The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) originated in the Pottsville area.
In fact, some of the country’s earliest unions were formed in the region’s coalfields. One might say that their influence extended beyond the mines and inspired other unions in the early stages of the American labor movement.
The Pottsville Republican charts the history of early labor organizing in its 100th anniversary edition, published on October 22, 1984.
According to The Republican, the first anthracite coal miners’ union was formed in 1849. The first contract between miners and mine owners was signed in Pottsville on July 29, 1870.
John Bates organized a benevolent association of miners and laborers in 1849, known as the Bates League. This was the country’s first miners’ association and the first miners’ strike.
At that time, working conditions in the coal mines were very harsh. Landslides and explosions are common.
Newspapers of the time frequently reported reports of miners being killed or injured in mining accidents. Medical facilities are poor.
In addition to this, miners live in company-owned houses and are required to purchase mining equipment, food and daily necessities from company-owned stores.
The so-called “Breaker Boys,” some as young as 10, went to the coal mines to pick up slates from where coal was being processed.
The immigrants who came from Ireland and other countries to mine coal were not slaves, but they were arguably enslaved.
John Siney was a working-class visionary who founded the Workers’ Benevolent Society in St. Clair in 1868.
In an era when miners worked from dawn to dusk, Sydney proposed the eight-hour workday.
Sini was also instrumental in the passage of the Coal Mine Safety Act, establishing a sliding wage agreement with coal operators that paid miners 57.5 cents per ton of coal mined.
Typically, miners earn about $16 a week, sometimes working 60 hours. At the time, coal was selling for $3 per ton.
In 1873, Sydney resigned from the WBA and became president of the National Association of Mineworkers. Since then, the WBA has announced its disbandment.
The National Union of Mineworkers was dissolved in 1876. They were followed by the Knights of Labor, the United Mine Workers of America, and the National Association of Mineworkers and Mine Laborers.
In 1890, at a convention in Columbus, Ohio, union members and members of the Knights of Labor jointly adopted a constitution to govern the United Mine Workers of America.
Eight years later, the UMWA managed to provide eight-hour days for some miners, but it was not until 1923 that this treatment was offered to all miners in the region.
Under the leadership of 28-year-old Scranton native John Mitchell, the UMWA had made great strides.
Mitchell led the miners to their first great victory in the 1900 strike, which resulted in increased wages and improved working conditions and embodied the spirit of the 1902 general strike.
Perhaps most importantly, the 1902 strike solidified the UMWA’s legitimacy.
From May 14 to October 23 (163 days), more than 140,000 miners stopped work to protest against low wages and working conditions.
Miners at the turn of the century were expected to work 10 hours a day and be paid 14 cents an hour. Due to frequent layoffs, a miner’s annual income is generally around $300.
A federal investigator sent to the area to document child labor found that 20,000 boys between the ages of 10 and 16 were working in the mines.
As the strike continues, the country faces a shortage of coal.
The strike was resolved when President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt stepped in and threatened to send federal troops to take over the mines. On October 23, 1902, the striking miners returned to work.
Roosevelt’s action was the first time a U.S. president intervened as a neutral party to resolve a strike, rather than sending in troops to resolve the problem.
“The 1902 strike established the UMWA as an important force in the anthracite industry and the labor movement,” The Republican reported.
