Evening star., 1948-08-22
Coal Miner Pensions
To Begin Next Month,
Ending Long Dispute
By the Associcted Press

Aged coal miners Will start re-
ce'ving pensions next month, mark
ing an end to one of the famous
Ia encouragement struggles of mod
eTn times.
Cfticials of the United Mine Work.
e; Welfare Fund made the an
ncuncement yesterday.
They have mailed to all local
unions the application forms to be
used by eligible miners in the BIZ
luminous coal industry who have
retired or want to retire. They ex-
pect to mail out the first checks
in September.
The amount will be 500 month.
Service Must Total 20 Years.
To be eligible, a miner must be 62
years or older. He must have total
of 20 years service in the coal in
dustry. He must be a member of
the United Mine Workers.
And if he has already retired, he
gets pension only if his retirement
came after May %, 1916. If he re-
tired on that date or earlier, he gets
no pension.
Those were the terms of the agree
ment of April II between John L.
Lewis and Senator Bridges, Republi-
can, of New Hampshire, constituting
a two-man majority of the three
man board of trustees for the We'll
fare Fund
The third man, Coal Operator
Ezra Van Horn, sued to stop pension
payments under this plan, and did
delay them, but Justice T. Alan
Goldsborough in District Court
found June % that the plan was
legal, reasonable and proper"
Miners Out a Month.
The bituminouS coal miners, who
number about 100000, were on strike
for a month, in March and April,
because of the failure to agree on
the method of paying pensions out
of the Welfare Fund.
Justice Goldsborough, on that
occasion, fined Mr.. Lewis and the
union for contempt of court because
they were slow in obeying court
order to end the strike
Yesterday the unions news bu-
reau said in its statement concern
ing the beginning of pensions:
Thus, after more than two years
of battling across the negotiating
table and through the courts, the
dream of John L. Lewis, president
of the United Mine Workers of
America, is about to become real
ity.
This was the dream to bring
some dignity and security to tired
and aged coal miners who had spent
their lives underground in the
never-ending and thankless quest
for coal to keep the American econ
omy alive"
Nobody at the funds Offices SEEM
ed to know how many miners are
eligible for pensions At least they
could not provide an estimate.
Nobody pretends to know how
many of the eligibles will choose to
retire and live on their $100 a month
for the rest of their lives The
present monthly wage of bitumin-
GUS coal miner runs about $3.50.
Pensions will be paid to anthracite
miners, too, but that is from a diff
ferent fund and those payments
will start later.
The bituminous welfare fund now
contains more than $5O,0OO00
Death and disability benefits are
already being paid from it,
Until July /, the fund was fed
by the payment-by the operators
of royalty of 10 cents a ton of
coal. Now it is 20 cents a ton. This
increase was the major gain won
by Mr.. Lewis in the 1948 coal agree
ment reached June 25. !
Some to Get Retroactive Pay.
At 20 cents, the royalties will
amount to about $100,00O,000 year,
perhaps $120,000,O0O, depending on
the annual coal production.
Some miners over 62 years old
who have retired since May %,
1916, will get a nice amount of
money in one chunk. That is be-
cause their pensions will be paid
retroactively to the date of retire.
ment.
When a retired miner reaches 65
he gets Social Security benefits,
ranging from about $50 to $40 a |
month, in addition to his S100 UNIV
pension. If he has wife IS or over,
his Social Security benefit may run
higher.
According to the regulations, re-
tired miners will stop receiving |