CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Observers of corporate bankruptcies say the ruling in the Patriot Coal case will open the door to other corporations that want to shed retiree obligations.

In a controversial decision Wednesday, a bankruptcy judge in Missouri ruled that the coal company could slash health and pension benefits as it restructures.

Economist Teresa Ghilarducci says Patriot has been especially aggressive about using the bankruptcy process to break the retiree parts of employee contracts, but it's not just Patriot.

"In fact there are many bankruptcy situations in which it seems that the primary reason the troubled company is going all the way to bankruptcy is in order to shed those obligations," she says.

The decision could allow Patriot to eliminate healthcare benefits for more than 20,000 retired miners and family members.

Patriot Coal says it has to slash costs to remain viable. The United Mine Workers says the company planned to abandon the retirees from the day it was founded in 2007.

The Patriot retirees could end up in a public healthcare trust administered by the mineworkers union. The federal government's Pension Benefits Guarantee Corporation has absorbed the pensions of other bankrupt companies. Both have been under-funded.

Sean O'Leary, policy analyst with the West Virginia Center On Budget & Policy, says retirees might end up having to depend on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid – all part of a shift of costs from the company to taxpayers.

"A shift from what was a private business providing a pension to people on public services,” he points out. “And the end result of that creates a great deal of strain on our public services."

O'Leary adds the background to this story is a falling number of good paying industrial jobs and a decline in union membership. He says that tilts contract negotiations, and legal fights, in favor of the corporations.

"Fewer and fewer employees covered by unions,” he says, “that not only are there fewer companies offering those benefits, but it's possible for those who have those benefits to have those taken away. That could be a scary thing for a state like West Virginia."





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LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nearly seven in ten Americans say billionaires are not paying their fair share in taxes, according to a new survey.

Among likely voters, 65% support taxing the ultrarich's stock-market gains.

Morris Pearl, board chair of the group Patriotic Millionaires, said raising taxes on the nation's wealthiest residents is an important first step in reducing decades of growing economic inequality.

"The vast majority of Americans support having rich people -- who pay almost no taxes -- pay the same tax rates as people who work for a living," Pearl reported. "Have money deducted from your paychecks every single week for taxes."

The Data for Progress survey showed strong support for raising taxes on the rich across party lines, but Congressional Republicans have consistently rejected tax increases on the wealthy, and moderate Democrats recently defeated a proposal to fund President Joe Biden's Build Back Better plan by taxing some 700 billionaires, calling it an attack on the nation's biggest philanthropists and job creators.

A recent ProPublica report exposed how many of the richest Americans pay zero in federal taxes through a variety of loopholes, all legal.

Pearl pointed out making the nation a place where everyone has an opportunity to succeed is a lot harder than raising money to put someone's name on a new concert hall.

"But we also need a lot of other things," Pearl emphasized. "We need sewage-treatment centers. We need schools in parts of the country where people who work for a living actually live and want to send their kids to good schools. We need hospitals. We need a lot of things that philanthropy doesn't pay for."

Pearl pointed to the nation's opioid epidemic as one devastating example of what can happen when people face a rigged system every day and lose hope. He contended too many Nebraskans who pay taxes cannot get ahead, and they worry their children will not fare any better.

"It's because of the gross inequality that our civil society is falling apart," Pearl argued. "We need to change what is making our inequality get worse and worse and worse, before everyone just gives up on America."

HOUSTON, Texas -- Minority-owned businesses across the South are benefitting from a program designed to help them get back on their feet post-pandemic.

The Southern Opportunity and Resilience (SOAR) Fund, is assisting businesses and nonprofits rebuild.

Chandon Gordon owns Houston's GFN Hippy, a small business that coordinates housing for traveling nurses. When the need for housing exploded at the start of the pandemic, Gordon was able to furnish and lease housing to traveling nurses with a low-interest Resilience Fund loan after being denied credit from traditional sources.

"And they were really able to look inside our organization and say, 'You do deserve this, you do need this, this will help you, and we want to see your business thrive,'" Gordon recounted.

Gordon explained GFN Hippy also used the loan to cover payroll and purchase laptops.

As of mid-November, $11 million had been distributed from the Resilience Fund in 14 states to nearly 250 small businesses with owners who self-identify as a woman or a person of color.

Caroline Yarborough, strategy officer at Calvert Impact Capital, the SOAR fund arranger, said most of the businesses receiving help are at risk of being left behind.

"Almost 90% of SOAR fund loans to date have been to businesses with 10 or fewer full-time employees," Yarborough pointed out. "Helping them retool, figure out how to rebuild and operate in the new reality."

As a minority, LGBTQ business owner, Gordon said it was important to provide certified and registered traveling nurses with a safe place to stay.

"They're really looking for a safe, comfortable place," Gordon emphasized. "We focus on making sure that our units are no further than about 15 minutes away from the Texas Medical Center, and they can really get to know the city of Houston."

Supported small businesses have included restaurants, early-childhood centers, health service providers, local produce farms, construction contractors and retail stores.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A new group aims to bridge racial and geographic divides between Missouri workers, to help bring economic prosperity to everyone.

The newly launched Missouri Workers Center has said it's pushing back against stereotypes and myths that can divide workers who share common interests.

The group was joined at its first event by Heather McGhee, author of "The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together." She said there is, in her words, "a lie" that prosperity for some has to come at the expense of others. McGhee said it's being used to pit groups against each other - so, fighting for fair working conditions and combating racism go hand in hand.

"Forty percent of American workers are paid too little to meet their basic needs for things like housing and food," she said. "One percent of the population owns more wealth than the entire middle class."

Missouri's minimum wage is $10.30 an hour, after voters in 2018 approved a ballot initiative increasing the minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2023. It previously was $7.85. The Missouri Workers Center has said it will advocate for such policies as paid leave and better working conditions.

Terrence Wise, a leader with the Missouri Workers Center who works at a McDonald's location in Kansas City, said prior to his introduction to organizing for a better wage, his workplace was segregated by the misperceptions that if Black workers are thriving, white workers are losing - or if immigrant workers are thriving, U.S.-born workers must be missing out.

"Not realizing that the time that we didn't sign each other's paychecks, we didn't write policy and legislation that dictate how our everyday lives were," he said. "All that was above us - the corporations, the elected leaders."

Wise added that it was important to realize that workers have to come together to demand change. In his own career, he said it's made the difference of earning $16 an hour instead of less than $8. Wise said campaigns such as "Fight for 15 and a Union" are making similar progress across the nation.