Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 9, 1990 TAG: 9003092450
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short
Dole named W.J. Usery, the "supermediator" in the Pittston Co. coal strike settled last month, to chair the 11-member panel.
Pension and health benefits were the key issues in the 10-month dispute between Pittston and Appalachia coal miners. Usery noted that health care concerns have been at the heart of 87 percent of the nation's labor-management disputes in the past two years.
"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" in all of American industry, Dole said at a news conference.
Usery, secretary of labor for President Ford, said he thought the panel might be able to come up with suggestions for the coming decade. Its recommendations are due in six months.
"The issue is health care: how does this vital industry keep it in the private sector and deliver," Usery said.
The committee will review a 40-year-old agreement under which coal companies contribute to the United Mine Workers' national retirement and health trust funds.
The Pittston dispute stemmed from the company's decision to stop paying into the funds, which cover about 130,000 working and retired miners. Pittston said it could not keep up the payments and remain competitive.
by CNB