Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/524bv.pdf
Page Number: 551.0

524US2

Unit: $U94

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506

EASTERN ENTERPRISES v. APFEL

Opinion of O(cid:146)Connor, J.

beneﬁts to miners and their families. The 1947 NBCWA did
not specify the beneﬁts to which miners and their depend-
ents were entitled.
Instead, three trustees appointed by
the parties were given authority to determine “coverage and
eligibility, priorities among classes of beneﬁts, amounts of
beneﬁts, methods of providing or arranging for provisions
for beneﬁts, investment of trust funds, and all other related
1947 NBCWA 146, App. (CA1) 619.
matters.”

Disagreement over beneﬁts continued, however, leading
to the execution of another NBCWA in 1950, which created
a new multiemployer trust, the United Mine Workers of
America Welfare and Retirement Fund of 1950 (1950 W&R
Fund). The 1950 W&R Fund established a 30-cents-per-ton
royalty on coal produced, payable by signatory operators on
a “several and not joint” basis for the duration of the 1950
Agreement.
1950 NBCWA 63, App. (CA1) 640. As with
the 1947 W&R Fund, the 1950 W&R Fund was governed by
three trustees chosen by the parties and vested with respon-
sibility to determine the level of beneﬁts.
Id., at 59–61,
App. (CA1) 638–639. Between 1950 and 1974, the 1950
NBCWA was amended on occasion, and new NBCWA’s were
adopted in 1968 and 1971. Except for increases in the
amount of royalty payments, however, the terms and struc-
ture of the 1950 W&R Fund remained essentially unchanged.
A 1951 amendment recognized the creation of the Bitumi-
nous Coal Operators’ Association (BCOA), a multiemployer
bargaining association, which became the primary repre-
sentative of coal operators in negotiations with the Union.
See App. (CA1) 647–648.

Under the 1950 W&R Fund, miners and their dependents
were not promised speciﬁc beneﬁts. As the 1950 W&R
Fund’s Annual Report for the ﬁscal year ending June 30,
1955, explained:

“Under the legal and ﬁnancial obligations . . . imposed
[by the Trust Agreement], the Fund is operated on
a pay-as-you-go basis, maintaining a sound relation-