Mine Workers of America

Examples of Mine Workers of America in the following topics:

• A New Direction for Unions

  • In 1945, over 14 million workers belonged to unions, which constituted over 35% of non-agricultural workers (the highest recorded rate in U.S. history) and over 27% of all employed workers.
  • Lewis, the president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMW).
  • The AFL's long history of the exclusion of immigrant workers, women workers, and workers of color gradually made the AFL out of touch with the realities of the American industrial labor.
  • In 1943, Lewis, still the president of the United Mine Workers, led one of the biggest war-time strikes.
  • Lewis, President of the United Mine Workers of America and founder of the CIO, photographed at the Capitol in 1922.

• The Coal Strike of 1902

  • The Coal Strike of 1902 was a strike by the United Mine Workers of America in the anthracite coal fields of eastern Pennsylvania .
  • The strike never resumed, as the miners received more pay for fewer hours, however, the mine owners refused to recognize the trade union as a bargaining agent.
  • The union had the support of roughly eighty percent of the workers in this area, or more than 100,000 strikers.
  • By and large, social conditions in mine communities were found to be good, and miners were judged as only partly justified in their claim that annual earnings were not sufficient "to maintain an American standard of living. "
  • While the operators refused to recognize the United Mine Workers, they were required to agree to a six-man arbitration board, made up of equal numbers of labor and management representatives, with the power to settle labor disputes.

• "Mother" Jones

  • After her husband and four children all died of yellow fever and her workshop was destroyed in a fire in 1871, she began working as an organizer for the Knights of Labor and the United Mine Workers union.
  • From 1897 onward she was known as Mother Jones and in 1902 she was called "the most dangerous woman in America" for her success in organizing mine workers and their families against the mine owners.
  • Mary Jones became largely affiliated with the United Mine Workers .
  • "There sits the most dangerous woman in America", announced Blizzard.
  • In 1901, the workers who were employed in the Pennsylvania silk mills went on strike, many of them being young female workers who were demanding they be paid adult wages.

• The Molly Maguires

  • This action, in conjunction with the Catholic Church's decision to excommunicate any miners in the fraternal Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH), crippled the ability of mine workers to organize in the Pennsylvania coalfields.
  • They were also active in Liverpool, England, and some historians believe that Irish immigrants brought a form of the Molly Maguires organization into America in the 19th century, continuing its activities as a clandestine society.
  • Herded into freight trains by the hundreds, these workers often replaced English-speaking miners.
  • Frequently unable to read safety instructions, the immigrant workers faced hazardous conditions; injury and death frequently resulted from the mine companies' violations of safety precautions.
  • In addition to the railroad, Gowen owned two-thirds of the coal mines in southeastern Pennsylvania.

• Trends in Labor-Management Relations

  • At the federal level, President John Kennedy, in 1962, issued Executive Order 10988, upgrading the status of unions of federal workers.
  • Unions with the ability to confront corporate power wherever it rears its head, whether it's a call center in Bangalore, a shoe factory in Vietnam, or a coal mine in Colombia. "
  • It appeared after a merger of two global bodies in 2006, and currently has a membership of about 175 million workers in 155 countries.
  • Richard Trumka of the AFL-CIO is one of the most prominent union leaders in America
  • Summarize the recent history of the labor union movement in America

• The Diversity of the West

  • European immigrants and black freedmen moved to the western portion of America in search of new opportunities, while dispossessed Hispanics struggled to survive in their stolen homeland.
  • Most of them went home by 1870 when the railroad was finished, but thousands stayed in America.
  • They also worked in mining, agriculture, and small businesses, many living in San Francisco.
  • As a result, many Hispanics became permanent migrant workers, seeking seasonal employment in farming, mining, ranching, and the railroads.
  • On the other hand, workers from Catholic countries, such as Ireland and Germany, were subject to a number of prejudices.

• The Cripple Creek Miners' Strike of 1894

  • It is notable for being the only time in U.S. history when a state militia was called out in support of striking workers.
  • The influx of silver miners into the gold mines caused a lowering of wages.
  • When workers protested, the owners agreed to employ the miners for 8 hours a day, but at a wage of only $2.50.
  • At the beginning of March, the Gold King and Granite mines gave in and resumed the eight-hour day.
  • The Western Federation of Miners used the success of the strike to organize almost every worker in the Cripple Creek region—including waitresses, laundry workers, bartenders, and newsboys—into 54 local unions.

• Herbert Hoover: The Great Engineer

  • In 1897, he went to Australia as an employee of Bewick, Moreing & Co., a London-based mining company.
  • After being appointed as mine manager at the age of 23, he led a major program of expansion for the Sons of Gwalia gold mine at Gwalia, Western Australia.
  • Hoover worked as chief engineer for the Chinese Bureau of Mines and as general manager for the Chinese Engineering and Mining Corporation.
  • Hoover recommended improving working conditions for Chinese workers at the company, seeking to end the practice of imposing long term servitude contracts on them.
  • Additionally, Hoover petitioned to institute reforms for workers based on merit.

• Strikes

  • Led by local leaders associated with the Trotskyist Communist League of America, a group that later founded the Socialist Workers Party (United States), the strike paved the way for the organization of over-the-road drivers and the growth of the Teamsters labor union.
  • Strikes became important during the Industrial Revolution when mass labor became important in factories and mines.
  • Occasionally, workers decide to strike without the sanction of a labor union.
  • A strike may consist of workers refusing to attend work or picketing outside the workplace to prevent or dissuade people from working in their place or conducting business with their employer.
  • A strikebreaker continues to work during strike action by trade unionists or acts as a temporary or permanent replacement worker hired to take the place of those on strike.

• Setbacks for Unions

  • Labor unions, or associations of workers with the purpose of consolidating bargaining power and protecting workers' rights, grew very rapidly during World War I.
  • Between May and September 1921, an outbreak of violence near Matewan, West Virginia, grew to fighting on a 25-mile front between Stone Mountain Coal Company militia and thousands of United Mine Workers members.
  • In contrast, in 1929 about 289,000 workers, 1.2 percent of the labor force, staged only 900 strikes.
  • Samuel Gompers of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) died in 1924 after serving as its president for 37 years, while successor William Green, secretary-treasurer of the United Mine Workers, "lacked the aggressiveness and the imagination of the AFL's first president."
  • Seven men, including Loray Mill workers, were acquitted of the crime.