November 1, 2025 - The torch has been passed in one of the Nation’s best known and longest standing Labor Organizations.

Brian Sanson has become the new President of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA).

Sanson was sworn in as the 16th President of the Union at the UMWA Special Convention in St. Louis this week and replaces long-time Union head Cecil Roberts.

“You can’t replace a legend, you can only follow them,” Sanson said.

“The first thing he did was had them name me President Emeritus for Life, so I guess I still got some kind of a title,” laughed Roberts soon after Sanson took the reins.

However, the two have a long history and Roberts has been long impressed with Sanson’s leadership ability, business acumen and his intelligence.

“He’s extremely smart, a hard Worker and he’s extremely dedicated. I’ve got twenty some years with him and I have complete confidence in his ability to be President of the United Mine Workers,” Roberts said.

Sanson, who started in the coal mines in 1995, went to work in the Union’s Retraining Program in District 17 to help Miners who had been laid off train for work in other industries.

Roberts hired Sanson to come to Washington and work for the International Union and he was viewed as instrumental in the fight to protect pensions and health care benefits for Union Retirees.

Roberts even credited Sanson as one of the architects of the plan which eventually protected those benefits permanently.