Copper mining company Asarco sued its own retirees and several unions representing its former workers in federal court on Monday.
The company is seeking a ruling that it is allowed to change employee benefits, for both current and retired workers, through a new plan outlined in a collective bargaining agreement. Workers responded by saying their previously-filed class action suit, filed in Arizona in 2007, should be heard first.
U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton is overseeing both the Asarco workers’ class action and the company’s lawsuit in Phoenix.
Neither of those cases have been finalized.
Bolton ruled last month the Arizona cases will hold while Asarco’s current lawsuit gets heard in Texas.
