Electric battery maker, coal union announce WVa labor pact

By JOHN RABY
Associated Press

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — An energy startup has signed a memorandum of understanding with the nation’s largest coal miners’ union on a labor-management agreement for an electric battery factory in West Virginia. SPARKZ and the United Mine Workers of America will partner to recruit and train dislocated miners to be the factory’s first production workers. Construction will start later this year. The plant will employ at least 350 workers. West Virginia has lost thousands of mining jobs in recent years. UMW President Cecil Roberts said the agreement is a win-win for laid-off coal miners who will work in the facility, whose location has yet to be announced.