1927 Indiana bituminous strike

Last updated

The 1927 Indiana bituminous strike was a strike by members of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) against local bituminous coal companies. Although the struggle raged throughout most of the nation's coal fields, its most serious impact was in western Pennsylvania, including Indiana County. [1] The strike began on April 1, 1927, when almost 200,000 coal miners struck the coal mining companies operating in the Central Competitive Field, [2] after the two sides (management and labor) could not reach an agreement on pay rates. The UMWA was attempting to retain pay raises gained in the contracts it had negotiated in 1922 and 1924, while management, stating that it was under economic pressure from competition with the West Virginia coal mines, was seeking wage reductions. [3] [4] The strike proved to be a disaster for the union, as by 1929, there were only 84,000 paying members of the union, down from 400,000 which belonged to the union in 1920. [1]

Contents

Background

The coal industry in the United States was at the end of three decades of growth in 1920, during which production had increased five-fold. [1] The UMWA had won pay hikes and a shorter work day in 1919, and preserved these gains in contracts with mine operators in 1922 and 1924. However demand, which had been artificially inflated during the World War, dropped off at the war's end. This, combined with a stagnation of coal usage through conservation efforts during the 1920s led to efforts to reduce costs by the mine operators. [1] Coal miners and the United Mine Workers faced an extended crisis as coal operators sought cost reductions and pressured unionized miners to accept wage cutbacks to below the previously agreed upon rate of $7.50 per day, and even to abandon the union. [5]

In 1921, miners had struck against the Clearfield Bituminous Coal Corporation in Rossiter, Pennsylvania. The strike arose when the company began to require their employees to punch a time clock. The miners refused to comply, and were backed up by the UMWA, stating that the union's permission was required to enforce the time-clock requirement, in addition to the fact that no other mine in the district employed the use of a time clock. The strike lasted approximately one month, and ended when work resumed with the time clock in use. [6] Northern coal mining operators, looking to reduce costs, blamed their weakened competitive position on the high and inflexible wage rates negotiated by the union. Attempts to impose significant wage reductions, in some cases up to 50 percent, were met by a bitter strike in 1922. [1] [7] This strike was not only about wages, but over the concept of national versus district contracts. The union wanted a national contract, while the mining operators wanted contracts by districts. [8] That strike lasted five months, but led to the Jacksonville agreement in 1924, wherein miners were given a $7.50 per day rate which had been agree upon in the 1920 negotiations. [1] When the northern operators continued to lose market share to their southern counterparts, they asked the union for a renegotiation of the Jacksonville scale. Union President John L. Lewis refused on the grounds that the industry was undergoing a needed adjustment which, when completed, would result in fewer men and fewer mines and a stable, more prosperous industry. [1]

The coal mining area around Pittsburgh had always been a difficult territory for the UMWA. The presence of the nonunion Connellsville and Westmoreland fields made it difficult for the union to hold its ground, and the diverse ethnic groups which comprised the work force made organization and collective action difficult. It was in this district where the operators took their first stand against the union. In August, 1925, the Pittsburgh Coal Company, largest in the district, closed down, rejected the Jacksonville agreement, and reopened on a nonunion basis. Numerous other companies followed its lead. In all, some 110 mines in Pennsylvania changed from union to nonunion operation during 1925. [1] This led to another strike over wages in 1925, which also lasted five months. [9]

The strike

The expiration of the Jacksonville Agreement, as well as the widespread violation of its terms by operators, gave urgency to the issue of negotiating a new agreement in 1927. Union representatives were charged to negotiate the best possible wage agreement possible as long as there was no reduction in wages. In February 1927 the union representatives met with representatives of the mining operators in Miami. The operators requested a reduction of the Jacksonville scale as well as union acceptance of the principle that wages should be tied to the changing price of coal. No agreement was reached in Miami, which led the union leadership to begin planning for a nationwide strike. The American Federation of Labor, responding to a plea from John L. Lewis (the head of the UMWA), passed a resolution which called on its affiliated international unions to help the coal miners. When the Coolidge administration refused to intervene in the dispute, Secretary of Labor James J. Davis could not get the major coal operators to agree to go back to the negotiating table with the UMWA. [5]

