Bituminous Coal Strike of 1977-1978
Encyclopedia
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, AFL-CIO
. 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.
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.
had negotiated the previous collective bargaining
agreement in during the Bituminous Coal Strike of 1974
.
The right of local unions to strike—not wages—was the primary issue in the negotiations. In the 1930s and 1940s, destructive competition drove coal operators to cut prices so drastically that many went into bankruptcy. Many producers slashed wages drastically to survive. From the workers' perspective, this was bad enough. During the Great Depression
, however, wages needed to be kept high in order to stimulate demand. UMWA and other unions took advantage of the depression by offering industry-wide, national collective bargaining agreements as a way to stabilize wages. Not only would wages remain high, but producers' costs would now also stabilize and remove—to a great extent—producers' ability to fund destructive competition through wage decreases. In return, UMWA and other unions agreed to "labor peace." In UMWA's case, this meant stripping local unions of the right to strike without the international union's approval.
But wildcat strikes had become common in the coal industry. UMWA miners grew frustrated with the poor terms of national contracts and employer foot-dragging on dispute resolution and grievances. Democratic reforms within the Mine Workers and an excellent 1974 contract had not released the pressure which caused wildcat strikes. The solution, as miners saw it, was power. And power flowed from the right to strike over local conditions. Absent the right to strike, UMWA's democracy movement rejected labor peace and wildcat strikes had become even more common.
Miller had been forced to accept the right to strike over local conditions in order to win re-election in June 1977. When national bargaining talks opened in the fall, Miller therefore insisted on changing the national collective bargaining agreement to give each UMWA affiliate the limited right to strike over local issues. Miller turned the "labor peace" argument on its head by arguing that the only way to suppress wildcat strikes was to regulate the process and give local unions the right to strike. With the power that the ability to strike would give local unions, local mine operators would no longer create the conditions which led to strikes. But the owners rejected Miller's demand. They had seen how he was unable to bring wildcat strikers back to the bargaining table and they had little faith that his proposal would work. Instead, they demanded the right to fire wildcat strikers and fine any miner who refused to cross wildcat picket lines.
UMWA's negotiating position was not an enviable one, however. Power utilities had built up a 120-day supply of coal, while iron and steel producers had a 75-day supply. Both were more than sufficient to weather a miners' strike. Additionally, the number of coal mines controlled by UMWA had fallen from 67 percent to 50 percent since 1974, leaving more mines in operation to supply national needs during a strike. The oil crisis
which had powered the 1974 round of bargaining no longer existed, and coal demand was lower.
Miller had also hurt himself. He had fired most of his supporters in the intervening three years, including press officer Bernard Aronson, research director Thomas Bethell and most of the research department staff, leaving UMWA organizationally unable to handle the needs of the negotiations and strike. Miller turned to the Stanley Ruttenberg Company for negotiating advice and assistance at the bargaining table. This caused confusion among UMWA negotiators as to strategy, tactics and the content of proposals, and caused mixed signals to be sent by the bargaining committee, Miller and other UMWA officers. The lack of organizational competence and flow of mixed messages helped prolong the labor dispute.
, and in Utah
a state judge issued a 10-day restraining order against the union and 1,100 summonses issued after replacement miners complained of being harassed by picketers. On December 13, state police in riot gear tear-gassed about 400 coal miners in Daviess County, Kentucky
, who had thrown rocks and bottles at passing coal trucks. Four weeks into the strike, five union miners were indicted on federal charges for conspiracy in the dynamiting of a section of the Norfolk and Western Railway on which non-union coal was being carried. In Indiana
, Gov. Otis Bowen called out the National Guard on February 14 to protect coal truck convoys. In Virginia
, Gov. John Dalton
declared a state of emergency on March 7 and ordered the state police to begin patrolling coal-producing areas. But Pennsylvania
Gov. Milton Shapp
and West Virginia Gov. Jay Rockefeller
refused to call out the National Guard in their states, and Illinois
Gov. James R. Thompson
agreed to let his state police officers to accompany federal marshals but refused to have them enforce federal labor law.
A tentative agreement was reached February 6, 1978. The agreement imposed penalties for wildcat strikes and chronic absenteeism, turned the union's health and pension plans over to the employers, forced workers to pay part of their health insurance premiums, and instituted a bonus system for productivity increases.
The union's bargaining council rejected the tentative agreement on February 12.
