The owner of Mon View Mining Inc. vowed that miners who worked in the Mathies Mine in Washington County will get paid for the hours they worked before the mine closed in March.
John W. Hatch, a Bethel Park businessman, on Monday said the 220 miners would be paid, along with vendors, who are also owed money from the mining operation, which has a petition filed against it in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Pittsburgh to force it into bankruptcy.
"We're going to get those guys paid. The workers are definitely getting paid first, and the vendors will get what's left," said Hatch yesterday, responding to a story in the Tribune-Review on Sunday. Previously, Hatch could not be reached for comment.
According to his estimates, Hatch said he owes the miners roughly $280,000 for working two weeks without being paid. Some miners claimed they are owed four weeks' wages, estimated at between $500,000 to $750,000.
Hatch, 50, a former coal miner, acquired the 58-year-old Mathies Mine and Mon View Mining Co. for more than $6 million in July 2000 from Gallatin Fuels Inc., a Uniontown-based coal brokerage firm.
However, the mine shut down and ceased production in mid-March. Subsequently, Mon View Mining filed a civil lawsuit against Gallatin Fuels in Common Pleas Court in Washington County, alleging the coal brokerage breached its coal sales agreement and reneged on its fiduciary duties.
Separately, Mon View filed a similar suit against Kohltran Inc., a Tarentum-based coal brokerage, alleging the company also breached a coal sales agreement. Attorneys for both Gallatin Fuels and Kohltran have disputed the allegations.
On June 17, three creditors filed an involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition against Mon View Mining in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Pittsburgh, alleging they are owed almost $100,000.
One of those three creditors, Joseph R. Simboli of Belle Vernon, said yesterday he is owed $4,014 in wages, and claims both Hatch and the United Mine Workers union have let him down.
"I have no faith in him. (Hatch) told me to save days off for hunting season, and two days later he closes the mine. Mathies Mine had the best work force in Pennsylvania, and he ruined a good mine and killed a good work force," said Simboli.
Hatch said the whole situation may have been averted if miners and creditors would have been more patient. Hatch said he was close to receiving about $6 million worth of state funding, which he claims would have kept the mine running, but the Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition snuffed out those plans.
"At this point I can't reopen the mine. It's in the hands of Bankruptcy Court, I don't own it anymore. It won't reopen unless someone buys it in Bankruptcy Court, I know I won't. I've had enough of this for the last two years," Hatch said.
Prior to Mon View Mining Co.'s ownership, the mine was owned by Mathies Coal Co., a subsidiary of National Steel Corp., which owned 86 percent of the company. The mine was closed in 1990 following a major fire near its Thomas portal near Finleyville, south of Pittsburgh. One year later, Mathies Coal Co. abandoned efforts to reopen the underground mine.
Hourly workers at the Mathies Mine are represented by Local 2244 of the United Mine Workers union.
Simboli, 53, said he started at the Mathies Mine in April 1974 and has been a member of the mineworkers union for the past 27 years. He said he was "disappointed" that Mathies miners didn't receive help from UMWA District 2, based in Rostraver Township, which represents about 24,000 workers in Pennsylvania, Maryland and New York.
"I've been a union man all my life. They said they can't do anything, but it's time to explore other avenues," Simboli said, adding that he is contemplating retirement from the mines and possibly embarking on a career in landscaping.
