April 10, 2021 - A tentative agreement between the United Mine Workers of America and Brookwood-based Warrior Met Coal Inc. was rejected Friday in a vote of union members.

This means that the strike by more than 1,100 miners that began April 1 will continue.

“Our members made it clear that the tentative agreement was not sufficient enough to make up for the sacrifices made in 2016,” said UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts in a statement announcing the rejected deal. “So, the UMWA will continue to strike at Warrior Met until an agreement can be reached that provides these miners what they deserve.

Coal miners in Brookwood went on strike April after the UMWA failed to reach an agreement with Warrior Met Coal Inc. 

Photo: Luigi W. Morris via UMWA

“This is a democratic union. The membership has the final say in what their collective bargaining agreements look like.”

Roberts said the Warrior Met Coal miners will have the full support of UMWA District 20 and the International union as negotiations will now continue with the company.

A supporter stands in solidarity with striking coal miners in Brookwood after the United Mine Workers of America failed to reach an agreement with Warrior Met Coal Inc.

Citing unfair labor practices, the miners took to the picket line earlier this month after an agreement between the union members and Warrior Met Coal could not be reached.

A tentative agreement was announced April 6, but its ratification, in accordance with the UMWA's  constitution, was dependent on a vote of the union members.

The union said it would not release details of the agreement until its members have heard them and held a ratification vote. As of 7:30 p.m. Friday, those details were still not released.

Warrior Met Coal, meanwhile, has maintained from the beginning of the strike that its negotiation position has been meant to protect itself as well as the long-term employment of its 1,400 or so workers.

"Throughout the negotiations process with the United Mine Workers of America, Warrior Met Coal’s vision has remained on the future," the company said through Erin Vogt, director of public relations for Birmingham-based PERITUS public relations, "a future where we provide our employees with a competitive package while protecting jobs and the longevity of the company and its workforce.

"We have always valued and appreciated our employees’ hard work and our priorities remain keeping people employed with long-lasting careers and ensuring Warrior Met Coal remains financially stable in a particularly volatile coal market."

A supporter stands in solidarity with striking coal miners in Brookwood.

Photo: Luigi W. Morris via UMWA

Warrior Met Coal, which focuses primarily on the mining of nonthermal metallurgical coal for use in the steel production process by manufacturers in Europe, South America and Asia, was created following the 2015 bankruptcy of Jim Walter Resources and its parent company, Walter Energy.

That year, Walter Energy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, indicating it had around $3 billion in debt with its major holdings in the state being the Jim Walter Resources underground coal mines in Brookwood as well as the rights to unmined coal fields elsewhere in Tuscaloosa and neighboring counties.

In January 2016, the Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Alabama approved the sale of Walter Energy to Warrior Met Coal, then operating as Coal Acquisition LLC, which was formed by Walter Energy’s senior creditors during the bankruptcy proceedings.

Warrior Met Coal went on to hire more than 1,000 miners in 18 months, including 350 hourly miners and 150 salaried employees for a new, $19 million portal facility on the company’s No. 7 mine, and last year the company announced another 350 new jobs with an investment of more than $500 million with plans to construct and develop a new underground coal mining facility off Brandon School Road in north Tuscaloosa County.

Warrior Met recently reported a loss of about $35 million for last year compared to net income of $302 million for 2019. Citing uncertainty created by the global pandemic, the company did not release financial guidance for 2021.