Transcripts For CSPAN3 United Mine Workers Of America President On Coal Industry 20240713

You nighted mine workers of America International president now on the future of the coal industry. He spoke at the National Press club about issues facing the union. Welcome to the National Press club. I am the 112th president of the National Press club and a well, im an incoming investigations editor at the Associated Press rig. Right now im unemployed. We extend warm greetings to those of you listening to us on the radio or watching us on tv. Dorian turned up the east coast, Climate Change and what to do about it is at the top of political agenda for many. Alexandria ocasiocortez put forward a controversial Green New Deal. Washington state governor built his now aborted president ial Campaign Around climate and Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have called out fossil fuels as the primary culprit. Our guest today, president of the United Mine Workers of america and a Vice President of the aflcio says some critical people have been left out of the conversation. Workers who toil in the nations Extraction Industry such as coal and petroleum. Mr. Roberts says hes deeply concerned about the economic plight of those living in an lat appalachia and other coal mining areas. She hes a sixth generation coal mining industry. He was a miner after serving in vietnam in the 70s. He has led members on strike, sat across the table from the coal operators association, to hammer out contracts and fought for health care, pension benefits, job security for his members and all workers. Mr. Roberts is a graduate of West Virginia Technical College and he rose to the union ranks to become president of umwa in 1995. He succeeded richard trump ka, elected secretary treasurer and now is the labor federations president. Please join me in welcoming umwa president , mr. Roberts, to the National Press club. Well, if my mother and my father were alive today, i think they would say youre getting above your raising here. I want to thank alison for that wonderful introduction. I want to thank the National Press club for this opportunity. But i think most of all i want to thank the coal miners in this room. I think were having entha of a first here today. We have coal miners who are active, and coal miners who are retired with us, and those would be the ones who are wearing camo which is our colors. I want to thank my partner, levi allen, by the way, who is 37 years old and we believe in young people having an opportunity to lead our union. But we also believe Young People Working in the mines should have a future. Which, by the way, if you live in appalachia, the best jobs in appalachia, middle class wages, Health Care Better than anybody elses. Pensions. Which support teachers who reside and teach young people in appalachia and supports all the programs we depend upon. Fire departments, police departments. And these miners are with me, plus all of those members of the umwa that we know are gathered up right now, and about six states, because theyve been watching this debate thats ongoing, in the United States of america where people are constantly saying well, we were just going to do away with these jobs. So these miners who have families at home, these retirees whose pensions are at risk which is about 100,000 people, most of them in appalachia, are worried about this ongoing debate. Its hard for coal miners to have a voice in this country. Many people look down their nose at us, and think, well, what in the world could somebody that mines coal have to say . And some people maybe we ought to keep our mouth shut, get out of the way, but as we have done for 100 years, were not going to do that, so as we are here and trying to express our positions, on the future of our planet and the future of our country, both economically, environmentally, so where is this going . One of the things that seems to be forgotten by everybody running for office, theres a word in front of Climate Change that i havent heard anyone mention. That word is global Climate Change. It seems that people believe if they just shut down the coal industry and every Extraction Industry in this country, the problem is solved. But we all know not just me, but scientists know thats not true. So im not here to talk just for me. Im trying to give voice to the voiceless and hope to the hopeless here as i come here today, i want to remind you that 100,000 plus coal miners have died making the United States the Economic Force that it is. Weve had an abundance of cheap electricity that weve built our economy on for 100 years. But it cost us 107,000 peoples lives. Killed sometimes instantly. Sometimes over the course of days after being injured. Explosio explosions, roof falls. The nation loves us when they watch on tv about the poor miners who died in the mines. Then they go about their business the next day. So another 00,000, at least, have died from a lung disease. People say its a terrible disease. We ought to get rid of it, and then we forget those with it. Thats a fact. Weve lived this now forever. There are 34,000 participants in the 1974 pension plan. Theyve died in seven years. And there are 76,000 miners who have died from pneumoconiosis. People die from black lung. People are killed in the mines. Were starting to think that the government is just waiting on us all to die and go away. I hope im wrong about that. Im pretty angry as i come here today. Ive read things people have said about us. Uneducated. Were racists. Were all kinds of things just because they dont like what we do. Youve never heard us call people names just because we dont like what they say about us. But the truth is this is the most Progressive Union thats ever existed on earth. 