Justice at Peabody

June 28, 2006
West Virginia Methodists support right of Peabody Energy miners to
form a union without interference from management

BUCKHANNON, W.VA – The United Methodist West Virginia Area Conference during its annual
meeting, held here on June 8 – 10, voted to adopt a resolution supporting the right of Peabody Energy
coal miners to organize a union without interference from Peabody management.

The resolution, entitled “A Call for Justice at Peabody Energy,” urges the nation’s largest coal
company “to be truly neutral with respect to employees’ rights to form or join a union and to voluntarily
recognize a union when a majority of their employees sign authorizations.”

"When the lay and clergy members of the West Virginia Annual Conference adopted the resolution
titled ‘A Call for Justice at Peabody Energy,’ the body lifted its voice in the midst of a long United
Methodist history of supporting the rights of workers to organize and form unions,” said Bishop Ernest
Lyght, the Episcopal leader of the West Virginia Area of the United Methodist Church.

In 2000 the United Methodist Church nationally endorsed the position that employers have the
responsibility to recognize and bargain in good faith with unions when a majority of their employees
have indicated their desires for representation.

Hundreds of non-union miners at Peabody’s facilities across the country have requested assistance
from the United Mine Workers of America to organize a union. In December, the UMWA responded by
launching the Justice at Peabody campaign.