After Warrior Met Coal strike, miners’ union, AFL-CIO urge reforms from stockholders

The union that organized the longest strike in Alabama history, along with the AFL-CIO, is urging stockholders of Warrior Met Coal to support a package of proposals it says would eliminate some of the conditions that resulted in the strike.

The United Mine Workers of America today announced the slate of proposals for the company’s April 25 shareholders meeting.

The UMWA’s members conducted a strike against Warrior Met between April 1, 2021, and February 16, 2023, when the union issued an unconditional return to work. The union and company are continuing to negotiate a new contract, after the old one expired three years ago.

Last year, an NLRB Administrative Law Judge found that Warrior Met had engaged in unfair labor practices in contract negotiations leading up to the strike.

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the UMWA and AFL-CIO estimate that Warrior Met had $1.3 billion less potential revenue between 2021 and 2023 compared to the company’s levels of production before the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. The union also estimates the company incurred a little less than $100 million in idle mine and business interruption expenses associated with the strike, all at a time when the price of metallurgical coal surged globally.

Among the proposed policies, all of which would be non-binding and advisory, are a requirement for stockholder approval of “golden parachutes” for executive severance, and an independent assessment of the company’s “respect” for workers’ rights and collective bargaining.

“In our view, Warrior Met’s poor labor relations have cost the company’s stockholders and coal miners dearly while its management has been insulated from these costs,” UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts said.

“We believe that the strike could have been avoided had Warrior Met’s management negotiated in good faith to reach a mutually beneficial agreement with the UMWA and its unionized workforce.”

Other reforms include a policy requiring stockholder approval of “poison pill” provisions to discourage acquisitions, and stockholder approval of “blank check” preferred stock for antitakeover purposes. The policy would also include a “proxy access” bylaw provision.

“Having an entrenched corporate management is never a good thing for the sustainable financial performance of a company,” Carin Zelenko, Director of Capital Strategies for the AFL-CIO. “Our stockholder proposals seek to better align the interests of Warrior Met’s management with the long-term interests of the company, its investors, and employees.”

In February, the company’s board of directors adopted new limits on its executive severance benefits.