Reforming Federal Bankruptcy Laws

In the coming weeks Keep the Promise to the Coal Miners will be joining forces with the United Mine Workers of America in a campaign to Reform Federal Bankruptcy Laws which are destroying our economy and countless lives of workers, retirees and communities.

On August 31 in Lexington, Kentucky despite three protest rallies and much public outcry, U.S. Federal Judge William S. Howard granted Horizon Natural Resources bankruptcy request
leaving thousands of coal miners, some sick from black lung disease, without health care.



The judge ruled that Horizon Natural Resources, the nation's fourth largest coal company, does not have to honor union contracts that guaranteed benefits for 1,000 active miners and some 2,300 retirees.



The nation's flawed federal bankruptcy laws are not only hurting Horizon coal miners, but also the dreams of workers across the nation at companies like Enron, WorldCom and Bethlehem and Weirton Steel. The reality in America today is that people can work hard all their lives to earn a good pension, health care and other benefits but with just one stroke of a pen, a bankruptcy judge can take it all away–and the practice is alarmingly becoming more and more common. While it is true a lot of important issues will be debated during the course of the upcoming election season, near the top of every working person's list should be the need for our elected officials to reform America's bankruptcy laws–and our labor laws. If genuine reform does not happen, more and more working Americans will soon end up in the same boat as the Horizon Natural Resources employees and retirees.



Thankfully, the UMWA’s efforts to highlight the need for reform of America’s bankruptcy laws have not gone unnoticed. Our friends in Congress are now contacting us to ask what they can do to help. At our Aug. 31, 2004 rally in Lexington, Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Ill., addressed the crowd, telling them that what is happening is wrong and strongly supporting our calls for reform. And Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., has recently issued statements saying he intends to introduce legislation that addresses the anti-worker bias of America’s bankruptcy laws. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., and Reps. Ted Strickland, D-Ohio, and Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., are also pledging to help.



Keep the Promise to the Coal Miners is pledging its support to the Reforming Federal Bankruptcy Laws campaign and will be there every step of the way with the UMWA and others seeking to end the injustice of Corporate Bankruptcy in this country.



Keep checking this site and we hope to have information on the launch of a Reform Bankruptcy Laws dot.com website, petitions and activism links.