A new documentary recently released follows the lives of coal miners after they are laid off from their jobs, leaving them without insurance or a pension.
“We knew it was coming, we just didn’t know how hard it was gonna be. We’re losin’ everything,” Regina Lilly, wife of a West Virginia coal miner who was laid off after their child was born, said in a new National Geographic documentary about coal mining,” an article by the Business Insider reads.
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The documentary is called “From the Ashes,” and it explores the past, present, and future of coal mining. The documentary is currently on YouTube.
When mining companies move to new locations with cheaper coal, local residents have said they believe that the coal companies have “failed” them.
“In one example portrayed in the documentary, Alpha Natural Resources sent letters to 100 workers about upcoming layoffs. These ‘WARN notices’ are generally sent to workers two months before a round of layoffs, giving them time to find new jobs,” the article reads. “However, some coal workers still face unexpected layoffs …”
A wife of one of the workers said it’s heartbreaking for a community and the workers because not only have they lost their livelihood, they’ve also lost their worker’s pension, retirement plans, their savings – any finances they had in the company – but the company just then files for bankruptcy and so long as they get money in their pockets, they don’t care about the workers who have lost everything.
“In the documentary, Mary Anne Hitt, director of Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign and a West Virginia resident, described the aftermath of a mine layoff as a ‘life and death struggle’ for local communities. She described the scene as one she’s seen time and again, where coal companies ‘want to shed their obligations to workers, that includes pensions and healthcare commitments,’” the article reads.
Hitt goes on to say that not just one worker loses their livelihood when coal mining jobs go, but entire communities do, which makes it harder to bounce back from. She said that it’s happening across the U.S. on an unprecedented scale.
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