
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 5, 1990                   TAG: 9004040913
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A11   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS BUSINESS WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PITTSTON'S LOSSES HIT $27 MILLION

The Pittston Co., which faced a United Mine Workers strike for three-fourths of last year, says it lost $27 million on its coal business in 1989, compared with a profit of $36 million in 1988.

The UMW launched its strike a year ago today.The strike, which saw the massive use of civil disobedience by the UMW, has been credited with bringing a renewed spirit to the U.S. labor movement.

Pittston said that during the 46-week strike - which ended Feb. 19 when union miners approved a new contract - the company incurred over $20 million in security, legal and other costs to protect workers and assets.

Pittston's total coal production declined 27 percent last year, but unionized production dropped 36 percent. The Pittston Coal Group, Pittston's union coal companies based in Russell County, mined 6.8 million tons in 1989, compared with 10.6 million tons the year before.

Despite the increase in coal purchases to offset strike production losses, Pittston's overall coal sales were down 2.3 million tons - 14 percent - from the year before. Coal sales brought $446.7 million last year, compared with sales of $511.9 million the year before.

Pittston is a diversified company based in Greenwich, Conn. Operating profits from Pittston's other businesses - Burlington Air Freight, Brink's armored cars and Brink's Home Security - totaled $48.8 million, or 50 percent above 1988.

Pittston's net income from all businesses in 1989 after interest and tax expenses was $3.8 million on total revenues of $1.6 billion.

The company's new collective bargaining agreement with the UMW runs for 4 1/2 years, expiring June 30, 1994.

"Pittston can take some pride in its leadership role in bringing into clear focus the plight of the industry's so-called orphans - those retired coal miners and their dependents whose last employer is no longer providing benefits," Pittston Chairman Paul Douglas wrote to shareholders in the company's annual report. Retiree health care was a key issue in the labor dispute.

The cost of providing those retirees health benefits is more than Pittston or the rest of the coal industry can bear, Douglas said.

Pittston has estimated a loss of 35 cents per share or roughly $13 million for the first quarter of 1990. Much of that, however, can be attributed to a $12 million loss by Burlington Air Express.

Last week, Pittston's Douglas announced that non-union Pyxis is developing a new 1.7 million-ton-per-year strip mine in West Virginia to supply coal to the electric utility market.

by CNB