Bituminous Coal Strike of 1974
Encyclopedia
The Bituminous Coal Strike of 1974 was a 28-day national coal
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...

 strike
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...

 in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 led by the United Mine Workers of America, AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO
The 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 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...

. It is generally considered a successful strike by the union.

Since the 1940s, the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) had negotiated a nationwide National Coal Wage Agreement with the Bituminous Coal Operators Association (BCOA), a group of large coal mine operators. The three-year agreements covered national bargaining issues such as wages, health and pension benefits, workplace health and safety, and work rules. Local agreements, far more limited in scope, were negotiated by each individual local affiliate of UMWA.

Murder and turmoil in UMWA

UMWA had been rocked by internal turmoil since the previous national agreement had been negotiated in 1971. President W. A. Boyle had rigged the 1969 UMWA presidential election against challenger Joseph "Jock" Yablonski
Joseph Yablonski
Joseph Albert "Jock" Yablonski was an American labor leader in the United Mine Workers in the 1950s and 1960s. He was murdered in 1969 by killers hired by a union political opponent, Mine Workers president W. A. Boyle...

. Yablonski lost the election, but asked the United States Department of Labor
United States Department of Labor
The United States Department of Labor is a Cabinet department of the United States government responsible for occupational safety, wage and hour standards, unemployment insurance benefits, re-employment services, and some economic statistics. Many U.S. states also have such departments. The...

 to investigate. Boyle, who had been plotting Yablonski's murder since June 1969, used $20,000 in union funds to pay three men to kill Yablonski. Yablonski, his wife and 25-year-old daughter were murdered in their home on December 31, 1969. A reform movement, Miners for Democracy (MFD), arose within UMWA. The federal government overturned the election in 1971, and ordered a new election to be held in December 1972. Arnold Miller
Arnold Miller
Arnold Miller was a miner and labor activist who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America , AFL-CIO, from 1972 to 1979.-Early life and mining career:...

, a miner from West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...

, was elected the new president of UMWA. (Boyle and eight others were convicted of murder and conspiracy to commit murder in 1974.)

Strike

Miller initiated several democratic reforms which affected the renegotiation of the national coal collective bargaining agreement. UMWA's bargaining demands were now set by a 36-member bargaining council rather than the president and his aides. Tentative agreements now were subject to approval by the bargaining council and member ratification. Wildcat strikes had become common in the coal industry as union miners grew frustrated with the poor terms of national contracts and employer foot-dragging on resolving disputes and grievances. Miller hoped that these democratic reforms would decrease the number of wildcat strikes.

UMWA's collective bargaining demands included a 40 percent wage and benefit increase, significantly stronger health and safety language, five days of guaranteed sick leave each year, and higher employer contributions to the union's health and pension funds. Anticipating a long strike, Miller and other key union officials visited Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 to discuss strike tactics with the militant leaders of the British coal unions.

Employers were willing to make concessions on wages and benefits. Workers in other basic industries such as steel and automobile manufacturing were making much more money than coal miners, even though their occupations were not nearly as dangerous to health or safety. However, the mine operators demanded an end to wildcat strikes. Employer contributions to UMWA's health and pension plans were dependent on the amount of coal mined. Wildcat strikes significantly reduced the tonnage mined, and reduced the revenues flowing into the UMWA health and pension plans. The employers argued they should not make higher payments to offset the effect of the wildcat strikes.

No new agreement was reached when the 1971 agreement expired, and UMWA struck on November 12, 1974.

A tentative agreement was rejected twice by UMWA's bargaining council—once prior to and once during the strike.

Angered by the council's continuing demands for improvements, Miller declared he would not seek additional economic concessions from the employers but only non-economic improvements. National stockpiles of coal were somewhat high, so a winter-time heating crisis never emerged. However, the ongoing effects of the 1973 oil crisis
1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo. This was "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war. It lasted until March 1974. With the...

 had greatly enhanced the demand for coal, and steel and iron makers had few coking supplies
Coke (fuel)
Coke is the solid carbonaceous material derived from destructive distillation of low-ash, low-sulfur bituminous coal. Cokes from coal are grey, hard, and porous. While coke can be formed naturally, the commonly used form is man-made.- History :...

 on-hand. These factors kept the union's negotiating position strong despite the two contract rejections.

Federal government officials, however, intervened to push UMWA to accept the next contract. President Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...

 threatened to bring a Taft-Hartley Act
Taft-Hartley Act
The Labor–Management Relations Act is a United States federal law that monitors the activities and power of labor unions. The act, still effective, was sponsored by Senator Robert Taft and Representative Fred A. Hartley, Jr. and became law by overriding U.S. President Harry S...

injunction against the union to force the miners back to work. This pressure brought about a settlement on December 10, 1974. Miller was able to overcome bargaining council opposition to the tentative agreement by arguing that members alone should have the final say on the pact. The contract was narrowly approved, but only after heavy lobbying by Miller administration officials.

The 1974 agreement was the richest contract in UMWA history. Miners received a 54 percent wage-and-benefit increase over three years. A cost-of-living clause, the first in the union's history, was also included. Vacation days rose from 20 to 30 days a year, and five days of "personal leave" also established. Employers agreed to pay for training safety committee members, quarterly mine-safety inspections conducted by UMWA, work clothing and safety equipment such as goggles. The agreement was ratified by 56 percent of the membership, which was a relatively narrow vote. Retired miners were particularly unhappy that their benefits were now lower than those offered to younger miners.

However, in a larger sense, the contract was a failure. The union members' unhappiness with the new collective bargaining agreement led to a continuing wave of wildcat strikes. Miller's democratic reforms had energized his critics and decentralized the union so that unity was now much more difficult to achieve. The number of wildcat strikes only increased through 1976, driving away many potential members and slowing organizing growth.
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