18 t 1890 our constitution said you cant discriminate. First convention. Then from there the same convention, there was a debate about how we could help the African American workers in this country, and thats probably the only place that debate was taking place. And then in 1935 we were the Largest Union in the country, and we didnt just say thats great that were the Largest Union in the country. We created the cio and said the Auto Industry should have a union. The Steel Industry should have a union. The textile workers should have a union. Everybody should have a union. So youre looking at the union that created the middle class. And we said people of color regardless of where they come from, what language they speak, should be able to hold union office for the first time. So those who look down their nose at us, theyre wrong. Dont know what theyre talking about, and they should probably read their history. Everybody wants to get their picture taken with a coal miner thats running for office. Isnt that amazing . But they dont want anything to do with us when they get into office. The first person that i recall and one of the most iconic pictures ever was Eleanor Roosevelt. 1935, this woman went underground, and a woman underground in 1935 was considered bad luck. Women should not be underground. And in those days, this country was saying too many miners are being killed in the mines. The Largest Union in the country and the most powerful labor leader saying too many people are being killed in the mines, and then Eleanor Roosevelt goes underground. She comes out and they throw a mic in front of her face. They say first lady, what will it take to protect miners . Does anybody know what she said . Unionization, and legislation are the only two things that will protect coal miners. But if i asked you the president of the United States is the best friend any worker ever had in those days was franklin roosevelt, first lady, then i ask you how long was it before the first legislation was passed by this government to protect coal miners . 1969. So we had the most powerful president we ever had. We had the first lady wanting to make the mines safer and the most Dynamic Union leader of alltime trying to make the mines safe, and we couldnt get it done until 1969. Why is that . Because it is really hard, folks, to get congress to move, because theres a lot of powerful interests, if you dont understand this. That says were not for that. Lots of money spent to stop people from being killed in the mines. So coal miners understand something. When people tell us were going to pass legislation and youre going to have the best jobs in the world, theyre going to be union jobs, dont worry about anything. Your pensions will be safe and your health care. We dont believe it. And anyone that understands how Congress Works knows that thats a fact. So when people keep telling us how wonderful were going to have it, weve got many reasons to believe thats not the case. Legislation would not have been passed in 1969 if 78 miners hadnt died instantly at farmington and the entire country watched that on television. Thats how we got legislation. People across this country in florida and new york and california for the first time said i cant believe there isnt legislation that protects miners. By the way c up until 1969 there was no legislation that identified pneumoconiosis as a work related injury. Thats how people Pay Attention to the concerns of coal miners. Weve had lots of experience for this. They used to pay us in company money. Nobody cared. They used to lock us up in the coal camps. Nobody cared. They only cared when there was a resurrection of coal miners or insurrection of coal miners. Ludlow massacre, leading up to the wagner act in 1935. 1960 a young man comes to West Virginia, and his entire presidency was resting on whether or not a protestant state would actually vote for a catholic. Do you realize there was a huge issue in the 1960 election . John kennedy went up every hill and hol laller West Virginia. I was 14 and my dad came home and said i just shook hands with john kennedy. I said what did you think, dad . He said i like that young man. And he won West Virginia. And he had great plans for West Virginia. He wanted to help West Virginia. But you know what happened to him. Weve had many other politicians. But my favorite story about john kennedy might be when he went to welch, West Virginia. Something to put in your mind here. There was a young man, 17 years old. His dad was a foreman at a coal mine, and by the way, movies have been made about this and books written about this. This young man was named homer hick m. Theres john kennedy making the speech that nobody is listening to. So homer being an inquisitive young man and was fascinated by sputnik, and he even went out to make sure he could see it as it went over the mountains of West Virginia. And hes standing there listening to John F Kennedy speak. And john kennedy said does anybody have a question here . And homer, son of a coal miner, says i do. And john kennedy said young man, whats your question . He said what do you think about putting a man on the moon, and all the miners laughed, and john kennedy laughed about how ridiculous that question was. We know what happened. John kennedy started a space program, and do you know what happened to homer . Rocket scientists out of the hills and hollers of West Virginia. So our state tore down one of the barriers of prejudice in this country. No matter where you went to pray, we were okay with you if you could do something for appalachia. So we get a president named john kennedy, and he was struck down early. Linden johnson is elected. He had a war on