Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Keyword(s):  
Gilded Age ◽  
Knights Of Labor ◽  
United Mine Workers ◽  
Two Sides ◽  
United Mine ◽  
Mine Workers

This section presents an overview of the book. It sketches out the conflicts between corporations and Gilded Age unions, like the Knights of Labor and the United Mine Workers. It argues that workers were frequently situated between the two sides. Workers’ goals to increase their economic standings at times pulled workers into unions, but in other instances just as easily pulled them into the capitalist mindset of their employers.

“Judases”

2020 ◽  
pp. 67-92
Keyword(s):  
Gilded Age ◽  
Local Union ◽  
Union Leadership ◽  
Union Leaders ◽  
Union Decline ◽  
United Mine Workers ◽  
United Mine ◽  
Mine Workers

Chapter 3 examines the reasons that caused workers to leave or reject unions. Scholars normally associate union decline with workers disillusion with unionism. This chapter, however, argues that workers’ faith in unionism did not waver as much as their faith in union leaders did. As Gilded Age unions like the United Mine Workers implemented a more centralized hierarchy, local union autonomy waned. As a result, workers doubted whether union leaders made decisions with the workers’ interests in mind, and they left the union when it seemed their leaders went astray. Rather than abandoning unionism altogether, however, many of these individuals formed local unions that rivaled the national unions, indicating that workers had more problems with union leadership than they did with unionism itself.

Unsettled

2020 ◽  
pp. 119-138
Keyword(s):  
Return To Work ◽  
Gilded Age ◽  
Economic Change ◽  
Grassroots Activism ◽  
Coal Miners ◽  
Rural Workers ◽  
Union Leaders ◽  
United Mine Workers ◽  
United Mine ◽  
Mine Workers

This chapter examines the differences between union leaders and workers regarding union goals. As the 1893 depression set in, rural workers in multiple occupations mobilized to change the economic structures of Gilded Age society. The American Railway Union went on strike, and marchers across the country joined Jacob Coxey and other leaders in a populist push for social and economic change. Their efforts coincided with the centralization efforts of organizations like the United Mine Workers, which sought to capitalize on the grassroots activism by organizing nationwide strikes. Nonunion coal miners heartily joined strike efforts like the 1894 United Mine Workers coal strike, but they soon discovered that the union assumed more authority than the rank and file was willing to accept. As the officers reached a settlement and called off the strike without seeking approval from the rank and file, strikers refused to obey the order to return to work. Their refusal indicated that while workers were willing to use unions to achieve goals like earning higher pay, they rejected union leaders making decisions on their behalf.

Outsiders

2020 ◽  
pp. 93-118
Keyword(s):  
White Women ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Immigrant Workers ◽  
Union Leadership ◽  
Union Leaders ◽  
Highly Skilled ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
United Mine Workers ◽  
United Mine ◽  
Mine Workers

This chapter discusses the problems within unions that caused union leadership to treat members differently from one another. It argues that although union leaders often claimed the unions were open to all races and ethnicities, the efforts they pursued favored white laborers over people of color. Stereotypes that associated black miners with strikebreaking and construed non-English-speaking immigrant miners as unintelligent and unskilled cast a shadow over union procedures and the laws unions fought to secure. Even though farmers and white women had less experience in the mines, these individuals were welcomed far more readily than black and immigrant workers who were often highly skilled in the mining trades. In the end, the exclusivity practiced by organizations like the United Mine Workers alienated nonwhite and non-English-speaking workers, giving these groups little reason to join union ranks

Jones, Mary Harris “Mother”

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne "Rocky" Delaplaine
Keyword(s):  
Child Labor ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Union Organizer ◽  
Working People ◽  
United Mine Workers ◽  
United Mine ◽  
Mine Workers

Mary Harris “Mother” Jones (1830–1930) was a union organizer for the United Mine Workers of America and was known for her tireless efforts to improve the lives of working people and raising public awareness of the issues of child labor.

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