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Page Number: 553.0

524US2

Unit: $U94

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EASTERN ENTERPRISES v. APFEL

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

persons involved in the coal industry may have made occa-
sional statements intimating that the 1950 W&R Fund prom-
ised lifetime health beneﬁts, see App. (CA1) 1899, 1971–1972,
it is clear that the 1950 W&R Fund did not, by its terms,
guarantee lifetime health beneﬁts for retirees and their de-
In fact, as to widows of miners, the 1950 W&R
pendents.
Fund expressly limited health beneﬁts to the time period
during which widows would also receive death beneﬁts.
See, e. g., Robinson, supra, at 565–566; 1956 Annual Report
14, App. (CA1) 913.

Between 1950 and 1974, the trustees often exercised their
prerogative to alter the level of beneﬁts according to the
In 1960, for instance, “[t]he Trustees of the
Fund’s budget.
Fund, recognizing their legal and ﬁscal obligation to soundly
administer the Trust Fund, took action prior to the close
of the ﬁscal year, to curtail the excess of expenditures over
income,” by “limit[ing] or terminat[ing] eligibility for [cer-
tain] Trust Fund Beneﬁts.”
1960 Annual Report 2, App.
(CA1) 1011. Similar concerns prompted the trustees to re-
duce monthly pension beneﬁts by 25% at one point, and to
limit the range of medical and pension beneﬁts available to
miners employed by operators who did not pay the required
royalties. See 1961 Annual Report 2, 11–12, App. (CA1)
1044, 1053–1054; 1963 Annual Report 13, 16, App. (CA1)
1121, 1124.

Reductions in beneﬁts were not always acceptable to the
miners, and some wildcat strikes erupted in the 1960’s. See
Secretary of Labor’s Advisory Commission on United Mine
Workers of America Retiree Health Beneﬁts, Coal Commis-
sion Report 22–23 (1990) (Coal Comm’n Report), App. (CA1)

1080; 1950 W&R Fund Annual Report for the Year Ending June 30, 1963
(1963 Annual Report), p. 5, App. (CA1) 1113; 1950 W&R Fund Annual
Report for the Year Ending June 30, 1964, p. 8, App. (CA1) 1146; 1950
W&R Fund Annual Report for the Year Ending June 30, 1965, p. 18, App.
(CA1) 1191; 1950 W&R Fund Annual Report for the Year Ending June 30,
1966 (1966 Annual Report), p. 19, App. (CA1) 1223.