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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Workers at two Utah coal operations won't have to give up chewing tobacco.
A union arbitrator has ruled that a ban on smokeless tobacco at Deer Creek mine and a Castle Dale coal preparation plant violates a collective bargaining agreement for 293 workers.
The operations are run by Energy West Mining Co., a unionized subsidiary of Rocky Mountain Power, which was ordered by a succession of parent companies to adopt the policy.
The United Mine Workers of America filed a grievance in December when PacificCorp, owned by MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., announced it planned to adopt the rule July 1. The ban was never enforced pending the ruling that favored the union Friday.
Arbitrator Fred Butler held that tobacco chewing isn't regulated by the workers' contracts. The only way the company can enforce the policy is through collective negotiations.
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Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
