Video · August 11, 2026

Jim Allington Drove 73 Miles to the Mine for 30 Years. Then Peabody Took It Back.

Jim Allington drove seventy-three miles to the mine at three in the morning for thirty years. "I never missed a day." He retired expecting a Retiree Medical Allowance worth about $260,000. This summer Peabody sent a letter ending the program — with roughly $240,000 of his still unused. In 1981, a union organizer named Bob Wright warned Powder River Basin miners in the Washington Post: "A handbook is not the same thing as a binding contract. What the company gives you in one handbook, it can take away in another." He lost that argument. Forty-five years later, he was right. Peabody called the program "not aligned with market-competitive practices." The Mining Association called it outside its wheelhouse. Our congressional delegation didn't answer a reporter's questions. And the retirees didn't fight, because the fine print said the company could do it. Wyoming had no contract, and no channel. I'm building the channel.