poverty, but unfortunately, many of us ended up my age at that time. When you turned 19 in appalachia, you were headed to vietnam. That wasnt the case everywhere. But we didnt have a lot of money and our fathers didnt. We werent rich, so we went off to vietnam. Thats the story of almost everybody in appalachia my age. Many of the retirees that weve been fighting for vietnam veterans, got one or two with me here today. So off to vietnam we go, and then i am fortunate enough at some point in time in my life to have a few breaks after working in the coal mines. I happen to end up down in lebanon, West Virginia, or virginia, excuse me, in the southwest part of the state. Im with a young man that want to be president of the United States, president obama. And he is standing on the stage and talking to a lot of people who are worried about their jobs in 2008. Senator obama said if we can put a man on the moon, something john kennedy started, we can learn how to burn coal cleanly. I agreed with that. I agreed with this senator who became president. Unfortunately, as time went on, i think he was unable to do what he thought he could do as a candidate. Now we see the coal fields of appalachia being devastated. People are talking about us needing a transition. Well, our transition, unfortunately, has been at the brupgs courts. And what you get out of the Bankruptcy Court is whatever your union can win for you, and whatever power you have. We have miners in this room right now thats been through bankruptcy, and their companies are out of bankruptcy, but they no longer earn credit in the 1974 pension plan, because the bankruptcy judge says they shouldnt have to pay. We have people who lost their health care in the Bankruptcy Courts. And no one really cares about this. Lets be honest. This has been going on since 2012. Weve been on capitol hill hill ten years fighting for our pensions. Weve been on capitol hill since the 90s fighting for our health care. And we do have friends on capitol hill, but we dont have enough friends. So what happens . Its a fortune spent out of the Union Treasury trying to protect these benefits both pensions and health care. And now people are saying its going to be better. Were going to pass legislation. It will be just like that. Its not going to happen. What we probably would submit to folks who are wanting to be president of the United States, whether its donald trump or any of the candidates running for office, first of all, let me say coal is not back. Nobody saved the coal industry. Now, thats a harsh fact, and its a harsh reality. The reason i say that, coal fired power plants are closing all over the United States. And if enough of those close, the market does this. And our people who are mining steam coal are the most productive coal miners on earth. And they still have their jobs. But the market keeps shrinking every day. So what happens as the market continues to shrink . Weve needed a transition of some time for about 20 years now, and no one has offered one up. But everybody has got one now. And thats a fact. And people, the first thing someone is going to say is you dont believe in Climate Change. Thats not true. We have never denied, ever, ever, the existence of Climate Change. Its real. And its upon us, and it needs to be dealt with. However, how we deal with it is the question. So in 2009, and everybody remember this, we supported the bill that would have invested heavily in Clean Coal Technology to remove carbon from the burning of coal. It went to the senate, and it died in the senate. We controlled, and i say we, the democrats, the house, the senate and the white house, all three of those governments that we depend, eight parts we depend on both houses of the congress and the white house and it died in the senate. Many of my friends who were in congress at the time lost their jobs over that. So when people say all we need is more democrats or more people here or more people there, weve been down this road, and this failed after many people putting their careers on the line. So we need to develop technology to remove carbon from the burning of coal or youre never write that word down. Never going to resolve Climate Change. Never. Why is that . Well, lets think about that. There are 1600 1600 new coal fired power plants being constructed as i speak. Around the world. There are 2000 coal fired plants that exist in the world as i speak. And heres what somebody is going to say. Well, youre just pointing the finger somewhere else. You dont want to do anything. No. Im telling you what youre doing doesnt work. How are you going to get china who has probably 5 million coal miners, 52,000 in the United States, 5 million in china. 7 million coal miners in the world. And the only thing i hear people talking about what wants to be president is how theyre going to save all the coal miners in this country or get rid of all the coal miners in this country. Do it tomorrow. You still are not solving Climate Change. And somebodys going to say china is doing all these things. Let me explain something to everybody. Were dealing with facts here. This is real. This is what exists. If you were in a court of law, this would all be the truth that a jury would have to decide. Right . This is a fact. China burns around 4 billion tons of coal every year. How much . 