Coal Mining in the United Thesis

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President Truman did not deal with the UMWA because he had a love for labor, either. He feared that a prolonged strike would hurt a nation recovering from World War II, and so, he signed the fund into action with the union president.

The UMWA was crucial in settling the strike and getting benefits for the miners and at the heart of the organization was its president, John L. Lewis. Lewis had been the head of the organization for decades, and it was a powerful union. Another writer notes, "During the early 1920s, the United Mine Workers of America was by far the largest and most powerful union in the United States."

Lewis has been called an autocratic and despotic leader, who clashed with industry activists and his own staff, but had a fierce loyalty to the miners. Lewis worked in the mines when he was a teenager, so he understood the working conditions and health risks. He became UMWA president in 1919 and held the office until 1960. Soon after he became president, he called the first major strike of coal miners, and over 400,000 miners went out on strike. Author Pope continues, "To Lewis, the union was not a vehicle for worker freedom or power, but an instrument for the achievement of higher standards of living."

Historians remember Lewis as a commanding leader who was authoritarian, but also had great vision and leadership qualities. He was certainly at the heart of the miners strike and the resulting benefits, and he worked for mine safety and reform throughout his career as UMWA president.

In conclusion, the miners received benefits because of a variety of social and political issues. The miners were fed up with the lack of attention to health and pension benefits, and with the mine owners' failure to bargain with them. They went out on strike because their union called them to strike. They settled with the mine owners because the union negotiated a deal with the government. This deal was politically motivated, because the president felt a prolonged strike would only harm a country that was slowly recovering from the aftermath of World War II. The decision certainly was not economically based, because the mine owners had to fund the benefit plan, and they balked at the royalties.Ultimately, with the creation of area hospitals and rural medical care, along with retirement benefits, the plan became a socially motivated plan meant to make the miners' lives better, but in the end, it was a plan motivated by politics and national recovery, rather than social concerns.

References

Editors. 2009. A brief history of UMWA health and retirement funds. Fairfax, VA: UMWA. Online. Available from Internet, http://www.umwa.org/index.php?q=content/brief-history-umwa-health-and-retirement-funds-0, accessed May 1, 2009.

Hall, Mike. 2006. Exhibit on coal mines: Then and now. Washington, D.C.: AFL-CIO. Online. Available from Internet, http://blog.aflcio.org/2006/03/31/exhibit-on-coal-mines-then-and-now/, accessed May 1, 2009.

Johnson, Garrett. 2007. The great strike wave of 1946. Unknown: BitsofNews.com. Online. Available from Internet, http://www.bitsofnews.com/content/view/6638/, accessed May 1, 2009.

Korb, Alicia M. 2000. History and violence of the Appalachian coal strikes. Athens, OH: Ohio University. Online. Available from Internet, http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~ak832196/esp/HRM.doc, accessed May 1, 2009.

Mulcahy, Richard. 1993. "Health Care in the Coal Fields: The Miners Memorial Hospital Association," The Historian 55, no. 4.

Pope, James Gray. 1997. "Labor's Constitution of Freedom," Yale Law Journal 106, no. 4.

Alicia M. Korb. 2000. History and violence of the Appalachian coal strikes. Athens, OH: Ohio University. Online. Available from Internet, http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~ak832196/esp/HRM.doc, accessed May 1, 2009. 2.

Editors. 2009. A brief history of UMWA health and retirement funds. Fairfax, VA: UMWA. Online. Available from Internet, http://www.umwa.org/index.php?q=content/brief-history-umwa-health-and-retirement-funds-0, accessed May 1, 2009.

Mike Hall. 2006. Exhibit on coal mines: Then and now. Washington, D.C.: AFL-CIO. Online. Available from Internet, http://blog.aflcio.org/2006/03/31/exhibit-on-coal-mines-then-and-now/, accessed May 1, 2009.

Korb, 3.

Garrett Johnson. 2007. The great strike wave of 1946. Unknown: BitsofNews.com. Online. Available from Internet, http://www.bitsofnews.com/content/view/6638/, accessed May 1, 2009.

Editors.

Richard Mulcahy, "Health Care in the Coal Fields: The Miners Memorial Hospital Association," The Historian 55, no. 4 (1993).

James Gray Pope. 1997. "Labor's Constitution of Freedom," Yale Law Journal….....