harlan county coal operators association

. Soon enough, most miners had gone on strike out of solidarity. "I've been juiced a lot, and I've had to just set down thirty-five minutes because it just takes the pep out of you." Betty Eldridge is a mildmannered, well-dressed woman of about forty. "With all those state police, we knew we had three choices," she says. Harlan County Coal Miners Deaths 1940-1949 1940 1940 Hayes, Petry - Harlan Central Coal Company Totz No. I remind her that Duke and Eastover executives were invited, and have refused to appear before us. On May 5, 1931, the Battle of Evarts began. Nannie Rainey takes us into her four-room house where she and her husband and five children live. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. No one knows who fired the first shot but when it was over four were . When McQueen was hurt, his foreman drove him to the hospital and left him there, and he was two hours hitchhiking home. KCA's constitution and by-laws were adopted on April 28, 1947, "to promote the best interest of the coal mining industry in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and all those engaged therein". In one of these, the septic tank has been out of order for several months. "I don't know nothing about the electrical part." Past that, the other undulating ridges are blue and hazy. The miners, impoverished due to their already low pay (this coming in the form of company scrip, room, and board), decided enough was enough, and some of them . Typical of counties with low income, counties where the mine companies own everything and pay low taxes, our UMW driver says. There's water in the mine because the pumps often won't work. On the plane with me, it turns out, is another member of the Citizens Inquiry, Jacqueline Brophy, who is the director of the Labor-Liberal Arts Program of Cornell University's School of Industrial Labor Relations in New York. The company will probably demand a new election. Source Citation [ }] Descriptive Note Contributors from initial SNAC EAC-CPF ingest. ", Bill Doan says that he was hurt in a rockfall at 7:15 one morning and that he didn't get out of the mine until nine o'clock. The most memorable of those are 1964, 1966, 1969 (The West Virginia Black Lung strike that the miners won) 1971, and the 1974 Strikes. James Sizemore says that frequently float dust, which is dangerously explosive, would get too heavy in the mine, and he would complain, but that. In the throes of the Great Depression, Harlan County coal owners and operators, in an effort to expand national dependency on their fuel, chose to sell below cost. Blaine Sergent, coal leader, putting up his check at the end of a workday in Harlan County, Kentucky, in 1946. Neither will Dr. Robert Coles, psychiatrist and author of Children of Crisis. The miners and the coal owners were still having disputes. 1931, only $13.5 million. I can see twenty-five miles to the southeast, five ridges. As the motorcade approached a single shot rang out in the air. When filmmaker Barbara Kopple traveled to Harlan County, Kentucky, the resulting Academy award-winning documentary, Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976) captured a historic story. They have probably helped keep their own men from exploding too. the meeting room. These disputes were still brewing when on December 8, 1934, the United Mine Workers Union was threatened by deputies and mine bosses. Others claim that his death was caused by an election concerning slot machines into the county. No help came to those that were in starving situations due to no money to spend on food and no admittance to the company store unless they were gainfully employed by the coal mine. ", "They've done discriminated me," Grover Jennings continues. The sign man for R C Cola has worked this territory well. It is thought that Middleton was assassinated for backing troops who were present in the County to protect the miners. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Four men were arrested in connection with this murder. It was Miller who defeated W. A. I have also attended the University of Pikeville. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. She says that the women decided that they couldn't fight guns with switches and that they had taken sticks with them the next time. Here and there, we also see white-blossoming pear and dogwood trees. "I don't try to blacklist anybody," he says. Mrs. Herschel Gaw, wife of the ailing jailer, locked them all up. The union abandoned its efforts after less than a year. Some of the women went to jail with the men, and some took their children with them. "Boss walks up and says, 'We've got to make this mine look good now, boys; the inspector's comin','" Jerry Johnson says. 3.' Our drive takes us upstream along the yellow-brown Clear Fork River. I was born in Florida and grew up in Burdine, Kentucky. On Jan. 25, 1890, a new union, the United Mine Workers of America, was formed, and in 1903 its young president, John Mitchell, led the union on a successful 24-week strike. The women spent the night. Duke Power Company appears to be the key to breaking the deadlock in negotiations. Or all you're gonna get's a chunk of Harlan County coal. There were constant beatings of the miners by the Sheriffs deputies. The Harlan County Coal Operators Association, still functioning today, spent nearly a half million dollars from 1927 to 1938 to combat unionism, most of it going to pay strongarm men to terrorize the miners and their families. HARLAN COUNTYHarlan County, Kentucky, is a rural county located in a major coal-mining region in the Appalachian Mountains. A federal bankruptcy judge ruled that the company could leave damages to the environment, abandon assets, and not pay the coal miners owed wages. They just laughed about it, and we kept on cuttin' coal. Some of the women cut switches and joined the picketers. After this, the first strike