4 billion. Let me tell you what china is doing and people say to me, well, weve got to do all these things in this country so the rest of the world will follow. You are telling me that china cares about what we do. I hate to say this, but we have a disagreement. China, by the way, manufactures all of the technology that we are rapidly trying to install on rooftops. Thats a fact. We are rapidly doing that and china says thank you this morning to the United States, because we dont make it here. We have this belief we shouldnt make anything here. Why arent we Manufacturing Solar panels in the United States . The jobs of installing these solar panels pays around 20 an hour. So coal miners, you need two of these jobs once you lose the one you have now. Which is not ever talked about. By the way, i understand somehow magically if certain people get elected president , theyre going to make those union jobs and theyre going to require them to pay what you make now. I dont believe that. I just cant make that work in my mind that somehow somebody can be president and go to congress and say, were going to manufacture solar panels here. Theyve got to be union jobs or they cant exist, and they got to pay what coal miners make. Not going to happen. Why dont we just say, were doing away with your jobs and youre going to have to have two jobs for the jobs you have now. That would be closer to facts. Now, last year the world consumed 7. 4 billion tons of coal. You know that global word that nobody talks about . Thats what global did. Okay . Consumed 7. 5 billion tons of coal. Weve rapidly reducing the amount of coal in this country, but were doing it very painfully. We have people sitting on Railroad Tracks in kentucky right now. Because their execs bounced from the coal company they worked. Now, thats the account of transition we have in america. Now, weve been in more Bankruptcy Courts than you can ever imagine. In and out. Every time you turn around. And theres more coming. So those who want to rapidly do away with coal one more bankruptcy in our union at murray energy, 13,000 households will be adverse ri affected by that, even only 2000 people work there because 11,000 more people get their health care from that coal company. Do you know ho who ends up with all these problems . The union ends up with those problems. Weve got our friends on capitol hill who fought tooth and toenail. What do we suggest has to happen . In 1935, i mentioned previously, was the first time in our history that workers had a right to join the union. Most people dont know that. In 1947 that ended. Most people dont know what happened in 47. The tafthardy hackett was passed. Im going to put my radical hat on for a few seconds. I hope i dont offend anybody. If you want to do something to give workers the right to organize mine, my predecessor said that act was the first act of fascism. It was and is. Abolish taft hardly, and you believe we should have a Just Transition . Im going to prove to you right now no one believes thats going to happen including the people advocating. Do Just Transition first. Lets do that first. You know what . Its not going to be a Single Person for that. Because they know they cant pass it. They know it will be years and years of trying. I can tell you what is going to happen. Were going to continue to lose coal mining jobs just like we lost steel worker jobs and we lost auto worker jobs. Not because we cant compete. Because of bad public policy. When i was in district 17 before i came to washington, there were 182,000 union members. Umwa members. Were bouncing around barely double figures now. Why is that . Because we cant compete . No. Public policy put most of those people out of work. When the Steel Industry went down, the coal mines went down. When we started dealing with acid rain, the next thing that happened we moved union jobs to nonunion in wyoming. So as we come here today, theres a lot of pain. Theres a lot of suffering, but we have stood up and fought the coal industry. Weve fought politicians who wanted to put us out of business. Weve had heros. We just reenacted a march. Mateone massacre. Next year is the 100th anniversary of that. In two years the anniversary of blair mountain. If it wasnt for coal miners, many people in this country would not have a union, and many of the progressive ideas that we enjoy today were given to us by coal miners. So i could talk here for another 30 minutes, but i wont. But let me say this to you. We come today to be part of this conversation. Not about people talking about us, but we want to talk with everybody. We want our Pension Plans saved. We want our Health Care Plan safed. If you cant do and its been ten years, how duo you think were going to believe youre going to give us a Just Transition from the coal industry to another employment . I want to thank you for this opportunity. Thank you very much. Again, ill go to questions from the journalists in the room in a moment. Please wait for the microphone and when the microphone reaches you, please say your name and your journalism outlet. But i have one question. You mentioned a series of problems. One, pensions, health care, mine safety, health care of benefits for workers who have black lung. You talk about black lung, but it sounds like your major issue is with Companies Fighting you in Bankruptcy Court. Why are you fighting at congress in this and what is it specifically you want . Theres a couple things we want from congress. Every member of Congress Knows this. This is not news to anybody on capitol hill. In fact, one of the Major Networks in this country has done a lot of work identifying our pension problem and health care problem. First of all, every Bankruptcy Law that exists in this country, congress has either ignored it or passed it. Anybody know what happens in bankruptcy . First of all, the ceo gets millions of dollars for filing bankruptcy. The cfo gets millions of dollars for filing bankruptcy. And then you go down the line. The next person gets 500,000. Everybody gets a bonus because the world just cannot function without them. They call those retention