
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 9, 1990                   TAG: 9003091739
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Short

MINERS' PROGRAMS TO CHANGE

William J. Usery Jr., the federal mediator who steered a resolution of the United Mine Workers strike against Pittston Coal Group, was named Thursday chairman of a panel that will revamp the coal mining industry's increasingly troubled health and retirement programs.

Richard Trumka, president of the UMW, and Robert H. Quenon, chairman of the Bituminous Coal Operators Association and president and chief executive officer of the Peabody Holding Co., were among others named to the 11-member Coal Commission by Secretary of Labor Elizabeth Dole.

Dole pledged to form the blue-ribbon panel two months ago, when she announced a preliminary settlement in the bitter 10-month strike against Pittston by 1,700 miners in Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky. The walkout was sparked by disputes over health and pension programs.

The commission likely will draft legislation to reorder health and pension plans that have gone largely unchanged for 40 years.

Dole said the panel's findings may have broader use because escalating costs of health care and insurance are challenging businesses everywhere. "The knowledge we gain through this commission may shed some light on the means of solving the broader problems of health plans and health-care coverage," she said.

by CNB