occurred, in which only about 13% of strikers showed up to work. Before this war was over it is not known exactly how many miners, coal operators, deputies, and bosses would be killed. In Harlan County on July 7, 1935, during a celebration of the Wagner Act, a group of disgruntled deputies severely beat up several miners and dispersed the crowd. Interview Summary. Visit us and take a step back in time to learn more about how Harlan County helped build a nation at Portal 31 Exhibition Mine tour or come experience the delight of . But is it really hurting? This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. or smaller. It is also women's day before the Citizens In-quiry. The Act was an attempt to restructure the industrial sector of the economy and to alleviate unemployment with a public works program. Their General Secretary recently released some facts which help to illustrate the reason for much of the unemployment in the county. The Harlan County coal miners campaigned and fought to organize their workplaces and better their wages and working conditions. Partial Transcript: August 27, '86. No concessions or deals were made between the two factions and the membership of the United Mine Workers union plummeted. The Sheriff reportedly got rich on payoffs from the companies, and he used 181 mine company gunmen as special deputies. Perched atop Inspiration Mountain is the modern Mount Aire Motel. Steeped in Appalachian culture and surrounded by the influence of coal, Harlan County has amassed an interesting reputation and national attention with rest of the world. ", What about federal inspection? While it succeeded in organizing thousands of miners, it failed to complete a bargaining agreement with Harlan County's coal operators. 1 negative : glass ; 4 x 5 in. Under this Act, the right to organize in ones workplace was granted as well as it outlawed any discrimination whether employed or seeking employment based on union membership. . ", We break for lunch, prepared by the women of the Evarts Community Center. : The Harlan County Coal Miners, 1931-39 (Paperback) at the best online prices at eBay! The miners say that they want their own safety committee, elected by the miners, as the standard UMW contract provides, with the right to walk out, losing their pay, when there is eminent danger in the mine. Daniels was one of the most hated deputies in the county due to his anti-union views. On one excuse or another, such as not having personnel readily available to accompany the inspector into the mine, the company can delay the inspection. They had no safety committee, the miners say, and the federal reports bear them out. Interment at Resthaven Cemetery, Keith, Ky. Visitation 6-9 p.m. at the Grays Knob Bible Church. The Harlan County Wars took on its own epic spin on the ongoing fight between labor disputes and the coal operators and owners lasting almost ten years. Another press member criticizes Barbara Bode for having raised a clenched fist during the women's testimony. When Barbara finishes her answer, Wirtz raises a clenched fist and says, "Right on!" We drive through the streets of the town of Harlan, past the stores and houses, past the Harlan Baptist Church with a sign out front which reads: "If you are unkind, you are the wrong kind." The company also agreed to abide by any agreement reached between the . Mine operators formed the 1 Harlan County Coal Operators Association and through this organization made collective decisions concerning the mines. As in Germany, the AFSC used need alone to determine who got fed. What will happen now that the first full year after the union election is ending? A thousand feet below me lies a small, green valley, partly shrouded by the morning mist. But, I say, even without further investigation of each of the complaints, it is possible to conclude that fear is an everyday part of the miners' lives. This active organization is made up of those who represent the leader in the mining industry. The mining company had ordered a motorcade to deliver food and supplies to the strikebreakers known as Scabs. Coal employment in Harlan county dropped 53.7% in the second quarter of this year compared with last year, driven by Blackjewel's bankruptcy. A reporter asks us again how we can expect to make an unbiased report when we've heard only one side. In the face of what promised to be a lengthy struggle for the Harlan County coal miners of 1931, their wildcat strike had left thousands jobless and many homeless as well. I have been married to David W. Sergent since May 4, 2013. We agree that most of us lean toward the miners, but we think we can be fair in trying to learn the facts. It does not store any personal data. The United Mine Workers of America represented 400,000 miners at that point and promised miners safer work conditions and higher wages. Rev. By 1908 the union had . This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. . Blair made it clear that he was on the side of the mine operators and the people of the county lost any illusion that the law enforcement would be impartial in this strike. Segment Synopsis: Lois Scott continues her conversation from her previous interview. Dalton points out that there were 132 mine fatalities in the United States in 1973, only seventeen of them in UMW mines. The Benham Coal Company records (151 cubic feet, 302 Boxes; dated 1911-1973) focus primarily on the early years of Benham Coal through the 1940s. We never would find out what happened. Yarborough's affidavit stated that "the group swarmed out into the roads, stopped cars, and forced company employees into coercive conversations and indulged in generally raucous name-calling and abuse." Each contract varied from mine to mine. She says that she and some of the other women hid out last night to avoid being served with a contempt citation from Judge Hogg's court. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. The radical ideology of the union began gaining some ground in the mountains. the foreman would just say, "We gotta run coal. They were convicted on charges of conspiracy to murder. They relate federal mine-safety figures which show that in 1971 the accident rate in the Brookside mine was three times the national average, and in 1972 was twice the national average. So we lay down in the road." We are joined by Bernie Aaronson, the young public relations director of the UMW, and John Ed Pierce, a reporter for the Louisville Courier-Journal. New subdivisions named Tall Oaks and Colonial Heights. Violence erupted that would periodically repeat itself for the next eight years. Whitfield recalls working in his father's coal mines during the first years of commercial mining in Harlan County, and he describes the conditions. More than twenty-four babies out of a thousand die before they are one year old, and the expenditure per child in the public schools is one-half the national average. During the day, a man came and said that if their children weren't out of the jail by night, the welfare people would take them. corporateBody associatedWith : Heyl & Patterson, Inc . The county became nationally famous in 1931 and 1932 when it was the site of one of the earliest and bloodiest labor battles of the decade. I'm standing at 2800 feet above sea level. Captain James Cromer of the state police later tells news reporters, "The women are a problem. Herndon J. Evans, the editor of the Pineville Sun, argued, The troubles of the coal industry had their inception in war times. At Washington's National Airport, I board Piedmont Airline's fat little silver jet on a Sunday afternoon in early March. But you must remember I am an immoral man. If you protested this safety violation, he says, "the boss would just say, 'Run it.'" The Price of Coal, Part II. Fifty miners and their wives have at one time or another been held in contempt of this order. Killed - 12. Eight miners were sentenced to life in prison for the actions that were taken on May 5, 1931. ", What about the Southern Labor Union? "But if they call me and ask if a man works for me, I simply say yes or no.". Copy with citation. It was two o'clock on a Monday morning when the accident occurred, and he'd been in the mine., more than twelve hours. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. Carl Horn of Duke Power and Arnold Miller of the UMW had talked, and negotiations had been resumed. If any attractive woman became interested in me, I'd think it was a very lovely thing. He tells me that the miners plan to picket on Wall Street, hoping to give Duke problems with its stock. Outlining the legal framework for labor unions and management relations to improve the working conditions for workers. That's an old term in Harlan County, used to describe special, plain-clothed guards. Find the perfect harlan county coal stock photo, image, vector, illustration or 360 image. After nearly 40 years of working in coalmines, David . It is not all Duke's fault by any means. Willard Wirtz says that it is important to remember that one side of the dispute felt confident enough about their case to arrange to spread it before the widest possible audience. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to . At Brookside, this would amount to $400,000 a year. We first hear from a number of the striking miners about safety conditions in the Brookside mine. (The union has told us that they are quite willing to limit the contract to the Brookside mine.) They exercised their powers with impunity and operated under Sheriff J.H. These battles will end the Coal Wars proper. The median family income is $4600 a year. When a miner complains, Jerry Johnson says, the foreman says, "If you don't like it, you can always get your bucket," meaning pick up your lunch bucket and get out. Mr. Nolan, a resident of Cawood, is survived by his wife, Mrs. Stella Nolan . Copy as parenthetical citation. Yarborough comes out of a staff meeting and ushers us hack to a large, paneled meeting room with folding tables and chairs. Where will the families go? I glance at the new Piedmont magazine, Pace. It read: RE-ELECT GAW, JAILER. June 17th of that same year, the first strike was over as the last miner had returned to work. Free shipping for many products! Did she find the stick on the ground? Her daughter, Bessie Cornett, an attractive young brunette, says, "I'm not in jail today because you people are here." A young woman from the Associated Press asks me, aren't we getting only one side of the story? "I've had the foreman to tell me to set timbers or something until the inspector got gone. He can't never walk again." Now, Tony Boyle is among those who have been convicted of complicity in the murders, and Arnold Miller is the head of the revamped union. The kind of house she would like, if she could find one, would rent for about $50 a month, but she and her husband cannot pay that much. Other clippings detail the earlier bloodshed and misery in Harlan County. Darrell Deaton, president of the Brookside UMW local, says he was caught in a belt line last year because he had to work alone, without a helper. HARLAN COUNTY COAL OPERATORS ASSOCIATION. Back in my motel room, a gathering place, Bernie Aaronson of UMW says that the union is paying strike benefits and medical bills for the 160 strikers. "I've seen some hurt and some killed. Throughout 1931, violence sprouted between miners "Try walking out of there, carrying a man with a broken back," one of the miners says. They are merely a service organization, Yarborough says. "Here at Brookside, if you called someone from SLU, he might come in a week, he might come in two weeks, but when he did come, he'd go into Eastover's office and talk for an hour," Bill Doan says. We hope that you have enjoyed our stop in Bloody Harlan and the history of the longest and still ongoing coal struggles of the United States. "This whole country is like a layer cake," Si Kahn says, "a layer cake of shale, coal, and sandstone. Eastover agreed to sign the 1971 wage pact of the Bituminous Coal Operators Association which is in force at 1,200 mines. Talking to Aaronson, I am reminded of an old tin sign I saw tacked on a tree along the highway as I left Harlan. (Eastover, to repeat, now pays portal-to-portal wages for inside workers in its other mines and has raised the wages of nonstrikers to the UMW level.) Duke Power Company of North Carolina, he says, is the sixth largest utility company in the world. 