The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a United States labor union that represents workers in mining. One of the groups in the forefront of the fight for collective bargaining in the early 20th century, the UMW was founded in Columbus, Ohio, on January 22, 1890, by the merger of two earlier groups, the Knights of Labor Trade Assembly No. 135 and the National Progressive Union of Miners and Mine Laborers. It was modeled after the American Federation of Labor (AFL). United Mine Workers of America seal This is believed to be available for educational use under fair use. ... 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar). ... American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL-CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 54 national and international unions (including Canadian), together representing more than 10 million workers. ... The Canadian Labour Congress, or CLC (in French le Congrès du travail du Canada or CTC) is the central labour body in Canada to which most Canadian labour unions are affiliated. ... Cecil Edric Mornington Roberts (1892-1976) was an English journalist and novelist. ... Nickname: Motto: Justitia Omnibus (Justice for All) Location of Washington, D.C., in relation to the states Maryland and Virginia Coordinates: Country United States Federal District District of Columbia Government  - Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D)  - City Council Chairperson: Vincent C. Gray (D) Ward 1: Jim Graham (D) Ward 2: Jack... A trade union or labor union is a continuous association of wage-earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment. ... This article is about mineral extraction. ... Nickname: Location in the state of Ohio, USA Coordinates: Country United States State Ohio Counties Franklin, Delaware, and Fairfield Government  - Mayor Michael B. Coleman (D) Area  - City  212. ... January 22 is the 22nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar). ... Labor Party The Knights of Labor was originally founded as the Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor by nine Philadelphia tailors in 1869, led by Uriah H. Stephens. ... The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. ...

After passage of the National Recovery Act in 1933, organizers spread out throughout the United States to organize all coal miners.-1... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... Coal Coal (IPA: ) is a fossil fuel formed in swamp ecosystems where plant remains were saved by water and mud from oxidization and biodegradation. ...

During the 1930s the UMWA was often thought by many men in the field as being too involved in "Washington Politics" spawning such alternative unions such as the Progressive Mine Workers. A coal miners union organized in 1932. ...

Achievements

• An eight-hour work day in 1898, collective bargaining rights in 1933, and safety protections in 1969.

• In 1969, the UMWA convinced the United States Congress to enact the landmark Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act which provided compensation for miners suffering from Black Lung Disease.

Famous UMWA leaders include John Mitchell, co-founder Philip H. Penna and John L. Lewis. Eight-hour day banner, Melbourne, 1856 The Eight-hour day movement, also known as the Short-time movement, had its origins in the Industrial Revolution in Britain, where industrial production in large factories transformed working life and imposed long hours and poor working conditions. ... Type Bicameral Houses Senate House of Representatives United States Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D since January 4, 2007 Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D since January 4, 2007 Members 535 plus 4 Delegates and 1 Resident Commissioner Political groups (as of November 7, 2006 elections) Democratic Party Republican... Pneumoconiosis is a lung condition caused by the inhalation of dust, characterized by formation of nodular fibrotic changes in lungs. ... John Mitchell (1870 - 1919) was a famous United States labor leader, and was president of the United Mine Workers from 1898 to 1908. ... DAVE ACKERMAN HAS WOOLY SOCKSJohn Llewellyn Lewis (February 12, 1880 – June 11, 1969) was an American leader of organized labor who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America from 1920 to 1960. ...

Violent clashes

WPA poster

coal miners in Hazleton PA 1900

Its history is filled with violent clashes in which company policy tried to protect strikebreakers: Image File history File links Coal-wpa. ... Image File history File links Coal-wpa. ... Image File history File links 1900a. ... Image File history File links 1900a. ...