bonuses. And then what happens to the workers . They lose their health care upon retirement. Their benefits shrink if theyre still working and sometimes the bankruptcy judge says you dont get to keep your job. Youve been there 30 years but that investment banker from new york doesnt want you here anymore. So youre out. The investment banker has been there three weeks. Right . You get in line last. Congress has known this forever. And has done nothing about it. And weve been on capitol hill not just us but every major union in this country, saying we need bankruptcy reform. So anything thats happened in bankruptcy, i hold those elected officials who could have done something about this accountable for that. Number one. Number two, we lost our health care in bankruptcy. And we went to the streets about this. Theres a lot of conversation in the labor movement, and i love the young people who are out there, even if they dont agree with us. We need young people in this movement drastically. But the most militant people and the folks who have been out the most are not these young people. Its these retirees from United Mine Workers been to st. Louis over and over again at 10,000 a clip. Then to columbus, 10,000 people there. Largest demonstration in West Virginia in 40 years by retirees. And they won their Health Care First of all, 400 million that we convinced peabody and others to give us. Do you know what we told the bankruptcy judge in forgive me for my language when the bankruptcy judge says you dont have health care. Theres 52 issues here in the contract were going to impose upon you . We told arch and patriot and peabody and this judge they can kiss our ass because we had earned these benefits and we werent going away until we got them. We kept our health care. We went to capitol hill and people said you cant pay Us Health Care legislation on capitol hill with republicans in control, but we did. We got we have bipartisan support for our pension plan and have had since 2016. We were able to get this out, this pension, and health care out of the Senate Finance committee, something no one thought was possible, and we believe if congress voted tomorrow, it would pass. So yeah, i got a beef with congress. Black lung . Just testified two months ago about whats happening in southern West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky. You cannot count on coal mine companies to protect coal miners. Everybody knows that. Youd be crazy to believe that. No offense to any ceo, but if we didnt get legislation until 1969. And we need legislation right today to protect those coal miners getting lung disease in southern West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky and southWest Virginia. Its silica. Everybody knows its silica. And people are dying and sick in their 40s. You know what the cure is for the most advanced stages of black lung . Anybody know . Lung transplant. You know how much it cost . 1 million. You know how long you live . Three years. Yeah. Congress needs to do something to protect these miners. And the one thing they should do about black lung, they ought to take out of the coal operators hands the responsibility for enforcing this. They are the ones that decide how much dust is in the mines. Theyre the ones that report this. Its been the most ridiculous thing known to man since 1969, and we testified to that. Congress needs to act. By the way, since were on he health and safety. Sorry to get carried away. Im passionate. Passion is okay. [ applause ] by the way, how many of you remember in 2010 when the mine exploded down in southern West Virginia and killed 29 men . The youngest one being 20 years old . And do you know what Congress Told us . Ten years ago. We got to really examine this and see what happened. They knew what happened then. They know what happened now and theyve done nothing theres not been one law passed, not one. Not one word to protect coal miners after 29 people died just like that. And i knew many of those miners. I was friends of the davis family. They lost three people out of that family in that. We sent one person to prison and the courts are thinking about exonerating him which is the most absurd thing known to man. Thank you for taking my question. You talked a lobt about candidates playing lip service to the coal industry. President trump obviously promised to bring back mining jobs and the sector. You said its not back. What should the president be doing . How do you feel about how hes performing on that promise from 2016 . Thank you. As i went through one of the things people will tell you that i almost never have a typewritten speech, but all the people tell me you have to be sophisticated when you come here, so im trying to be sophisticated while im here. I said coal is not back. And heres the thing. It is true that the president has cut back on some regulations that perhaps kept the coal industry from staying in existence, but heres the truth. We are still seeing closing of coalfired power plants dramatically. And what happens on the heels of that . The market as i said, just keeps doing this. And eventually there will be no market here. Only the Strongest Companies will survive. The good news is umwa miners are some of the most productive miners in the world. The jobs that have been created for the most part, by the way, are metallurgical coal mines which go into the making of steel. By the way, if you wanted to help the coal industry dramatically, maybe we should start making steel in america again as opposed to buying it from china and thirdworld countries. That was a decision made by our government that we dont really like jobs where people get their hands dirty. And those used to be middle class jobs of health