CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The family of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice is millions of dollars behind in payments to the workers’ health insurance fund at their financially troubled hotel, putting workers’ safety at risk despite applications for the US Senate candidate otherwise, an official of the organization said Friday.
“Crime is real, it’s real and it’s documented,” said Peter Bostic, chairman of the Labor Union Council at The Greenbrier, the Justice family’s historic home.
Justice on Thursday dismissed concerns of at least $2.4 million in delinquent payments to an insurance provider during a press conference, saying the payments were made “regularly” and that there was “no way” workers could lose their pay. security.
But on Friday, Bostic said the situation is not resolved in any way.
“We continue to demand that the Greenbriers’ criminal obligations be met and we remain hopeful that an agreement will be reached between the ANHF and The Greenbrier to continue benefits in the future,” he said.
Justice’s comments came the same day the Republican family announced it had reached a settlement with a debt collection company to foreclose on The Greenbrier hotel, which has hosted presidents, royalty and congressmen. banned due to unpaid debts. The Greenbrier was slated to go on the auction block on August 27, after Beltway Capital declared the Justice hotel’s long-term loan defaulted after buying it in July from JPMorgan Chase.
Bostic said Friday that because the auction was canceled, Amalgamated National Health Fund has agreed to continue providing health insurance coverage for employees at The Greenbrier through the end of the month while they serve. to reach an agreement with the Judges.
Earlier this week, as the day of the auction approached, about 400 workers at The Greenbrier hotel received a notice from a lawyer for the Amalgamated National Health Fund saying they would lose the day of the auction without if the Toka family paid the lost $2.4 million. contributions.
The Justice family has not contributed to the employee health fund for four months, and that additional contributions of $1.2 million will soon be available, according to a letter the board received from Ronald Richman, Lawyer and Schulte Roth. & Zabel LLP, the firm representing the fund.
The letter also said that some contributions were taken out of workers’ salaries but not transferred to the fund, according to union officials.
Justice told reporters at a press conference Thursday that “insurance payments were made and are being made regularly.”
“There’s no way the employees of The Greenbrier are going to survive without insurance,” he said. “There is no possible way.”
Justice began his first of two terms as governor in 2017, after buying The Greenbrier from a bank in 2009. The 710-room hotel hosted a PGA Tour golf tournament from 2010 to 2019 and has received NFL teams for training camp and practice sessions. The once-secret 112,000-square-foot (10,080-square-meter) underground chamber built for Congress at the Greenbrier in the event of a nuclear attack during the Cold War is now open for tours .
The auction, scheduled to take place at the small Lewisburg town hall, included 60.5 acres, including a hotel and parking lot.
The Republican said that when he bought The Greenbrier, employee benefits were “stripped to the bone,” and he took them back. He said if the hotel had been blocked, “there would have been unimaginable carnage and damage to the seniors at The Greenbrier,” referring to the jobs that would have been lost.
He said: “What if we had raised our hands, what would have happened to those workers?” “I mean, it’s nice to have health insurance, but if you don’t have a job, it can be very difficult, right?”
Justice is pending in the US Senate against Democrat Glenn Elliott, the former mayor of Wheeling. Justice, who owns many companies and had an estimated net worth of $513 million by Forbes Magazine in 2021, is accused in court proceedings of delaying the payment of millions in family debts and fines for of unsafe working conditions in his coal mines.
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