hung over Foundation Coal Holdings Inc. (FCL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on Wednesday as the company vowed to keep negotiating with union-represented workers to reach a new labor contract.

Members of the three United Mine Workers of America locals meanwhile were undergoing strike training, according to the union, which approved a work stoppage starting next Wednesday.

UMWA President Cecil Roberts charged Foundation with unfair labor practices and sent a strike authorization notification to locals representing miners at Foundation's Cumberland and Emerald mines in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania and the Wabash mine in Keensburg, Illinois.

He said Foundation, which has reached new labor pacts with miners at its 11 other mines, failed to respond to union requests for information needed for bargaining. The UMWA said that as a result, it has filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.

Roberts also charged the company was insisting on treating each of the three mine operations as separate entities.

Foundation, based in Linthicum Heights, Maryland, countered, saying contrary to Roberts' statements, all three entities had been in negotiations with the UMWA since January.

It said that Cumberland and Emerald, which have 530 and 417 union-represented employees respectively, notified the union in February that they were prepared to sign the 2007 National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement. Continued...


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