care and pensions. Steel workers went through a lot of these bankruptcies, and it was tragic. Our people kept their pensions. The reason they kept their pensions, my dad worked for beth energy, and he kept his pension and his health care because his pension was part of the multiemployer plan. So other employers are paying that, most of the pensions companybycompany pensions in the Steel Industry. My dad kept his health care because of the legislation that was passed in 92 as a result of the 1990 strike at pitston, the legislation that passed on the heels of that. This gentleman right here. Yes, randy shostack, reporter with eos at the american union. Thanks very much for your comments. I appreciate that. Science has told us that the world is facing dramatic challenges and consequences regarding Climate Change. You mentioned in your earlier comments that you about science. In your written comments you said umwa never challenged the science regarding manmade gas emissions and manmade Climate Change. Its happening and the world must address it. Correct. What would you recommend that the union and the coal industry do to address Climate Change, including, perhaps, as you noted earlier in your comments Carbon Capture and storage . First of all, im speaking for the union and not the coal industry here. They youre looking at a person whos been sued and fined and jailed. I got a relationship with the coindustry but i dont speak for the i work for the workers in the coal industry. Lets look at what the United Nations panel on Climate Change did. They said, not just me, that if we dont develop this technol y technology, were never going to solve this problem, and theres a reason for that. The 1,600 new coal fired power plants that are being built, they have no technology thats bad grammar there is no technology on those plants as they are being constructed. The existing 2,000 coal fired power plants, no technology to reduce thats just going straight into the atmosphere. The scientists at the United Nations believed the only way that were ever going to deal with that is develop technology to extract the carbon from the burning of coal because coal this is another this is another fact. Coal is still the dominant fuel source in the world for generating electricity. And we may not like that, but that is a fact. Without this technology that hopefully we would develop and sell around the world, thats never going to change. And no matter what we do here in the United States, we will still have a Global Climate problem. The whole idea, i think i dont want to speak for scientists at the United Nations, but if you read what they say, thats what they believe. Thats why we need this technology. So do you think that the federal government should fund the development and subsidize that technology . Absolutely. And let me tell you why i believe that. So, lets talk about dollars and cents here for a minute, and i made a c in math once and daddy bought me a new bicycle so im not really good at the math here, but i have seen studies that suggest that it would cost 4 trillion, 4 trillion, to go to complete generate electricity solely by renewables in this country. Understand what that means, now. In appalachia and other parts of the country as coal has decli d declined. We have seen some expansion in another area and thats in natural gas and Technology Developed here. Many coal miners who lost their jobs found union jobs putting in pipelines for natural gas to generate electricity. Thousands and thousands of those jobs. Now, i understand what were saying here, if we do what folks are suggesting, we go complete renewables, all of that would go away. Well just stop doing that. Well start all over and well go to complete renewables in ten years. So all those people that have chose jobs now would lose those jobs and thats why many i dont want to speak for anybody else many in the Building Trades have similar thinking to us with respect to that. Yes, if were going to spend 4 trillion to change how we generate electricity, lets spend a trillion dollars and i almost guarantee wed get the technology to solve the worlds problems. Right here. Im with 100 days in appalachia. You said the union invited all the democrats candidates tole ce out and talk to the miners. Could you tell us what accepted so far . I dont have the list, but i can tell you at the time we sent the letter out, i think almost every candidate implied or indicated they would be interested in this. All of what i would call i dont want to offend anybody, but the toptier candidates responded in a positive way. Now, here is a problem we have so we can be clear about this, as you might guess, Coal Companies are not excited about having people who may disagree with them in their coal mines. Were going to have a little bit of a struggle with that. One of the things that were very serious about this, and we want all the people who may someday be president we had a meeting at breakfast, i said, look, someday, the way things look now, if you believe the polling, there is a chance that one of the democrats will end up being president of the United States. And we want whoevers the president , including, by the way, i have one comment id like to make toward the president right now. And its not bad. But we want every candidate wouldbe candidate, anybody who may become president under the plight of the coal miners and what this is doing to appalach a appalachia. Appalachia is struggling mightily, more so than years past. But what i would suggest to you is theres been interest about a toptier candidates that are running for office and we want to take we hope they take us up on this. But i think the president of the United States, who has repeatedly