“Judases”

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.

Outsiders

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

Unsettled

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.

Introduction

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.

Does Getting Health Insurance Affect Women’s Fertility? Evidence from the United Mine Workers’ Health Insurance

Does health insurance affect fertility decisions? Fertility may increase if insurance lowers the costs of having a child. Fertility may decrease if children are more likely to survive into adulthood (quality-quantity tradeoff). We study a largely permanent United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) insurance program. A large group of women of childbearing age gained pregnancy coverage for the first time. The insurance also covered children. We use a trend break specification with county-level variation in insurance. We find new evidence of the quality-quantity tradeoff. Fertility rates declined by about one percent per year in counties with average levels of insurance.

West Virginia Mine Wars

In the early 20th century, West Virginia coal miners and mine operators fought a series of bloody battles that raged for two decades and prompted national debates over workers’ rights. Miners in the southern part of the state lived in towns wholly owned by coal companies and attempted to join the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) to negotiate better working conditions but most importantly to restore their civil liberties. Mine operators saw unionization as a threat to their businesses and rights and hired armed guards to patrol towns and prevent workers from organizing. The operators’ allies in local and state government used their authority to help break strikes by sending troops to strike districts, declaring martial law, and jailing union organizers in the name of law and order. Observers around the country were shocked at the levels of violence as well as the conditions that fueled the battles. The Mine Wars include the Paint Creek–Cabin Creek Strike of 1912–1913, the so-called 1920 Matewan Massacre, the 1920 Three Days Battle, and the 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain. In this struggle over unionism, the coal operators prevailed, and West Virginia miners continued to work in nonunion mines and live in company towns through the 1920s.

Introduction

Toward the middle of 1897, the UMW (United Mine Workers), later known as the UMWA (United Mine Workers of America), began a strategic push to enroll members in the union in the anthracite region of northeastern Pennsylvania. During several weeks of protest and strikes in mid-August and early September 1897, union leaders began organizing many of the foreign-born, unnaturalized workers in and around Hazleton, Pennsylvania, one of the largest coal industry and commercial support centers in the region. Ironically, earlier that year the UMWA was instrumental in convincing state legislators to pass an anti-immigrant bill that would tax employers for each non-U.S. citizen worker on their payroll. In turn, the coal companies deducted this tax from the workers’ salaries....