Sears store to close

Sears store to close

HERMITAGE, Pa.

Officials from the Sears Corp. on Friday announced the closure of the store at Shenango Valley Mall.

The store will remain open through mid-April, though the Sears Auto Center will remain open after the retail store’s closure. A liquidation sale is planned for next Friday.

Sears said the closure is a result of aggressive store space and productivity evaluations. A Sears spokesperson said most of the workers impacted by the closures will be part-time, hourly workers, though eligible employees will receive severance and have the option to apply for positions at other Sears locations.

Retired miners still face uncertain future for benefits

WASHINGTON

John Leach has spent the holidays wondering how he’d come up with nearly $400 a month to pay for health insurance.

Leach worked in Peabody Energy coal mines in western Kentucky for 23 years and, like all miners who belonged to the United Mine Workers of America, thought he was guaranteed a health care plan that would cover his family for life.

It was part of a pact made 70 years ago by President Harry S. Truman, the union and the coal companies, and coal miners and their families have counted on it every year since.Then in October, Leach was one of 12,000 retired coal miners who received a notice that their health benefits would end today.

Congress reached a deal earlier this month to extend Leach’s benefits through the end of April. But until lawmakers can agree on a more permanent fix, Leach and his wife, Rhonda, who live in Beaver Dam, Ky., face losing their coverage in four months.

Leach said one of them will have to find a job at an age when many couples are retired. But that creates other complications. They have two disabled adult children who live at home and require around-the-clock care.

Graduate students: Harvard hindered vote to unionize

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.

Harvard graduate students who are trying to unionize say the university wrongly prevented hundreds from voting in a union election.

The Harvard Graduate Students Union filed objections Thursday with the National Labor Relations Board over the November election, which will decide if Harvard’s graduate student workers will be represented by the United Auto Workers union. A preliminary count found the election too close to call.

The group says Harvard left hundreds of students off a list of eligible voters, causing confusion about who could vote. It also says Harvard used students’ preferred names, leading to problems for international students with different legal names.

Harvard officials say they worked diligently on the list, adding that the challenge isn’t surprising because the union group was behind in the early tally.

Staff/wire reports