On April 1, 1927, 40,000 coal miners struck in the Central Competitive Field, beginning the largest coal strike since 1922, they were supported by another 45,000 miners throughout Pennsylvania and over another 100,000 miners nationwide. [2] [5] [3] The 1927 strike was one of the longest and most bitter strikes in Pennsylvania coal-industry history. The walk-out effectively closed down all mining activity in the bituminous fields of western Pennsylvania. [3] As time passed, other miners joined the strike, particularly those who worked for the Clearfield Bituminous Coal Corporation, in Rossiter, Pennsylvania, which became the focal point for the entire strike.

From the outset the striking miners endured intense hardships. The operators used strikebreakers, private police, injunctions, and many other antiunion tactics which had been developed during a century of industrial conflict in America. Owners also evicted 12,000 miners and their families from company housing between July and December, 1927. [1] [3] The miners in Rossiter began to agitate, marching to other mines and encouraging their workers to join the strike. [5]

In a major setback for the union, the company brought in strikebreakers and reopened the Rossiter mine in September, [3] on a non-union basis with most of its employees recruited from outside the district and paid on the lower 1917 scale. [5] A further, and much greater setback for the unions occurred in November, when Judge Jonathan Langham, serving on the Court of Common Pleas of Indiana County, Pennsylvania, published several sweeping injunctions against the protesters, putting a halt to their collective activities. [5] [3] The injunction forbade picketing, marching or gathering for meetings or rallies. It prohibited the disbursement of union funds for use by striking miners. The order also forbade newspaper advertisements and other means of communication being used to aid the cause of the strikers and convincing miners to desist from work. [5] But it was his final injunction which brought national attention to the conflict in Pennsylvania: He issued a prohibition against singing hymns and holding church services on the last two pieces of property in Rossiter not owned by the mining operators: lots owned by the Magyar Presbyterian Church situated directly opposite the mouth of the mine. [5] [3] [10]

The publicity spawned by Langham's injunction attracted out-of-state journalists, and a United States Senate investigating committee that came to Rossiter in February 1928. The senators, who included Senator Robert Wagner of New York, heard testimony from Rossiter miners, company officials, and Langham, and pointedly questioned the judge and company attorneys about the injunction's marker denial of civil liberties and free speech. The company continued to import strikebreakers and rely on Coal and Iron Police, and by the end of August virtually every Rossiter-area mine operated on a non-union basis. In October 1928 the national strike officially ended in a major defeat for the UMWA. [3]


Aftermath

The strike proved to be a disaster for the union. By 1929 only about 84,000 miners were paying dues. The central competitive field, the heart of the union's strength, was lost. Wage rates in the industry declined from an average of $7.50 to $5.50 per day. The work force in Pennsylvania declined by 21 percent. [1]

The national strike and events in Rossiter, however, had telling effects on Senator Wagner, bolstering his sympathy for labor. Allied with Senator George Norris and Congressman Fiorello La Guardia, Wagner co-sponsored the Norris-La Guardia Act of 1932, which greatly restricted the use of labor injunctions. [3]

In 1933 Wagner sponsored the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), which called for collective bargaining between unions and management. This act enabled the UMWA to resume its growth with membership reaching 400,000 in 1934. In 1935, after the United States Supreme Court invalidated the NIRA, Wagner sponsored the National Labor Relations Act, which reinstated the NIRA's collective bargaining provisions and established the National Labor Relations Board to hold union elections and prevent unfair labor practices. [3] Also in 1935, the US Senator from Pennsylvania sponsored the Guffey Coal Conservation Act. This measure, enacted in 1935, regulated the price and marketing structure of coal industry with provisions which guaranteed collective bargaining. It also stipulated uniform scales of wages and hours and created a national commission which would fix prices and regulate production. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lafayette, Colorado</span> City in Colorado, United States

