Laid-off Kentucky miners end coal train blockade after nearly two months
Miners who blocked a railroad shipment of coal in Harlan County because they hadn’t been paid by a bankrupt coal company have ended the high-profile protest.
The number of people blocking the tracks at Cumberland had dwindled as miners laid off from the coal company, Blackjewel, took other jobs to support their families, said Cumberland Mayor Charles Raleigh.
“The miners have stayed as long as they can,” said Raleigh, whose son and brother worked for Blackjewel.
Raleigh said only one miner, Chris Rowe, and his wife had been staying at the encampment in recent days, and Rowe told WYMT he’d been offered work as a truck driver.
Blackjewel filed for bankruptcy July 1. The last checks it gave to hundreds of employees in Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia bounced, leaving miners overdrawn and hurting the economy of the area.
When word spread that a load of coal was about to leave one of the company’s mines on July 29, miners blocked the train tracks out of frustration. They later allowed the engines to leave, but continued barring shipment of the coal cars until this week.
They had set up canopies for shade and played cornhole on the tracks. Raleigh said only one canopy, on loan from a funeral home, remained on Friday and someone was supposed to remove it.
Scotty Cox, another former Blackjewel miner, said he spent one day at the protest site but couldn’t stay more because of work. Cox is studying to be a physical therapy assistant.
“I respected ’em for doing it,” he said. “That stopped the coal company from getting their money while they didn’t want to pay us.”
Cox said the miners could end the two-month protest without fear that the coal would be moved because the U.S. Department of Labor has moved to block shipment of the coal in an effort to get miners paid.
According to a report filed by the labor department Wednesday, the company and the department are still in negotiations over the disputed coal train and whether it should be moved.
The labor department asked Blackjewel’s attorneys to submit documents showing why the coal should be moved, and to give exact directions on where the company would relocate it. In its report, the department cited the protest as one reason the coal should stay put until Blackjewel files those documents.
“These miners have made it clear that the coal will not move until they are paid. (Blackjewel’s) request to move the coal ignores the existence of these miners and their intent to bar the movement of said coal,” the department wrote. “In short, other than saying they want the coal moved, (Blackjewel has) failed to provide any factual evidence that movement of the coal is necessary and they have failed to present a plan to the court that ensures the safety of all individuals if the coal is moved.”
As of Friday afternoon, neither Blackjewel nor the department had filed documents showing how the end of the protest may impact their negotiations.
Cox said he thinks the protest and media attention to the miners’ financial plight moved authorities to take action.
The bankruptcy, though, has not been resolved and the miners have not been paid. Still, Raleigh said miners made their point.
“They sent out a message that we’re not going to take this,” he said. “It was something to see.”
Raleigh said he believes legislators will act to better protect other miners from being shorted when companies go under. One finding that emerged from the Blackjewel failure is that the company did not post a bond meant to provide four weeks of pay for employees.
The protest at the train tracks received national attention, in part because it echoed famous union disputes in the county from the 1930s.
This story was originally published September 27, 2019 at 9:37 AM.
