The union confirmed its plans for the mass rally on Wednesday, and said the gathering had been scheduled for July 9 beginning at 10am at Fairmont State University’s football practice field in Fairmont.

UMWA president Cecil Roberts will be on hand to take the podium, and other scheduled participants include West Virginia secretary of state Natalie Tennant, West Virginia state treasurer John Perdue, state auditor Glen Gainer, AFL-CIO union executive vice president Arlene Holt Baker, United Steelworkers union president Leo Gerard and a host of other state and local political and labor leaders.

The union said protesters were coming from several states including Alabama, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and other locations.

“We’re going to stand up for the health benefits that were promised to these retirees,” LU union 9909 president Mike Payton said. He will be attending the rally from the Loveridge mine.

“Sometimes people forget we had to fight every step of the way to win decent conditions and good pay for miners.

“In case there are any mine operators out there who think we’re not willing to keep fighting, here’s a suggestion: Think again.”

Roberts reiterated an important point in the position it has taken in their fight: more than 90% of the retirees whose health care is at risk never worked a single day for Patriot Coal.

Instead, they worked their careers as miners at either Peabody Energy or Arch Coal operations.

“Peabody and Arch say they have no responsibility for this, even though they were the ones who promised these retirees health care,” Roberts said.

“We can see right through that kind of corporate doublespeak.

“Our members labored for decades to make these companies rich. This fight is far from over … [y]ou’ll see us in the streets, in court, in the halls of Congress, in other countries – anywhere we need to go to win justice for miners and their families.”