A second tentative agreement was reached. UMWA's bargaining council approved the pact and sent it to the membership for ratification. The miners deeply resented losing their health care plan and having to pay premiums, and still demand the right to strike over local issues. Miner reaction was highly negative; television stations ran images of miners burning the contract during meetings. To help sell the agreement, UMWA spent $40,000 on television and radio advertising. But UMWA members resented having their own union spend dues money on propaganda, and felt that the ad campaign showed that the contract was not worth ratifying. Miller's decision to use advertising to sell the contract backfired; the contract vote became as much a referendum on Miller's leadership as it was about the tentative agreement.
During three days of voting from March 3 to March 5, the UMWA membership rejected the tentative contract by margin of 2 to 1.
invoked the national emergency provision of the Taft-Hartley Act
. An investigatory commission met on March 7, and held hearings at which both union and management witnesses testified. The commission's report was issued the following day, and a federal district court issued a temporary injunction ordering the miners back to work on March 9.
The striking miners ignored the injunction. The federal government did little to enforce the order.
On March 19, Carter asked the district court to make the injunction permanent. But noting that there seemed little national emergency, and observing that the Carter administration had made little effort to reopen the mines, the court declined to make the injunction permanent. The temporary injunction lapsed, and no further action was taken by the administration or the courts.
But a growing number of union members had backed off their earlier demand for the right to strike over local issues. Wildcat strikes reduced productivity, which in turn (under the contract) reduced employers' contributions to UMWA pension and health funds. The right to strike, they came to realize, would only further harm their health and pension plans. Additionally, many miners began to realize that the strikes were hurting the union's organizing chances, especially in the West.
Eventually, UMWA and mine negotiators settled on a compromise. They tentatively agreed on new, improved dispute resolution procedures which, they hoped, would lower the number of wildcat strikes.
was hired sing and narrate several soft-sell one-minute radio spots. Miller traveled heavily through Appalachia
, where he was best known and where opposition had been strongest, speaking to members and making numerous television appearances. District presidents also went on radio and television, using free media to tout the benefits of the agreement.
This time, the miners approved the tentative contract by vote of 57 percent to 43 percent. The strike ended on March 19, and the miners returned to work March 26.
The pact called for:
While ratification of the agreement was a victory for Miller, it also signaled the end of his effectiveness as leader of the United Mine Workers of America. Political infighting, his autocratic behavior and the troubled 1978 contract negotiations finished him. On March 29, 1978, just ten days after the coal mining contract was ratified, Miller suffered a stroke while on vacation in Miami Beach, Florida
. On April 12, 1978, while still in the hospital, Miller suffered a mild heart attack. His health never recovered fully. His union political opponents had decided that his erratic behavior and poor physical condition justified putting him on involuntary leave when he suffered a third heart attack. Miller resigned on November 12, 1978. After a lengthy illness, Arnold Miller died on July 12, 1985, at a hospital in Charleston, West Virginia
.
The 1978 contract is widely seen as a concessionary contract. Workers lost their cradle-to-grave health and pension benefits, were forced to pay for their health care for the first time in 30 years, and were forced to resume working under a productivity bonus system eliminated in 1946. Meanwhile, the union's primary goal—winning the right to strike over local issues—was never accomplished.
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 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.
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.
Causes of the strike
UMWA president Arnold MillerArnold 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:...
had negotiated the previous collective bargaining
Collective bargaining
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiations between employers and the representatives of a unit of employees aimed at reaching agreements that regulate working conditions...
agreement in during the Bituminous Coal Strike of 1974
Bituminous Coal Strike of 1974
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, AFL-CIO. It is generally considered a successful strike by the union....
.
The right of local unions to strike—not wages—was the primary issue in the negotiations. In the 1930s and 1940s, destructive competition drove coal operators to cut prices so drastically that many went into bankruptcy. Many producers slashed wages drastically to survive. From the workers' perspective, this was bad enough. During the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, however, wages needed to be kept high in order to stimulate demand. UMWA and other unions took advantage of the depression by offering industry-wide, national collective bargaining agreements as a way to stabilize wages. Not only would wages remain high, but producers' costs would now also stabilize and remove—to a great extent—producers' ability to fund destructive competition through wage decreases. In return, UMWA and other unions agreed to "labor peace." In UMWA's case, this meant stripping local unions of the right to strike without the international union's approval.
But wildcat strikes had become common in the coal industry. UMWA miners grew frustrated with the poor terms of national contracts and employer foot-dragging on dispute resolution and grievances. Democratic reforms within the Mine Workers and an excellent 1974 contract had not released the pressure which caused wildcat strikes. The solution, as miners saw it, was power. And power flowed from the right to strike over local conditions. Absent the right to strike, UMWA's democracy movement rejected labor peace and wildcat strikes had become even more common.
