The United Mine Workers of America is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the United States and Canada. Although its main focus has always been on workers and their rights, the UMW of today also advocates for better roads, schools, and universal health care. By 2014, coal mining had largely shifted to open pit mines in Wyoming, and there were only 60,000 active coal miners. The UMW was left with 35,000 members, of whom 20,000 were coal miners, chiefly in underground mines in Kentucky and West Virginia. However it was responsible for pensions and medical benefits for 40,000 retired miners, and for 50,000 spouses and dependents.
Robert Semple was a union leader and later Minister of Public Works for the first Labour Government of New Zealand.
James Hamilton Peabody was the 13th and 15th Governor of Colorado, and is noted by some for his public service in Cañon City and by others for his brutality in crushing the miner's strike in Cripple Creek in 1903-4.
Edgar Nelson Rhodes, was a Canadian parliamentarian from Nova Scotia.
Donald Farquharson served as the eighth Premier of Prince Edward Island.
David Mills, was a Canadian politician, author, poet and puisne justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.
John Dowsley Reid, was a Canadian businessman, physician, and parliamentarian. A Conservative, he was a long-standing Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada for the Ontario Electoral district of Grenville South. He was first elected in the Canadian federal election of 1891 and was re-elected seven more times.
Shirley Waldemar Baker was a missionary and Prime Minister of Tonga.
Early Day Miners are a band from southern Indiana, United States who released records on the Bloomington, Indiana based label Secretly Canadian. As of 2009, the band had released seven full-length records.
Alfred Gilpin Jones, was a Canadian businessman, politician, and eighth Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia.
Louis-Rodrigue Masson, was a Canadian Member of Parliament, Senator, and the fifth Lieutenant Governor of Quebec. He represented Terrebonne in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1882.
Ezra Allen Miner, more popularly known as Bill Miner, was a noted American bandito, originally from Bowling Green, Kentucky, who served several prison terms for stagecoach robbery. Known for his unusual politeness while committing robberies, he was widely nicknamed the Grey Fox, Gentleman Robber or the Gentleman Bandit. He is reputed to have been the originator of the phrase "Hands up!" an original song titled "The Ballad of Bill Miner" was written by singer/songwriter Phillip Mills and recorded by the San Francisco bay area band "The Blackout Cowboys". Legend has it that Bill Miner admonished his cohorts to fire their guns when in danger of capture but "do not kill a man".
The International Professional Hockey League (IPHL) was the first fully professional Ice hockey league, operating from 1904 to 1907. It was formed by Jack 'Doc' Gibson, a dentist who played hockey throughout Ontario before settling in Houghton, Michigan. The IPHL was a five team circuit which included Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, Calumet, Michigan and Houghton. The IPHL was instrumental in changing the nature of top-level senior men's ice hockey from amateur to professional.
Sam Woods was a British trade unionist and politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) in the 1890s.
Thomas Glassey was an Irish-born Australian politician.
Herbert Smith was a British trade unionist and miner.
Charles Herbert Dickie was a Conservative member of the House of Commons of Canada. He was born in Beachville, Canada West and became a lumberman, miner and railway employee.
Matthew Charlton was an Australian politician who served as leader of the Labor Party from 1922 to 1928. He led the party to defeat at the 1922 and 1925 federal elections.
William Henry "Billy" Browne was a gold miner and member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly.
John Russell Walter was an Australian farmer and politician who was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1903 to 1904, representing the seat of Nelson.
