Patriot Coal, employees face grim future without agreement : Business

Patriot Coal, employees face grim future without agreement : Business

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 ST. LOUIS • No matter how a judge rules on Patriot Coal Corp.’s request to cut union wages and benefits, the coal producer and employees could face a grim future, the company and the United Mine Workers of America told a judge overseeing Patriot’s bankruptcy.

Approval of Patriot’s motion could lead to a crippling strike that would likely force the company into liquidation, UMWA attorney Fred Perillo said.

And if Patriot’s motion is rejected, it is a “mathematical certainty” that the company will run out of cash early next year and be forced to sell off its mines and lay off 4,000 employees, said Benjamin Kaminetzky, a lawyer representing the company.

The doomsday scenarios featured prominently during Friday’s closing arguments in a week-long hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

Judge Kathy A. Surratt-States didn’t immediately issue a ruling.