said he loves coal miners, you know if he just tweeted, i mean, just make us 15 seconds of his day, that he felt that coal miners who were entitled to a pension should have it, i think that might be enough. And im not thats a positive thing. Im not being critical of the president by saying that. Im pleading with him to do that. And im, you know, my i know the difference between me and some other i know so many of these people. I mean, when youve got 34,000 people passed away, youve been to a lot of their funerals, you know their widows, you know their kids, you know where they live, thats a world of difference than maybe having millions of members all around the United States and canada. Were confined for the most part to appalachiappalachia. We all know each others families. This is this is really heart wrenching for us to watch this happen. They the good news is they died with the best health care in the world. The bad news is they died worrying themselves sick about whether their widow is going to have a pension to live on. So im asking the president today to consider tweeting for the coal miners of this country. Can i ask a quick followup . [ applause ] has the president done anything beyond tweeting about the pensi pensi pensi pensions . He hasnt tweeted. Oh, i thought you said he had. He hasnt im happy with a tweet. All right. Im penny starr with brigeitbar news. I went to an opening two years ago of a coal nine mine in pennsylvania. I think theres been others that are technologically advanced, cleaner coal production. Also according to the bureau of labor statistics, the employment has remained pretty steady. It was plummeting in under in the last two years its remained steady. Not falling as fast. Can you comment on that, please . I think that if i wasnt clear on that, let me let me give it a try. Whats happened is that the drastic reduction in number of coal mines coal miners in this country has tapered off, but most of the new jobs are in the metological coalfields where we ship coal mostly to other countries to make steel. I wish we were still shipping it to pittsburgh to make steel, but were not because a lot of pie bro my brothers and sisters and steelworkers had jobs in those days. Theyve gotten some jobs back here recently but we most of the growth, what has allowed the Employment Level to stay fairly stagnant here as opposed to dropping, were about 52,000 to 54,000 coal miners in the country, somewhere in that neighborhood, but remember, 7 million in the world. Okay . And, of course, im standing up here worried about the 52,000 that we have. Okay . But its tapered off. It has and we havent had the drastic reduction, but we have had coal fired power plants closing rapidly which is steam coal. Its this meterlogical coal allowed these numbers to stay where they are. I hope that answered your question. This gentleman right here. Hi, cecil. Im with politico. How are you . Good. You mentioned in your opening remarks the situation of black jewel right now. Yeah. For nose wthose who dont kne miners have been camped out for weeks on the train tracks because they werent paid when the mine shut down. The administration did file a brief in Bankruptcy Court saying that the coal should be treated as stolen until the miners are pa paid. What else should the administration do not only to help these miners but to use this as an opportunity to rethink its approach to prevent this from happening again at mines that are in similar situations . Let me let me just point out that senator manchin not only has been fighting for Retirees Health care and pensions, he has a deal pending in the United States senate dealing with bankruptcy, and i forget the republican thats on that right now, but theres a bipartisan bill. Now, what we need is bankruptcy reform. We dont need miners not to get paid. Our current law basically says im practicing law here now our law now says that wages are at the front of the line. Your wages. Thats not happening here because of the speed thats happening that this is moving in Bankruptcy Court. No worker should be paid on a friday, go to the bank and deposit that check and start paying his or her bills and find out the check bounced that they received from their employer, then go back to the employer and find the employers gone. Is that really the way our country should be working . How a democrat, a republican, a liberal, or conservative, could look at that situation and say, yeah, thats okay. Thats just not right. And i dont care where you come from, what kind of accent you got like maybe i do here, but thats wrong. And we should take whatever steps are necessary to fix it and thats really bankruptcy reform. Back here. Yeah. Isabelle, swiss public radio. I also have a question regarding the Harlan County protest. How important is this protest for the coal miners in general . I think one of the things lets talk about that for about five seconds here. Unfortunately, these miners dont have the benefit of a union. However, our people who are in the union in that area have rallied around those folks. They have given them moral support. They have been on the picket line with them. There have theyve done everything they can possibly do to lift up those folks. I know an attorney thats been trying to help them who is a very progressive attorney. He sees a wrong and hes try what is it Bobby Kennedy said, he saw a wrong and tried to right it. Folks know when they see something wrong. I mean, if you are walking up the road and you see somebody thats beaten up, you know they need help. Right . These miners are sitting on a railroad track. Theyve been doing this for weeks now. That speaks you know what that does . It speaks terribly about all of us. Speaks