The City of Lafayette is a home rule municipality located in southeastern Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 30,411 at the 2020 United States Census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John L. Lewis</span> American miner and labor leader

John Llewellyn Lewis was an American leader of organized labor who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMW) from 1920 to 1960. A major player in the history of coal mining, he was the driving force behind the founding of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), which established the United Steel Workers of America and helped organize millions of other industrial workers in the 1930s, during the Great Depression. After resigning as head of the CIO in 1941, Lewis took the United Mine Workers out of the CIO in 1942 and in 1944 took the union into the American Federation of Labor (AFL).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Mine Workers of America</span> North American labor union

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Murray</span> Scottish-born American labor leader (1886–1952)

Philip Murray was a Scottish-born steelworker and an American labor leader. He was the first president of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC), the first president of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA), and the longest-serving president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coal strike of 1902</span> Pennsylvanian Coal Strike

The Coal strike of 1902 was a strike by the United Mine Workers of America in the anthracite coalfields of eastern Pennsylvania. Miners struck for higher wages, shorter workdays, and the recognition of their union. The strike threatened to shut down the winter fuel supply to major American cities. At that time, residences were typically heated with anthracite or "hard" coal, which produces higher heat value and less smoke than "soft" or bituminous coal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harlan County War</span> Violent labor dispute in Kentucky

The Harlan County War, or Bloody Harlan, was a series of coal industry skirmishes, executions, bombings and strikes that took place in Harlan County, Kentucky, during the 1930s. The incidents involved coal miners and union organizers on one side and coal firms and law enforcement officials on the other. The Harlan County coal miners campaigned and fought to organize their workplaces and better their wages and working conditions. It was a nearly decade-long conflict, lasting from 1931 to 1939. Before its conclusion, an unknown number of miners, deputies and bosses would be killed, state and federal troops would occupy the county more than half a dozen times, two acclaimed folk singers would emerge, union membership would oscillate wildly and workers in the nation's most anti-labor coal county would ultimately be represented by a union.

The Progressive Miners of America was a coal miners' union organized in 1932 in downstate Illinois. It was formed in response to a 1932 contract proposal negotiated by United Mine Workers President John L. Lewis, which reduced wages from a previous rate of $6.10 per day to $5.00 per day.

The bituminous coal miners' strike was an unsuccessful national eight-week strike by miners of bituminous coal in the United States, which began on April 21, 1894.

The Bituminous coal strike of 1974 was a 28-day national coal strike in the United States led by the United Mine Workers of America. It is generally considered a successful strike by the union.

The Bituminous coal strike of 1977–1978 was a 110-day national coal strike in the United States led by the United Mine Workers of America. It began December 6, 1977, and ended on March 19, 1978. It is generally considered a successful union strike, although the contract was not beneficial to union members.

The Westmoreland County coal strike of 1910–1911, or the Westmoreland coal miners' strike, was a strike by coal miners represented by the United Mine Workers of America. The strike is also known as the Slovak Strike because about 70 percent of the miners were Slovak immigrants. It began in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, on March 9, 1910, and ended on July 1, 1911. At its height, the strike encompassed 65 mines and 15,000 coal miners. Sixteen people were killed during the strike, nearly all of them striking miners or members of their families. The strike ended in defeat for the union.

The Cape Breton coal strike of 1981 was a strike by coal miners who were members of the United Mine Workers of America against the Cape Breton Development Corporation (DEVCO) of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. The strike, which was bitter and violent, began in the middle of July 1981, and ended in early October of that year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of coal mining in the United States</span>

The history of coal mining in the United States starts with the first commercial use in 1701, within the Manakin-Sabot area of Richmond, Virginia. Coal was the dominant power source in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and although in rapid decline it remains a significant source of energy in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1892 Coeur d'Alene labor strike</span>

The 1892 Coeur d'Alene labor strike erupted in violence when labor union miners discovered they had been infiltrated by a Pinkerton agent who had routinely provided union information to the mine owners. The response to the labor violence, disastrous for the local miners' union, became the primary motivation for the formation of the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) the following year. The incident marked the first violent confrontation between the workers of the mines and their owners. Labor unrest continued after the 1892 strike, and surfaced again in the labor confrontation of 1899.