Miller had been forced to accept the right to strike over local conditions in order to win re-election in June 1977. When national bargaining talks opened in the fall, Miller therefore insisted on changing the national collective bargaining agreement to give each UMWA affiliate the limited right to strike over local issues. Miller turned the "labor peace" argument on its head by arguing that the only way to suppress wildcat strikes was to regulate the process and give local unions the right to strike. With the power that the ability to strike would give local unions, local mine operators would no longer create the conditions which led to strikes. But the owners rejected Miller's demand. They had seen how he was unable to bring wildcat strikers back to the bargaining table and they had little faith that his proposal would work. Instead, they demanded the right to fire wildcat strikers and fine any miner who refused to cross wildcat picket lines.
UMWA's negotiating position was not an enviable one, however. Power utilities had built up a 120-day supply of coal, while iron and steel producers had a 75-day supply. Both were more than sufficient to weather a miners' strike. Additionally, the number of coal mines controlled by UMWA had fallen from 67 percent to 50 percent since 1974, leaving more mines in operation to supply national needs during a strike. The 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...
which had powered the 1974 round of bargaining no longer existed, and coal demand was lower.
Miller had also hurt himself. He had fired most of his supporters in the intervening three years, including press officer Bernard Aronson, research director Thomas Bethell and most of the research department staff, leaving UMWA organizationally unable to handle the needs of the negotiations and strike. Miller turned to the Stanley Ruttenberg Company for negotiating advice and assistance at the bargaining table. This caused confusion among UMWA negotiators as to strategy, tactics and the content of proposals, and caused mixed signals to be sent by the bargaining committee, Miller and other UMWA officers. The lack of organizational competence and flow of mixed messages helped prolong the labor dispute.
Rejection of tentative agreements
As the bargaining talks continued in December, sporadic violence broke out. A coal auger was blown up at a mine near Saint Charles, Georgia, a coal train was stopped and delayed in Cambria County, PennsylvaniaCambria County, Pennsylvania
Cambria County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It comprises the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010, the population was 143,679....
, and in Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
a state judge issued a 10-day restraining order against the union and 1,100 summonses issued after replacement miners complained of being harassed by picketers. On December 13, state police in riot gear tear-gassed about 400 coal miners in Daviess County, Kentucky
Daviess County, Kentucky
As of the census of 2000, there were 91,545 people, 36,033 households, and 24,826 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 38,432 housing units at an average density of...
, who had thrown rocks and bottles at passing coal trucks. Four weeks into the strike, five union miners were indicted on federal charges for conspiracy in the dynamiting of a section of the Norfolk and Western Railway on which non-union coal was being carried. In Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, Gov. Otis Bowen called out the National Guard on February 14 to protect coal truck convoys. In Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, Gov. John Dalton
John Dalton
John Dalton FRS was an English chemist, meteorologist and physicist. He is best known for his pioneering work in the development of modern atomic theory, and his research into colour blindness .-Early life:John Dalton was born into a Quaker family at Eaglesfield, near Cockermouth, Cumberland,...
declared a state of emergency on March 7 and ordered the state police to begin patrolling coal-producing areas. But Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
Gov. Milton Shapp
Milton Shapp
Milton Jerrold Shapp was the 40th Governor of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania from 1971 to 1979 and was the first Jewish governor of Pennsylvania.- Early life :...
and West Virginia Gov. Jay Rockefeller
Jay Rockefeller
John Davison "Jay" Rockefeller IV is the senior United States Senator from West Virginia. He was first elected to the Senate in 1984, while in office as Governor of West Virginia, a position he held from 1977 to 1985...
refused to call out the National Guard in their states, and Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
Gov. James R. Thompson
James R. Thompson
James Robert Thompson, Jr. , also known as Big Jim Thompson, was the 37th and longest serving Governor of the US state of Illinois...
agreed to let his state police officers to accompany federal marshals but refused to have them enforce federal labor law.
A tentative agreement was reached February 6, 1978. The agreement imposed penalties for wildcat strikes and chronic absenteeism, turned the union's health and pension plans over to the employers, forced workers to pay part of their health insurance premiums, and instituted a bonus system for productivity increases.
The union's bargaining council rejected the tentative agreement on February 12.
