The AFL-CIO Executive Council celebrates the service of our brother and friend, Cecil Roberts, the second-longest-serving international president in the long and storied history of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA).
During his three decades as president and more than five decades as a UMWA member and activist, Roberts was a determined and fiery advocate for the health, safety and retirement security of mine workers, veterans and all working people.
A sixth-generation coal miner, Roberts was born in 1946, delivered by company doctor in a company house along Cabin Creek in Kanawha County, West Virginia, while his father was on strike for pensions and health care.
After being drafted into the U.S. Army and serving a tour as infantry during the Vietnam War, Roberts returned to West Virginia and worked for a coal mine in eastern Kanawha County, where he was a local union officer. In 1977, he was elected vice president of UMWA District 17, and in 1982, he was elected UMWA international vice president, running on a slate with Richard L. Trumka and John J. Banovic.
In 1989, Roberts was the on-site leader and chief negotiator in UMWA’s militant, nonviolent and ultimately successful 10-month strike against Pittston Coal, which had terminated health care benefits for retirees and refused its obligation to contribute to the industrywide health and retirement plans.
In October 1995, following the resignation of Trumka, Roberts assumed the top office, becoming the union’s 16th president. He would be elected to the role by acclamation in 1997 and re-elected by acclamation six more times, serving a total of seven terms.
Under his leadership, UMWA negotiated national agreements that won substantial wage and pension increases for its members. However, those health care and pension benefits were not truly secured for retirees until Roberts succeeded in a decade-long fight and Congress passed a series of laws culminating with the Miners Pension Protection Act in 2020.
Roberts was dedicated to the health and safety of all workers, and was invaluable as the chair of the AFL-CIO Committee on Safety and Occupational Health and the Energy Committee, and as a member of numerous committees, including the Executive Committee.
Cecil Roberts is one of the most tenacious and compassionate union leaders in the history of America’s labor movement. His contributions to the movement and to the lives of mine workers and all working people will not be forgotten. We wish him a long and happy retirement.