Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/524bv.pdf
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524US2

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Cite as: 524 U. S. 498 (1998)

511

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

amount of royalties, to a form of deﬁned beneﬁt obligation,
under which employers were to fund speciﬁc beneﬁts.

Despite the 1978 changes, the Beneﬁt Plans continued to
suffer ﬁnancially as costs increased and employers who had
signed the 1978 NBCWA withdrew from the agreement,
either to continue in business with nonunion employees or to
exit the coal business altogether. As more and more coal
operators abandoned the Beneﬁt Plans, the remaining signa-
tories were forced to absorb the increasing cost of covering
retirees left behind by exiting employers. A spiral soon de-
veloped, with the rising cost of participation leading more
employers to withdraw from the Beneﬁt Plans, resulting in
In 1988,
more onerous obligations for those that remained.
the UMWA and BCOA attempted to relieve the situation by
imposing withdrawal liability on NBCWA signatories who
seceded from the Beneﬁt Plans. See 1988 NBCWA, Art.
XX, §§ (i) and ( j), App. (CA1) 805, 828–829. Even so, by
1990, the 1950 and 1974 Beneﬁt Plans had incurred a deﬁcit
of about $110 million, and obligations to beneﬁciaries were
continuing to surpass revenues. See House Report 9; Coal
Comm’n Report 43–44, App. (CA1) 1373–1374.

B

In response to unrest among miners, such as the lengthy
strike that followed Pittston Coal Company’s refusal to sign
the 1988 NBCWA, Secretary of Labor Elizabeth Dole an-
nounced the creation of the Advisory Commission on United
Mine Workers of America Retiree Health Beneﬁts (Coal
Commission or Commission). The Coal Commission was
charged with “recommend[ing] a solution for ensuring that
orphan retirees in the 1950 and 1974 Beneﬁt Trusts will con-
tinue to receive promised medical care.” Coal Comm’n Re-
port 2, App. (CA1) 1333. The Commission explained that
“[h]ealth care beneﬁts are an emotional subject in the coal
industry, not only because coal miners have been promised