Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti (D) nabbed another labor endorsement in her congressional campaign against US Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-Luzerne) on Monday.
“We are proud to endorse Paige Cognetti for Congress. We need a leader in Washington who will fight for safe workplaces, good wages and benefits, and strong representation for working families throughout Pennsylvania,” Chuck Knisell, United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) District 2 vice president, said in a statement.
“Paige has stood with NEPA workers and as the only candidate in the race who backs the PRO Act, we trust that she will continue fighting for our rights in Congress.”
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Though the union historically consisted of coal miners in Pennsylvania’s anthracite region, UMWA District 2 represents thousands of healthcare workers, corrections officers, manufacturing workers, and public-sector workers throughout Pennsylvania, New York, and eastern Canada.
Some of UMWA’s priorities include overhauling the Black Lung Benefits program by removing financial and bureaucratic hurdles to access benefits, passing the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which would make it easier for workers to form unions, and pushing back against the healthcare cuts from President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill.
Coal miners living in Central Appalachia, where a large portion of the country’s coal is mined, are seeing the highest rates of black lung, a disease associated with breathing in coal dust, in decades, along with the risk of hundreds of rural hospitals closing due to Trump’s budget cuts.
“Mine workers play a crucial role in our region’s industrial and labor history. From advocacy in the wake of the Avondale Mine disaster, to the Coal Strike of 1902, to the fight for workers’ rights today – when NEPA workers are taken advantage of, they stand together and fight back. That’s why we need bills like the PRO Act to strengthen the right to organize and bargain collectively,” Cognetti said in a statement.
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Since launching her campaign, Cognetti has been endorsed by more than a dozen labor unions and affiliated organizations, including the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, the Greater Wilkes-Barre Labor Council, and the Pennsylvania State Education Association.
Cognetti added, “I will bring this fight for our workers and their futures to Congress, back the PRO Act, and stand with NEPA workers against corporate interests that threaten the health, safety, and prosperity of our workforce.”