The Pana riot, or Pana massacre, was a coal mining labor conflict and also a racial conflict that occurred on April 10, 1899, in Pana, Illinois, and resulted in the deaths of seven people. It was one of many similar labor conflicts in the coal mining regions of Illinois that occurred in 1898 and 1899.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Illinois coal wars</span> Race/class conflict, 1898–1900

The Illinois coal wars, also known as the Illinois mine wars and several other names, were a series of labor disputes between 1898 and 1900 in central and southern Illinois.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of coal miners</span>

People have worked as coal miners for centuries, but they became increasingly important during the Industrial revolution when coal was burnt on a large scale to fuel stationary and locomotive engines and heat buildings. Owing to coal's strategic role as a primary fuel, coal miners have figured strongly in labor and political movements since that time.

The Carbon County Strikes took place in Carbon County, Utah from 1903–1904. The strikes primarily consisted of Slavic and Italian immigrant mine workers who partnered with the United Mine Workers of America strikes in Colorado to protest the dangerous working conditions of the Utah coal mines. The Carbon County strikes were considered the most important labor confrontation in the United States at the time. The Utah Fuel Company strongly opposed initiatives to unionize coal workers in Utah and were the primary opposition to the UMWA at the time. The Carbon County Strikes would ultimately fail in its attempt to unionize the coal workers of Utah simply because it "did not have enough support, either internally or externally, to win against a powerful and influential company that effectively played on radical, anti-foreign sentiments in defending its position" but it demonstrated a significant nationwide effort in strengthening unionization in the west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UMW Coal Strike of 1919</span> Month-long union strike in 1919

The United Mine Workers coal strike of 1919 saw bituminous coal miners strike for over a month, from November 1 to December 10, 1919, for better wages.

Bituminous Coal Operators Association (BCOA) is a coal mining lobbying organization. It was founded in 1950 by various companies to deal with the UMWA and unionizing of mines during the change from human labor to mechanical labor. The BCOA would strike deals between miners, mine companies, and coal buying companies to provide a steady flow of continuous labor and a steady purchasing price for coal. The main deals normally contained negotiations of some miners being put out of work by mechanizations while the miners left would be guaranteed a steady job and pay as long as they agreed to not hold up progress with strikes and other activities. In addition, the BCOA hears requests from the UMWA employees for pay raises but often results in unprotected employees being laid off after a deal has been reached. The current president of BCOA is David M Young. He is the main representative for the BCOA and lobbyist.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Filippelli, Ronald L. (July 1976). "Diary of a Strike". Pennsylvania History. Pennsylvania State University, Pennsylvania History. 43 (3): 253–266. Archived from the original on February 4, 2014.
  2. 1 2 McDonald, David J.; Lynch, Edward A. (1939). Coal and Unionism. Cornelius Printing Co. pp. 173–175.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Historical Markers". explorepahistory.com.
  4. ↑ "The West Virginia Coal Mine Wars". GlobalSecurity.org.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Confrontation at Rossiter". Virtual Museum of Coal Mining in Western Pennsylvania. Archived from the original on 2012-06-21. Retrieved 2013-05-23.
  6. ↑ "Pittsburgh Coal Strike". Indiana Evening Gazette. March 12, 1921: 21–22, 1921.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. ↑ Kanarek, Harold K. (1975). "The Pennsylvania Anthracite Strike of 1922". The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 99 (2): 207–225. JSTOR   20090945.
  8. ↑ "1922 Coal Strikes". 1920sera.com. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014.
  9. ↑ Zieger, Robert H. (1969). "Pennsylvania Coal and Politics". The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 93 (2): 244–262. JSTOR   20090294.
  10. ↑ "Judge Jonathan Langham". mcintyrepa.com. Archived from the original on August 17, 2002.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.