• Lattimer Massacre - September 10, 1897. 19 miners were killed by police in Lattimer, Pennsylvania, during a march in support of unions.
• Battle of Virden - October 1898. Part of the larger mine wars that established Illinois as the leading union state in the country, and the reason that Mother Jones is buried at Mt. Olive, Illinois
• Ludlow Massacre - April 20, 1914. 20 people, including women and children, killed when police and hired guns broke up a tent colony formed by families of miners who had been evicted from company-owned housing.
• The 'Redneck War' - 1920-21. Generally viewed as beginning with the Matewan Massacre, this conflict involved the struggle to unionize the southwestern area of West Virginia. It led to the march of 10,000 armed miners on the county seat at Logan, ending in the Battle of Blair Mountain in which the miners fought state militia, local police, and mine guards. These events are depicted in the 1987 novel Storming Heaven by Denise Giardina and the 2005 novel 'Blair Mountain' by Jonathan Lynn.
• Matewan, West Virginia - May 19, 1920. 12 men were killed in a gunfight between town residents and the Baldwin Felts Detective Agency, hired by mine owners. This is depicted in the John Sayles film Matewan.
• Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada - June 11, 1925. District 26 of the UMWA struck in early March 1925 against the British Empire Steel Corporation (BESCO). On June 4, the union pulled its men from a company power plant in New Waterford. More than fifty company police, many on horseback, occupied the plant on the morning of June 11. An estimated 700 - 3,000 miners and supporters gathered in New Waterford and marched to the power plant that morning. The company police opened fire when the crowd arrived and then charged the crowd on horseback, swinging nightclubs and firing revolvers. Miners fought back with stones and pulled police off horses. William Davis, a miner, was shot dead and several others were wounded by gunfire or trampled by horses. After the riot ended, the miners sabotaged and disabled the power plant for the duration of the strike. Police and company officials that didn't escape the battle were locked up in the town jail. In the following nights, company stores were raided and burned, including the colliery building. The Canadian Army deployed thousands of soldiers to the area in the second largest deployment in history for civil unrest within Canada. The union later suspended the 100 percent strike, allowing maintenance workers to return. The 1925 strike lasted through the summer and contributed to the bankruptcy and breakup of the BESCO conglomerate several years later. The strike against BESCO by UMWA 26 in the Sydney Coal Field was unprecedented for the violence and militancy exhibited by the company toward the striking miners and forever changed the labour dynamics in Industrial Cape Breton.

The Lattimer massacre was an incident in which a sheriffs posse killed nineteen unarmed immigrant miners and wounded scores more. ... September 10 is the 253rd day of the Gregorian calendar (254th in leap years). ... 1897 (MDCCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Mary Harris Jones (August 1, 1837 – November 30, 1930), better known as Mother Jones, was a prominent American labor and community organizer, and Wobbly. ... Ludlow massacre monument The Ludlow massacre was the death of about 20 people during an attack by the Colorado National Guard on a tent colony of 1,200 striking coal miners and their families, at Ludlow, Colorado on April 20, 1914. ... April 20 is the 110th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (111th in leap years). ... Year 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... The Battle of Blair Mountain was the largest organized armed uprising in American labor history and led almost directly to the labor laws currently in effect in the United States of America. ... Aerial view of Matewan, West Virginia A section of the floodwall along the Tug Fork in Matewan, West Virginia, constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, depicts the Hatfield-McCoy feud. ... May 19 is the 139th day of the year (140th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... Photo of John Sayles by Robert Birnbaum John Thomas Sayles (born September 28, 1950) is an independent American film director and writer who frequently takes a small part in his own and other indie films. ... Matewan is a 1987 drama by John Sayles, illustrating the events of a coal mine-workers strike and attempt to unionize in 1920 in Matewan, a small town in the hills of West Virginia. ... Downtown Sydney, Nova Scotia. ... June 11 is the 162nd day of the year (163rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation (also DOSCO) was a Canadian coal mining and steel manufacturing company. ... June 4 is the 155th day of the year (156th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... New Waterford (2001 population: 6,944) is a community in Nova Scotias Cape Breton Regional Municipality. ... Company Police are police officers who work for a private company rather than a government agency. ... June 11 is the 162nd day of the year (163rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... William Davis, (June 3, 1887 – June 11, 1925), was a coal miner from Cape Breton Island. ... Canadian Forces Land Force Command (LF) is responsible for army operations within the Canadian Armed Forces. ... Industrial Cape Breton refers to the eastern portion of Cape Breton County fronting the Atlantic Ocean on the southeastern part of Cape Breton Island. ...