terribly to the laws t s thiss in this country. A terrible image around the world for somebody to be sitting on Railroad Tracks because their check bounced. These people are just gone. Im talking about the employer. Theyre just gone. Theres nothing being done, in my opinion, to help these miners to the degree they should. The only thing thats going to stop this in the future, we ought to be up on capitol hill right now as democrats, republicans, and having a conversation about this. And say is this do we have people on capitol hill that think thats all right . Who are they . It just cant be right. That needs to be fixed. Sorry for the hi, its courtney with argas media. We spoke earlier about the m metalergical jobs that have been added in importance to steel. What are your thoughts on the tariffs . I think for the most part, i think that policymakers, people who are experts, im talki inin about on a broad range here, not on a narrow range, i think these tariffs have helped the Steel Industry in this country because people have gone back to work. Now thats a fact. Thats true. However, if you look at it on a broader range with respect to our economy here in this country, i think theres a lot of people who are really hurting and that comes to mind with respect to that is, to me, our farmers are worried about whats going to happen once these tariffs end. Whether theyre going to have the market that they once enjoyed in places like china, particularly. So, the fear is that these tariffs may trigger a recession and a a trade war here that we really dont need. We ive spoken out on terrible trade deals so many times that i cant count them all. I thought nafta was horrible. And i said that many times. And a lot of the things weve done with respect to trade and agreements weve entered into have been terrible. The question you ask specifically was about the tariffs. Im a little bit concerned they might be getting to the point where theyre a danger to our economy. We just have a couple more minutes. So, we have a gentleman in the back with a question then if we have time, well go to one more. Hi, cecil. Thanks for doing this. Dave jamison with huffington post. As you know anything in the senate has to go through Mitch Mcconnell, when it comes to the multiemployer pension issue, if you guys dont get something passed by next year and theres a viable strong challenger to mcconnell, could you see your unions resources and your members rallying behind that member . I think if you asked Mitch Mcconnell, weve rallied against him almost every election, but i will let me put it in some perspective. Our main goal here is to save our pension plan, and if Mitch Mcconnell wants to be a part of saving our pension plan, i will publicly thank them and say i appreciate it very much and that ought to be helpful to him and his election. If he does not, then we will have to reevaluate that. If you ask Mitch Mcconnell, hed probably tell you that we were the biggest pain in his butt the last couple elections. So i would much prefer senator mcconnell does what he did with the health care. We have one bill, pensions if health care, that passed out of the Senate Finance committee, as i mentioned previously. He pulled the Health Care Part out and supported it. And it passed and 22,600 retirees now have their health care. We want him to do the same thing with pensions and it would be a good thing for him. It would be a good thing for us. But, of course, like everybody else, if we find ourselves after the first of the year in a predicament here, well have to decide what we want to do with respect to that. Im just going to followup quickly. In your opening remarks you mentioned the clean coal bill being killed in the senate, or dying in the senate. How did that die . Was that also senator mcconnell . No. No. Ten years ago, and im not being critical of any one individual because you need 60 votes, obviously. Its a world of difference. Even though democrats control the senate, they didnt have 60 votes to move this and it died. Had this passed ten years ago, actually 2010, i guess its approaching 10 years, we would have had been way down the road here with technology. So if youre not clear on where i stand, before somebody says i dont believe in science or technology, im a great believer in science and technology. The question is, is everybody else a great believer in science and technology . Okay. The last question back here. Hi. Thank you very much for coming here and talking about all these important issues. I just wanted you to address a little bit more can you say who you are . Matthew daley, sorry, with the a. P. I wanted you to address more specifically your criticism or reaction to the Green New Deal and sort of lay out what your concerns are. I think may i make a comment or two . Im not angry at anybody here, by the way, any individual. Im a great respecter of aoc. She met with us. She supports our pension plan. Shes spoken out on this. She said a good start in reconciling everybodys differences here is go down to West Virginia, fix this pension plan. The Pension Plans everywhere. Not just West Virginia, by the way. State my concerns about it. I think we expressed that publicly in letter form here to our members of congress. First of all, trying to do this in ten years seems to be, to me, impossible to do. And its a 4 trillion cost. And were talking about not just eliminating cee ining coal mine pitch would also cost us our pension plan, our retiree Health Care Plan. We are going to leave this, but you can find it online, cspan. Org. As nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine and others are from other countries are holding the 70th annual International Astrona astronautical congress. T