Opinion ID: 490900
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the operators' policy

Text: 20 The two operators in this case, Peabody and Jim Walter, are parties, along with the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), to the National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement of 1981 (Agreement). Article XVII(d) of the Agreement provides that 21 Employees who are idle because of a reduction in the working force shall be placed on a panel from which they shall be returned to employment on the basis of seniority as outlined in section (a). 22 Article XVII(a) of the Agreement defines seniority as length of service and the ability to step into and perform the work of the job at the time the job is awarded. 23 During the summer of 1981, Peabody notified individuals on layoff from mines in its Eastern Division 31 that they were responsible for keeping their MSHA training certification up-to-date. 32 Jim Walter instituted a similar policy. As a result Peabody and Jim Walter passed over a number of individuals who had reached the top of the recall list but lacked the necessary training or work experience to qualify under the MSHA regulations as experienced miners and therefore could not begin working without first receiving new miner training (which would entail a delay of 40 work hours for underground miners and 8 work hours for surface miners). 33 Each operator believed that its conduct in bypassing these new miners complied with Article XVII of the Agreement because, due to MSHA's training requirements, only newly employed experienced miners were qualified to step into and perform the work of the job at the time the job [was] awarded. (Emphasis added.) 24 In order to avoid being bypassed when they reached the top of the recall list for jobs in which they did not qualify as experienced miners, laid-off individuals would have to obtain new miner training, on their own, from an educational or state institution that had been approved by MSHA to provide such training. Peabody, but not Jim Walter, compensated recalled employees for the training costs they incurred. Having required that laid-off individuals obtain this training before being recalled, the operators ensured that they would need to provide only the minesite-specific training required by the regulations.