CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Massey Energy violated federal labor law by refusing to keep union coal miners on its payroll after it bought Cannelton Industries in October 2004, according to a federal court ruling issued late Wednesday.

Massey acquired Cannelton from Horizon Natural Resources, then in bankruptcy.

The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, Va., upheld an August 2008 ruling by U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin in Charleston. Both rulings upheld the November 2007 decision by Paul Bogas, administrative law judge for the National Labor Relations Board.

Bogas ruled that Massey discriminated against former Cannelton employees by refusing to hire them, "on the basis of their membership in the predecessor's bargaining unit and their pro-union sentiments."

Massey set up two new non-union companies -- Spartan Mining Co. and Mammoth Coal Co. -- to operate Cannelton's mines and coal preparation plant County along the Kanawha River in eastern Kanawha.

United Mine Workers President Cecil E. Robert praised Wednesday's decision.

"We look forward to the day when miners who were illegally discriminated against get their rightful jobs back, and to all the miners at the Mammoth mine having the benefit and protection of working under a UMWA contract," Roberts said.

A Massey Energy statement noted, "Although we disagree with the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, it is important to note while appealing ... Goodwin's decision requiring Mammoth Coal Co. to hire these individuals, Mammoth Coal made job offers to these 85 miners.

"From these 85 extended offers of employment, only nine miners accepted the employment opportunity. Today, seven of these miners remain with the company," Massey stated.

"Massey had to extend offers to hire these guys back," said UMW spokesman Phil Smith, "but Cannelton was a non-union environment, and most of those miners did not want to work in that environment."

Bogas issued his ruling after a two-week trial held in Montgomery in 2007. Massey appealed his ruling to the full NLRB.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Massey Energy violated federal labor law by refusing to keep union coal miners on its payroll after it bought Cannelton Industries in October 2004, according to a federal court ruling issued late Wednesday.

Massey acquired Cannelton from Horizon Natural Resources, then in bankruptcy.

The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, Va., upheld an August 2008 ruling by U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin in Charleston. Both rulings upheld the November 2007 decision by Paul Bogas, administrative law judge for the National Labor Relations Board.

Bogas ruled that Massey discriminated against former Cannelton employees by refusing to hire them, "on the basis of their membership in the predecessor's bargaining unit and their pro-union sentiments."

Massey set up two new non-union companies -- Spartan Mining Co. and Mammoth Coal Co. -- to operate Cannelton's mines and coal preparation plant County along the Kanawha River in eastern Kanawha.

United Mine Workers President Cecil E. Robert praised Wednesday's decision.

"We look forward to the day when miners who were illegally discriminated against get their rightful jobs back, and to all the miners at the Mammoth mine having the benefit and protection of working under a UMWA contract," Roberts said.

A Massey Energy statement noted, "Although we disagree with the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, it is important to note while appealing ... Goodwin's decision requiring Mammoth Coal Co. to hire these individuals, Mammoth Coal made job offers to these 85 miners.

"From these 85 extended offers of employment, only nine miners accepted the employment opportunity. Today, seven of these miners remain with the company," Massey stated.

"Massey had to extend offers to hire these guys back," said UMW spokesman Phil Smith, "but Cannelton was a non-union environment, and most of those miners did not want to work in that environment."

Bogas issued his ruling after a two-week trial held in Montgomery in 2007. Massey appealed his ruling to the full NLRB.

"That ruling said Massey had to recognize the union and to begin bargaining for a successor agreement," Smith said. "The 2002 UMW contract was still in place when Massey took over the Cannelton operations in 2004."

After the purchase, Massey kept most Cannelton supervisory workers, who were not UMW members, on its payroll, but Mammoth refused to offer jobs, or even interviews for jobs, to Cannelton workers who already belonged to the UMW, the Fourth Circuit ruling points out.

That ruling also predicts the NLRB "will very likely order permanent injunctive relief' in favor of union miners, "given the substantial violations" of the National Labor Relations Act that Bogas determined Massey had committed.

"The record also provides substantial evidence that Mammoth made overt efforts to block reasonable collective bargaining, the vehicle that Congress has determined best achieves 'industrial peace,'" the Fourth Circuit stated.

Smith said Goodwin's temporary order in August did not fully implement the Bogas decision, since Goodwin did not require Massey to recognize the union or to comply with the labor contract in place when Massey acquired Cannelton.

"Goodwin only ordered that Massey rehire the miners under existing, non-union conditions at the mine," Smith said.

In his earlier ruling, Bogas ordered Massey to offer jobs to all 85 union miners at Cannelton. Bogas also ordered Massey officials to bargain with the UMW. Massey's appeal of that order is still pending before the full NLRB.

Roberts believes the NLRB will uphold Bogas' ruling.

"Not only will that mean the miners will get their rightful jobs back," Roberts said. "They will also receive back pay going back to the time Massey bought the mine and reopened it in 2004."

Reach Paul J. Nyden at pjny...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5164.