A second tentative agreement was reached. UMWA's bargaining council approved the pact and sent it to the membership for ratification. The miners deeply resented losing their health care plan and having to pay premiums, and still demand the right to strike over local issues. Miner reaction was highly negative; television stations ran images of miners burning the contract during meetings. To help sell the agreement, UMWA spent $40,000 on television and radio advertising. But UMWA members resented having their own union spend dues money on propaganda, and felt that the ad campaign showed that the contract was not worth ratifying. Miller's decision to use advertising to sell the contract backfired; the contract vote became as much a referendum on Miller's leadership as it was about the tentative agreement.
During three days of voting from March 3 to March 5, the UMWA membership rejected the tentative contract by margin of 2 to 1.
Taft-Hartley and changing attitudes
On March 6, President Jimmy CarterJimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
invoked the national emergency provision of the 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...
. An investigatory commission met on March 7, and held hearings at which both union and management witnesses testified. The commission's report was issued the following day, and a federal district court issued a temporary injunction ordering the miners back to work on March 9.
The striking miners ignored the injunction. The federal government did little to enforce the order.
On March 19, Carter asked the district court to make the injunction permanent. But noting that there seemed little national emergency, and observing that the Carter administration had made little effort to reopen the mines, the court declined to make the injunction permanent. The temporary injunction lapsed, and no further action was taken by the administration or the courts.
But a growing number of union members had backed off their earlier demand for the right to strike over local issues. Wildcat strikes reduced productivity, which in turn (under the contract) reduced employers' contributions to UMWA pension and health funds. The right to strike, they came to realize, would only further harm their health and pension plans. Additionally, many miners began to realize that the strikes were hurting the union's organizing chances, especially in the West.
Eventually, UMWA and mine negotiators settled on a compromise. They tentatively agreed on new, improved dispute resolution procedures which, they hoped, would lower the number of wildcat strikes.
Contract settlement
Although Miller and his leadership worked hard to convince members that the contract was a good one, they avoided the errors of their previous effort. Country-western singer Johnny PaycheckJohnny Paycheck
Johnny Paycheck was the legal name of Donald Eugene Lytle , a country music singer and Grand Ole Opry member most famous for recording the David Allan Coe song "Take This Job and Shove It"...
was hired sing and narrate several soft-sell one-minute radio spots. Miller traveled heavily through Appalachia
Appalachia
Appalachia is a term used to describe a cultural region in the eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York state to northern Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Canada to Cheaha Mountain in the U.S...
, where he was best known and where opposition had been strongest, speaking to members and making numerous television appearances. District presidents also went on radio and television, using free media to tout the benefits of the agreement.
This time, the miners approved the tentative contract by vote of 57 percent to 43 percent. The strike ended on March 19, and the miners returned to work March 26.
The pact called for:
- A 37 percent wage hike, albeit with loss of the cost-of-living clause won in 1974.
- Institution of a productivity incentive bonus plan.
- Discipline (including loss of health and pension benefits) and/or discharge for any employee who participated in or caused a wildcat strike, but no punishment for honoring the picket line established by a wildcat strike.
- Guaranteed payment of health and retirement benefits, even if the union's health and pension funds were depleted.
- Shuttering of the union's health and pension funds, to be replaced by health and pension plans offered by the employers.
- Health care deductibles of $275 per family per year (less for retirees) and $50 per family per year form prescription drugs.
- Union payments to the existing union health fund to compensate for revenues lost due to wildcat strikes.
While ratification of the agreement was a victory for Miller, it also signaled the end of his effectiveness as leader of the United Mine Workers of America. Political infighting, his autocratic behavior and the troubled 1978 contract negotiations finished him. On March 29, 1978, just ten days after the coal mining contract was ratified, Miller suffered a stroke while on vacation in Miami Beach, Florida
Miami Beach, Florida
Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter which separates the Beach from Miami city proper...
. On April 12, 1978, while still in the hospital, Miller suffered a mild heart attack. His health never recovered fully. His union political opponents had decided that his erratic behavior and poor physical condition justified putting him on involuntary leave when he suffered a third heart attack. Miller resigned on November 12, 1978. After a lengthy illness, Arnold Miller died on July 12, 1985, at a hospital in Charleston, West Virginia
Charleston, West Virginia
Charleston is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is located at the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha Rivers in Kanawha County. As of the 2010 census, it has a population of 51,400, and its metropolitan area 304,214. It is the county seat of Kanawha County.Early...
.
The 1978 contract is widely seen as a concessionary contract. Workers lost their cradle-to-grave health and pension benefits, were forced to pay for their health care for the first time in 30 years, and were forced to resume working under a productivity bonus system eliminated in 1946. Meanwhile, the union's primary goal—winning the right to strike over local issues—was never accomplished.