Critics say the move is a ploy increasingly used in the struggling industry to avoid paying workers what they are owed. It’s always in the back of your mind and it’s no surprise when it happens in the coal industry. Jimmy Justus, 22, a mine worker for Blackjewel in Virginia, owes his bank more than $1,400 because his last paycheck bounced. Since Trump took office, about 2,000 jobs have been added to the coal industry, which currently employs an estimated 53,000 workers. “Our paychecks bounced,” said Jeffery Cochran, a coal miner in Kentucky who has worked at a Blackjewel-operated mine for nearly four years.

Source: The Guardian July 22, 2019 06:00 UTC