United Mine Workers Strike
United States 1919
Synopsis
When a large number of coal miners in the Belleville sub-district of Illinois struck briefly in early July 1919 to protest the jailing of labor activist Tom Mooney, they were fined under the terms of their union contract. When the subdistrict's coal operators declined to return those fines, miners ignored local union officials' pleas and voted to stop work altogether. The contract providing for the fines had been drawn up under the so-called Washington Agreement that addressed the economic pressures of World War I and extended until 1 April 1920. The strike spread despite union officials' moves to stop it. When the United Mine Workers' (UMW) national convention convened the following month in Cleveland, the 2,000 delegates present voted to strike on 1 November if a new contract providing for a 30-hour workweek and 60 percent wage increase were not negotiated by then. When no such contract was forthcoming, 425,000 coal miners nationwide went on strike. Almost immediately, the government took steps to end the strike. President Woodrow Wilson declared the strike unlawful, and federal troops were ordered into the minefields of several states. In response to an 8 November federal court order, acting UMW President John L.
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