By Associated Press
Birmingham, AL – Almost a thousand miners working at three Jim Walter Resources coal mines in Alabama will get 20 percent pay raises and one-thousand-dollar bonuses under a new, five-year contract announced Wednesday. The United Mine Workers of America said the agreement mirrors the national contract negotiated last month between the union and the Bituminous Coal Operators Association.
Underground miners at the top pay level will earn 24 dollars and 42 cents per hour in the last year of the contract. The training rate for new miners will be 22 dollars and 77 cents per hour in the last year of the agreement. The one-thousand-dollar bonus will be paid immediately. The contract also includes agreements in insurance coverage. The union represents nearly one-thousand coal miners at three underground mines operated by Jim Walter Resources in Tuscaloosa County.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)