In Trump country, a group of coal miners rebel over lost jobs, missed paychecks
CUMBERLAND, Ky. —Sitting in lawn chairs plopped in the middle of train tracks, two coal miners smoked and chewed tobacco to pass the time. There’s been little else to do here for the past four weeks, except wave at motorists who honk in support of these homegrown heroes waging a national struggle over workers’ rights.
Since Chris Rowe and Chris Sexton were laid off from their mining jobs this summer along with 300 co-workers, they have been camped out here in the mountains of eastern Kentucky, blocking a train car full of coal from going to market. Their protest is against coal company Blackjewel, which halted operations in July without settling its final salary obligations to Rowe, Sexton and an estimated 1,800 other workers across the country. But it’s also become a declaration against corporate bankruptcy laws that they say deprioritize workers’ interests.
“The same situation may have happened to others, but we are the ones making a stand,” said Rowe, 35, who was laid off days after he purchased his first house. “We mined the coal and broke our backs to get that coal, so that coal belongs to us until they pay for it.”
Blackjewel is part of the latest spate of coal producers to file for bankruptcy, a trend that has lingered under President Trump as the nation’s appetite for coal has continued to shrink. The Trump administration’s rollback of environmental regulations implemented under Obama have failed to spark a revival in communities like Cumberland that formed his political base during the 2016 election.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/in-trump-country-a-group-of-coal-miners-rebel-over-lost-jobs-missed-paychecks/ar-AAGCF8e
Won't someone think of the poor mine owners? - Donald Trump
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