Kentucky coal miners block CSX train because they haven’t been paid
Written by David C. Lester, Editor-in-Chief
The Lexington Herald-Ledger reports that a group of coal miners, all employees of Quest Energy (a subsidiary of American Resources Corporation, or ARC) are blocking a coal train from leaving a mine in protest of not having been paid since late December. The miners have calculated that each of them are owed between $2,000 and $3,000, approximately two weeks pay. Some miners said they had worked 17-hour shifts during this pay period.
ARC says many of these claims are wrong. The company said that it does not allow its employees to work 17-hour shifts, and that the most it owes any of the miners is for eight days of work.
ARC said “We value the employees greatly for their work and their future work. Given the challenging markets we are focused on ensuring the longevity of the employment for all the men and women of our organization.”
One of the miners said “We just want paid, that’s it. We don’t want to block this train, but it comes to a point that we have to. You go three weeks without a payday, you gonna let that train go through here so they can put the money in their pocket and just say to heck with us? No, they can’t do that.”
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