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Monday, April 19, 2010

How Much Is A Miner's Life Worth To Massey Coal Company?

Don Blankenship, the CEO of Massey Energy Company which runs the Upper Big Branch mine where 29 miners were killed earlier this month in an explosion, spoke to the Charleston Daily Mail about his company's plans for survivor's benefits.
The benefits as described by Blankenship, can be summarized as:
-- Life insurance payouts from the company that will total five times the worker's annual pay.
-- Payments will continue over the course of the life of spouse.
-- At least 20 years of health benefits to survivors.
-- $5,000 per year for "child care" for the 16 children under the age of 18 effected by the explosion.
This explanation didn't give a precise dollar amount but, based on a 2007 study of miner pay, non-unionized miners (Massey's workers are not unionized) made an average of $75,000 per year. Five years of salaried pay would put the insurance payout at around $375,000 in total. Since Blankenship stated that the payment would be given over the course of the survivor's life rather than in one lump sum, let's do a little more math. If the survivor lives 40 more years, they can expect $9,375 per year, or $781.25 per month to account for both the loss of their loved one and to make up financially for what could have been the main breadwinner of the family. However, we don't know all of the details of how the payout will be structured -- if Massey buys an annuity, the total payout could result in more than the 5 years of total salary depending on how the investment does over time. LinkHere

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