Miners to share in $13M payout

Some 280 miners who lost their jobs when a Tumbler Ridge coal mine was shut down will get a financial boost after the final details how their severance should be treated in a bankruptcy proceeding was worked out earlier this month.

In all, they’ll share in a $13-million payout based on each employee’s severance entitlement, the United Steelworkers Local 1-2017 said Monday. Court-appointed trustee KPMG will be sending out the cheques by the end of this year or in early January,

The outcome ends a three-and-a-half-year battle that began in April 2014 when workers at the Wolverine Mine were put on layoff without receiving 60 days notice.

The United Steelworkers took the mine’s owner, Walter Energy Canada, to the Labour Relations Board and won adjustment pay for improper closure.

But the matter was put in doubt when the U.S. parent company, Walter Energy, went bankrupt and a major American creditor tried to go after the assets of the Canadian subsidiary.

The USW took the issue to B.C. Supreme Court and in May won a decision that protected the claims of its members.

Moreover, the claims process has just been completed and “now they know everyone will be paid out in full,” lawyer Craig Bavis said Monday.

“This is one of the few cases that’s been fun to work on because everyone gets 100 per cent.”

Making sure the employees get their money could still be a challenge.

Although many stayed in Tumbler Ridge, “a large percentage have scattered all over the province and other parts of Canada,” Local 1-2017 president Brian O’Rourke said in a press release.