Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/524bv.pdf
Page Number: 550

524US2

Unit: $U94

[09-11-00 13:26:39] PAGES PGT: OPLG

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

505

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

strike, President Truman issued an Executive order di-
recting Secretary of the Interior Julius Krug to take pos-
session of all bituminous coal mines and to negotiate “appro-
priate changes in the terms and conditions of employment”
of miners with the UMWA.
11 Fed. Reg. 5593 (1946). A
week of negotiations between Secretary Krug and UMWA
President John L. Lewis produced the historic Krug-Lewis
Agreement that ended the strike. See App. in No. 96–1947
(CA1), p. 610 (hereinafter App. (CA1)).

That agreement, described as “an almost complete victory
for the miners,” M. Fox, United We Stand 405 (1990), led
to the creation of beneﬁt funds, ﬁnanced by royalties on
coal produced and payroll deductions. The funds compen-
sated miners and their dependents and survivors for wages
lost due to disability, death, or retirement. The funds also
provided for the medical expenses of miners and their
dependents, with the precise beneﬁts determined by
UMWA-appointed trustees.
In addition, the Krug-Lewis
Agreement committed the Government to undertake a com-
prehensive survey of the living conditions in coal mining
areas in order to assess the improvements necessary to bring
those communities up to “recognized American standards.”
Krug-Lewis Agreement § 5, App. (CA1) 613. That study
concluded that the medical needs of miners and their depend-
ents would be more effectively served through “a broad
prepayment system, based on sound actuarial principles.”
Boone Report 226–227.

Shortly after the study was issued, the mines returned to
private control and the UMWA and several coal operators
entered into the National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement
of 1947 (1947 NBCWA), App. (CA1) 615, which established
the United Mine Workers of America Welfare and Retire-
ment Fund (1947 W&R Fund), modeled after the Krug-
Lewis beneﬁt trusts. The Fund was to use the proceeds of
a royalty on coal production to provide pension and medical