Miners, coal operators, and the state: an examination of strikes and work relations in the US coal industry

Thesis/Dissertation · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1986

OSTI ID:7143906

Taplin, I M

In many western societies the coal industry has frequently been the scene of dramatic struggles between capital and labor. The United States is no exception to this, for the history of its coal industry is one punctuated by violent confrontations as well as a large number of strikes. This study takes this dissent as its focus and examines changes in the US coal industry from the 1860's to the present. The basic assumption is that strikes are instruments of working class action and are utilized by workers to protest changing work relations. It is further argued that different conjunctions of institutional, organization, and structural imperatives are responsible for the shape of strikes in coal mining. The author shows how the early pattern of strike activity (1860's-1920's), with piece rate payment prevalent, took shape around the right to unionize and bargain collectively. Subsequent union growth after New Deal legislation and consolidation of a hitherto fragmented, highly competitive coal industry, saw wage and benefit issues as paramount in contract negotiations. Simultaneously, increasing rank and file dissent focused upon work place control issues. Significant wage and benefit gains during the 1940's can be seen largely as the outcome of an economistic, business unionism and coal operators associations seeking to buy off miner militancy.

• Research Organization: Brown Univ., Providence, RI (USA)
• OSTI ID: 7143906
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
015000 -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Economic
Industrial
& Business Aspects
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
294001* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Coal
CAPITAL
COAL INDUSTRY
HISTORICAL ASPECTS
INDUSTRY
LABOR RELATIONS
MANAGEMENT
PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
WAGES
WORK