4 . Lois Scott explains that during the first confrontation at the mine, she saw a pistol in the front seat of every "scab" car she looked into and that a company "gun thug" pointed a submachine gun at the women from the porch of the Eastover office. Mine operators viciously opposed miners' efforts to unionize, particularly in Harlan County. "Roof falls are a constant hazard, but the bosses just keep on rushin'.". Nevertheless, as the county seat, the city of Harlan has resources much of the county lacks. It will be a two-hour, winding drive through the Cumberland Mountains to the town of Harlan. Enforcing the operators' political will, both within and outside the law, was the Harlan County Coal Operators Association. Here at Kentucky Tennessee Living we fully support the coal miners and their families. But what of the people of Harlan County? They're trapped. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. He hopes the other side will do the same. Its profits in 1973 were $90 million, up 14 percent from the year before. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Unlike the previous Coal Wars that took place in West Virginia with the Paint-Creek Strike of 1912 and Matewan that lasted for a year or two. One of the towns that were a refuge was Evarts, Kentucky. In June of 1973, in a National Labor Relations Board election, the miners at Brookside voted 113 to 55 to affiliate with the United Mine Workers. Yellow-dog contracts (Contracts where the employees agreed to never organize into a union before they were employed with a coal company), company unions, blacklists, all tactics that were employed by the companies to bust up unions, and discrimination-based on union activity were all outlawed under this act. Featuring a haunting soundtrack-with legendary country . These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. Apparently, this is one of Eastover's major objections. There is a suit still in litigation. The miners speak of other dissatisfactions with Eastover and the old Southern Labor Union contract. He says that he will not agree to the Brookside contract applying to "all" of Eastover's operations. The latest unrest in Harlan County came when in July of 2019, Black jewel LLC filed for bankruptcy and liquidation. Mr. Blanton explained the reasoning behind coal camps. When drafting these articles, I found that many things have not been taught to the future generations about the struggles for coal miner rights have been in the Appalachian Mountains. "We took the sticks with us," she says. Poffitt, Jacqueline Brophy, and I meet the other members of the Citizens Inquiry in a private dining room in the Mount Aire: James David Barber, chairman of the Political Science Department at Duke University and author of The Presidential Character; Monsignor Geno Baroni, president of the National Center for Urban Ethnic Affairs, a Catholic priest whose father is a retired Pennsylvania miner with black lung; Barbara Bode, president of the Children's Foundation in Washington; and Dr. Raymond Wheeler of Charlotte, North Carolina, president of the Southern Regional Council. Overturned car bodies everywhere. Why are people allowed to dump raw sewage in the streams? J. D. Skidmore says that, back in the mines, the phones are always out of order, there is no transportation out until the end of the shift, and it's a one-hour walk to daylight. If for example, they did not behave in the way the companies wanted them to, they could lose all their benefits up to and including their jobs. The next morning the toothpicks were still in place, it was said. [6] Nearly four thousand miners working and living in Harlan County, Kentucky lost their jobs in the Great Depression. The local grand jury returned an indictment against Dreiser for adultery, but by that time Dreiser had finished his work and had left the county on the train. Former Director of Harlan County Coal Operators Association. Bill McQueen says that the shuttle car into the mine usually has no brakes, and that it can only be stopped by putting it in reverse. He says that wages are no longer a problem and that the amount of the royalty to be paid into the UMW Welfare & Retirement Fund is not crucially important. The letter states that Eastover has now raised the wages in their other mines to the UMW scale and is paying the miners for time spent with the mine moving to and from the face of the coal. Darrell Deaton says there is a direct telephone line to Washington for safety complaints, "but if you identify yourself; you're gonna be out of a job.". And, all around, there are the rolling mountains, covered with second-growth timber. He says that, standing. The Great Depression of 1929 through the late 1930s hit Harlan County Kentucky. Three of the federal reports state that there was no safety committee at Brookside, as required by law. those in the Harlan County Coal Operators' Association, were run as open shops from October 27, 1933 - March 31, 1935. On top of that, we learn later, the union is spending $108,000 a year for medical and hospital coverage for the striking miners and their families. At first, there were little battles with gunshots being exchanged between the strikers and the private guards, and the local law enforcement agents.

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