Dear editor,
Spending a quarter century in a Wyoming coal mine and knowing the men and women who worked beside me. We worked hard, kept our heads down and expected those in management positions to do their jobs and to keep their word.
That’s why it’s hard to watch what’s happening to my fellow retired miners who gave more than just 12 hour shifts to Peabody Energy.
They may have been compensated fairly for those 12 hour shifts, plus over time, but they had no idea that in their retirement years their promised Retiree Medical Allowance would be striped from them and Peabody would grossly violate the trust given them by their employees and they would become a Peabody retiree who is now “not aligned with market-competitive practices.”
A fancy phrase for “you’re old and expendable because you cost Peabody too much money”
Congratulations to all of Peabody Management.
In your efforts to stay off yet another Chapter 11 bankruptcy you can now be labeled as morally bankrupt with your decision to terminate the RMA and in doing so at the cost of those who are the most vulnerable of 65 and over.
What disappoints me just as much is the deafening silence, so far, from our elected leaders.
Wyoming’s congressional delegation talks a lot about standing up for coal.
Representative Hageman champions herself as actually saving coal in her latest election mailer in her bid to become a Wyoming senator.
Republicans control Congress. If anyone should be leading the charge to get coal back on track and fighting for the miners who built this great industry, it ought to be them. Instead, we see Republicans fighting each other.
Coal isn’t just a company.
During my 25 plus mining years I was apart of seven, that’s 7, different companies that owned Eagle Butte and Bel Aye Mines.
One of those was a famous bankruptcy in 2019. Neither is coal mining just a balance sheet.
It’s the people who spent a better part of their lives as operators, drivers, mechanics, plant technicians, train loaders, the list goes on.
These people worked hard at getting our Wyoming coal shipped around our great country and the world in order that people might be able to live better life’s having electricity.
The miners have kept their promises. It’s time for Peabody Energy and the people who say they stand with coal to keep theirs.
Sincerely,
Phil Dillinger
Retired Miner
