The longtime normal counsel for the United Mine Staff of America labor union has died.
Charles “Chuck” Donnelly, 71, of Winfield, West Virginia, died on Wednesday, based on an obituary printed Friday.
His reason for dying has not been launched and makes an attempt to talk along with his members of the family and UMWA president Cecil Roberts had been unsuccessful.
However Roberts stated Thursday in a assertion that Donnelly “left us peacefully” and that the UMWA was mourning his dying.
“Chuck was a Marine veteran who served our nation in combat in Vietnam. He was a brilliant labor lawyer whose dedication to treating workers fairly made the lives of countless UMWA members and their families better throughout his long career in West Virginia and at the UMWA’s International headquarters in Virginia,” Roberts stated.
He added, “Chuck Donnelly was a friend of mine and every working-class person he ever met. People like Chuck do not come along very often, and it hurts when they leave us. But he was a great believer in the words of Mother Jones, ‘Mourn the dead, fight like hell for the living!’ We will honor his memory by doing exactly that, because Chuck would be the first to tell us there are many fights that still confront us.”
The UMWA is thought for representing coal miners, however the labor union now additionally represents staff within the manufacturing, well being care, corrections and public sectors within the U.S. and Canada. The union, which has greater than 70,000 members, is headquartered in Triangle, Virginia.
Donnelly represented the labor union in a number of disputes over advantages for miners, together with a authorized motion in opposition to the Royal Coal Co. that went to the U.S. Courtroom of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
The union argued that the coal firm was required to offer well being advantages and life insurance coverage protection to its retired and disabled miners underneath the Nationwide Bituminous Coal Wage Agreements of 1978 and 1981.
However the Fourth Circuit held that Royal Coal’s obligation to offer advantages to the miners in query ended when the wage agreements expired.
Donnelly additionally was the UMWA’s lawyer when the union led a virtually yearlong strike in opposition to the Pittston Coal Co. that started in April 1989 over well being care advantages for miners. The strike ended with a settlement that reinstated miners’ well being and retirement advantages.