Further history

• On October 21, 1902, a five month strike by the United Mine Workers ended.

Caption1 October 21 is the 294th day of the year (295th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 71 days remaining. ... 1902 (MCMII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Image File history File links Example. ...

Caption2 Image File history File links Example. ...

===The Harlan County War===

In the summer of 1973, workers at the Duke Power-owned Eastover Coal Company's Brookside Mine and Prep Plant in Harlan County, Kentucky voted to join the union. Eastover management refused to sign the contract and the union went on strike. Duke Power brought in replacement non-union workers, often known as, "Scabs," in Labor circles. The replacement workers were attacked, Hogg, the local judge was a coal operator himself and consistently ruled for Eastover. He was accused of being paid off by the company. During the final months of the strike the mine workers' wives and children began manning the picket lines. They were arrested, hit by baseball bats, shot at, and struck by cars. Three months after returning to work, UMWA's contract expired. On November 12, 1974, 120,000 miners nationwide walked off the job. This strike was bloodless and a tentative contract was achieved three weeks later. This opened the mines and reactivated the railroad haulers in time for Christmas. These events are depicted in the film Harlan County, USA. Location in the state of Kentucky Formed 1819 Seat Harlan Area  - Total  - Water 1,212 km² (468 mi²) 2 km² (1 mi²) 0. ... November 12 is the 316th day of the year (317th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Harlan County, USA is a 1976 documentary film documenting the efforts of 180 coal miners on strike in Harlan County, Kentucky in 1974. ...

The union's more recent history has sometimes been marked by internal strife and corruption, including the 1969 murder of Joseph Yablonski, a reform candidate who lost a race for union president against incumbent W.A. "Tony" Boyle. Boyle was later convicted of ordering the murder. Joseph Jock Yablonski was an American labor leader who was murdered in 1969 by assassins hired by a union political opponent, W.A. Tony Boyle. ... Joseph Jock Yablonski was an American labor leader who was murdered in 1969 by assassins hired by a union political opponent, W.A. Tony Boyle. ...

The killing of Yablonski resulted in the birth of a pro-democracy movement called the "Miners for Democracy" (MFD) which swept the Boyle regime out of office and replaced it with a group of leaders who had been most recently rank and file miners. Led by new president Arnold Miller, the new leadership enacted a series of reforms which gave UMWA members the right to elect their leaders at all levels of the union and to ratify the contracts under which they worked. Arnold Miller (April 25, 1923 - July 12, 1985) was a miner and labor activist who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), AFL-CIO, from 1972 to 1979. ...

Automation and a general decline in American unions cut heavily into the UMW's membership after World War II. In 1998 the UMW had about 240,000 members, half the number it had in 1946. In the early 2000s, the union represented about 42 percent of all employed miners. The UMW is most powerful in West Virginia, as well as in Montana and other western states. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... The 2000s are the current decade, spanning from 2000 to 2009. ... Official language(s) English Capital Charleston Largest city Charleston Area  Ranked 41st  - Total 24,244 sq mi (62,809 km²)  - Width 130 miles (210 km)  - Length 240 miles (385 km)  - % water 0. ... Official language(s) English Capital Helena Largest city Billings Area  Ranked 4th  - Total 147,165 sq mi (381,156 km²)  - Width 255 miles (410 km)  - Length 630 miles (1,015 km)  - % water 1  - Latitude 44°26N to 49°N  - Longitude 104°2W to 116°2W Population  Ranked...

External links

• United Mine Workers of America official site
• Justice at Peabody current campaign website
• [Remember Virden: doumentary on the mine wars in Illinois][1]

Organized Labour Portal