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Patriot Coal and UWMA Reach Potential Agreement Over Benefits

The nation's biggest miners' union and Patriot Coal Co. say they have reached a potential settlement over the severity of wage and benefits cuts a bankruptcy judge had allowed the company to impose. 
     The United Mine Workers of America isn't publicly revealing details of the deal, pending Friday's scheduled ratification vote by its members. St. Louis-based Patriot also isn't releasing the terms.
 
     But the union says the deal significantly improves upon the cuts Patriot was empowered to make under the May 29 court ruling that allowed it to abandon its collective-bargaining agreements with the union.
 
     Patriot's president and CEO Bennett Hatfield says the "successful conclusion of a difficult negotiation" helps the company avoid liquidation.
 
     Patriot says it will seek the bankruptcy court's authorization to enter into the agreement.
 

Chad Lampe, a Poplar Bluff, Missouri native, was raised on radio. He credits his father, a broadcast engineer, for his technical knowledge, and his mother for the gift of gab. At ten years old he broke all bonds of the FCC and built his own one watt pirate radio station. His childhood afternoons were spent playing music and interviewing classmates for all his friends to hear. At fourteen he began working for the local radio stations, until he graduated high school. He earned an undergraduate degree in Psychology at Murray State, and a Masters Degree in Mass Communication. In November, 2011, Chad was named Station Manager in 2016.
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