LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) -- Blackjewel miners are in their third month on the tracks of Harlan County, Kentucky. They’re waiting for the money they earned before the company closed. A Democratic State Senator is pitching a plan to prevent another Blackjewel and close a "loophole" in Kentucky law, but a member of his own party who is running for governor insists that the real problem is not in the current law.
On the campaign trail recently, Andy Beshear, a Democrat running for governor, insisted that the current law is clear. He points to the Labor Cabinet’s "incompetence" in not enforcing it.
"There are over 200 miners in Eastern Kentucky right now that haven't been paid for their work because of the incompetence of the Labor Cabinet,” Beshear told a crowd of labor supporters. “So, to that Labor Cabinet secretary, Secretary Dickerson, let me hear you say, ‘You're fired!’”
The crowd responded loudly, “You’re fired!”
That moment, on Monday, took place at the Louisville Labor Day event where Mr. Beshear continued his call for Secretary Dickerson to lose his job. He first demanded Dickerson be fired after news broke that the Blackjewel miners had taken to the tracks in Harlan County.
Their paychecks bounced and the company closed in July.
The situation is tied up in bankruptcy court as the miners stand their ground.
State Senator Johnny Ray Turner, of the 29th District, a Democrat like Beshear, pre-filed a bill he said will close a loophole in state law.
That loophole, he claims, meant Blackjewel could operate without a performance bond. Performance bonds are set aside to pay employees if mines like Blackjewel go belly-up.
Friday, we asked Andy Beshear about that bill.
“There aren't loopholes,” he insisted. “The law tells the Labor Cabinet that they have a duty to get a performance bond from any company engaged in mining. Every company engaged in mining has to apply for permits with the same administration. This Labor Cabinet secretary had a duty to go out, to figure out which company needed to get them--my office did it in two days--and then to require them to step up and do it.”
This week, Secretary Dickerson sent a letter to the media, addressed to Andy Beshear, explaining that the cabinet “can in no way compel a company to post a performance bond. It can only fine them for not having one."
Today, over the phone, Senator Turner told us that he believes there indeed is a loophole.
“I think that it should close the glitch, or the loophole or whatever you want to call it, that caused this administration or the prior administration not to enforce that law,” said Turner.
Blackjewel's assets are being purchased through bankruptcy court. Miners vow to stay on the tracks until they get their backpay.
They hope the new company will make good on the bounced paychecks, reopen the mine and hire some of them back.