UMWA Joins Lawsuit Against Trump Health Cuts

The United Mine Workers of America has joined a lawsuit against the Trump administration.

The UMWA is among the plaintiffs who brought a court challenge Wednesday to cuts at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

NIOSH screens coal miners for black lung disease and helps them apply for job transfers that can protect their health. It also conducts research to improve mine safety.

The UMWA filed the lawsuit with Public Citizen and other labor organizations in the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia. 

They seek a reversal of all the staff reductions and program closures at NIOSH, which conducts a broad variety of research on workplace safety and health.

“The dismantling of NIOSH and the elimination of its critical programs – like black lung screenings – puts miners’ lives at risk and turns back decades of progress,” said UMWA President Cecil Roberts in a statement. “This lawsuit is about holding decision-makers accountable and making sure every worker has the right to come home safe at the end of the day.”

A U.S. district judge in Charleston ordered the reinstatement of the Coal Worker Health Surveillance Program on Tuesday.

Also Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rescinded the termination notices to the workers in that program who’d received them. It did not, however, restore other functions within NIOSH, including the mine research team.

The UMWA lawsuit has been assigned to Judge Trevor McFadden, who was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2017.

Last month, McFadden ruled in favor of the Associated Press, which challenged the Trump White House for blocking its access to presidential events.