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UMWA Back In St. Louis

Maria Altman
/
St. Louis Public Radio

Members of The United Mine Workers of America were in St. Louis again Tuesday, rallying over miners’ retiree benefits.

The protest took place just one day after the union reached a tentative agreement with Patriot Coal.

But officials were turning their attention back to Peabody, which created the now bankrupt Patriot in 2007.

UMWA officials, including secretary treasurer Dan Kane, repeated at the rally in front of Peabody’s headquarters that the corporation is still responsible to its former employees.

"We might come to some kind of agreement with Patriot, but that doesn’t end anything with Peabody," Kane told the crowd. "We said from the beginning that it’s not over until we say it’s over, and I’m telling you today Peabody it ain’t over."

Peabody officials responded in a statement saying Patriot was successful when it was launched and later faced unforeseen changes in the coal market.

Union members will vote on the proposed agreement with Patriot on Friday.

Maria is the newscast, business and education editor for St. Louis Public Radio.