Retraining for ‘life after coal mining’ Posted

Retraining for ‘life after coal mining’
Posted: Oct 16, 2012 3:59 PM
Updated: Oct 17, 2012 6:38 AM
By Taylor Kuykendall, Reporte 

Retraining for ‘life after coal mining’
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After years of waking up nearly every morning to head to the coal mine, hundreds to thousands of West Virginians are facing an unknown – life after coal mining.

The high-paying profession is the backbone of the way of life in much of West Virginia, particularly in the southern coalfields. Recent announcements of mass layoffs and mine closures have convinced many who grew up in coal that the rollercoaster that is the industry has already hit its peak.

One miner seeking help is Michael Hawkins, a former Alpha Natural Resources employee who lost his job in January. He said he was asked to help set up some tables one day, and then they told him "bye."

Hawkins is supporting three children, picking up scrap metal from nearby creeks "just to get food on my table."

"I don't want to leave the state of West Virginia," Hawkins said. "I've been a coal miner for 11 years. For them to just shut me down like that, I don't think it's right. I think we should have a better system for protecting coal miners."

Picking up scrap metal isn't paying the bills the way coal mining did. He said after a long session of loading up scrap metal, he can hope for about $30 to $40 per truck load.

Although he has mined coal for a large portion of his life, he said he wouldn't recommend it for future generations.

Looking at retraining, Hawkins said he wants to become a diesel mechanic.

Hawkins said he is angry. Angry with Charleston and angry with Washington, D.C. He's even angry at Alpha, the company where he was employed because they "did nothing" to help him after letting him go.

"I should have punched them in the face," he said. "I'm not going to lie to you. I should have, but what can you do? If you punch somebody on mine property, you're going to lose your license. I don't want to lose my license."

Why not? Because to this day, after long periods of picking scrap metal out of a creek because he lost his job from a company he claims did nothing for him in an industry he wouldn't recommend to his kids, Hawkins said the money would bring him back.

"If they called me today, I'd go back today," Hawkins said.

He said he is fed up.

"I'm tired of picking up scrap metal out of the creek, picking up old batteries," he said. "I'm tired of it. I wasn't made for it. I put 11 years underground, so why can't I go back underground?"

Hawkins, who lives in Chapmanville, said he's not overly hopeful of either presidential candidate.

"If Obama gets in there, it's just going to worse," he said. "If the other one gets in there, I don't know his name, but I don't think it's going to get any better. I think coal is over. I really do."

Under a National Emergency Grant awarded to Workforce West Virginia, coal miners laid off after March 1 and covered by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act are eligible for job training to prepare for coal jobs outside of the mines. Participants can receive up to $5,000 for classroom training.

Despite hundreds of layoffs in the industry, just over 20 miners showed up for the first informational session on the grant.

Workforce West Virginia was sponsoring training sessions to provide information to eligible workers Tuesday at Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College in Logan. It was holding additional sessions Wednesday at Bridgemont Community and Technical College in Montgomery and New River Community and Technical College in Ghent.

Lisa Hatcher, dean of New River CTC, attended the event In Logan. She said there are a number of training programs in a number of fields. Miners, she said, may be nervous, but they can be assured they will have opportunities in the future.

"Any time you have a major change in your life, there's a lot of apprehension," Hatcher said. "… There's no reason to sit back and think there is no light at the end of the tunnel. There is, and it can be achieved in just six to nine months."

Brett Dillon, director of the United Mine Workers of America's Career Center office in Beckley, mined coal himself for years. When he lost his job he learned to drive a truck. Now he helps people who are dismissed from an industry in decline.

"It's a total shock," he said. "What I told my people was there's life after coal mining. There's other things out there. That's how we as counselors can relate and what we tell them. They need someone to take their hands and guide them."

The program trains workers only for "in-demand" occupations, Dillon said, such as electrical trades, welding, mechanics, heavy equipment operating, medicine and truck driving. Some of the skills may even make the miner more employable should coal mining jobs open up again.

"Even though we're training to get them into another occupations, there's nothing saying they can't go back into coal mining," Dillon said.

The disruption of what has become routine, Dillon said, is something he identifies with in the coal miners seeking help.

"They don't what to do, which way to turn or anything. They need help. They need someone to help navigate them, and that's where we come in," Dillon said. "I understand where they're coming from. I can sympathize with them and tell them, I've been there too."

Unfortunately, the training likely won't restore what many miners are accustomed to – high salaries. Starting salaries just south of $100,000 per year just out of high school are what drew many to the mines from the start.

"There's very few jobs in West Virginia that pays what a coal miner makes or better," Dillon said. "Chances are, it's going to be less pay, but if they make a sustainable wage to support there families – and we can also offer the spouse training as a displaced homemaker. We can pay for her training also."

Single-income households in the coalfields are not uncommon as miners' wages have allowed many to live comfortably with just once source of pay. This may be changing as West Virginia coal jobs become scarcer.

Dillon said the training grant covers not only spouses but also dependent adult children who depended on eligible miners' incomes.

Coal mining jobs have historically been volatile, carefully tracking a fickle market dependent on weather and other business and political factors. Dillon, as many involved in coal, is beginning to worry about the recent round of layoffs. Dillon is particularly concerned with environmental regulations and low natural gas prices competing with coal-fired plants.

"I want to say this coal mine job loss is temporary, that they'll come back," he said. "History has shown coal mining is up and down, up and down. This time, I don't know."

The UMWA is trying to help many people as it can – union or non-union. Dillon said coal miners are in a family that doesn't discriminate against its own.

"I haven't mined coal in 14 years, but I'm still a coal miner," Dillon said. "I still think like a coal miner. I still act like a coal miner. I'm proud of where I come from."

Would he recommend coal mining to a younger generation?

"Want an honest answer on that?" Dillon asked, pausing before answering. "No. I have two sons and they aren't in coal mining. I never once encouraged them to go. They didn't want to go."

It's not just the dangers of the mines that have long concerned parents. Coal miner Dillon said the problem is also job stability and health issues.

"If you worked in the mines 20 years, you have got black lung," Dillon said. "You've probably got COPD. There's no such thing as a dust-free coal mine. There's dust in there regardless."

With layoffs increasing, many officials are beginning to wonder what needs to be done. The grant Dillon is working with will be able to reach a maximum of about 850 coal miners.

He said too many in the political arena are working without a willingness to budge from their position. That stubbornness, he said, is costing jobs in the coalfields.

In the meantime, does Dillon think enough is being done to brace southern West Virginia for a loss of coal jobs?

"I don't know if you can do enough to prepare for less coal mining," Dillon said.