harlan county coal operators associationharlan county coal operators association

Harlan County. The Coal Strike of 1902: Turning Point in U.S. Policy After nearly 40 years of working in coalmines, David . October 31, 2016. Duke Power Company appears to be the key to breaking the deadlock in negotiations. However, they did make a greater effort than the United Mine Workers with relief as they opened soup kitchens around the county. They point out that most of the big coal companies, such as U.S. Steel and others, have signed UMW contracts, but that the smaller companies of eastern Kentucky have held out. After this, the first strike occurred, in which only about 13% of strikers showed up to work. Its initial land holdings were in the Irwin gas coal basin in Westmoreland County, but as these were exhausted the company purchased 14,000 acres of undeveloped coal land along the border of Boone and Logan Counties in West Virginia in 1923-28. . "In Harlan County, U.S.A., sound anchors, explains, and makes 'authentic' visual imagery compromised by the long history of documentary work in Appalachia.". I have an Associates Degree from Hazard Community College and Technical School. Burning Up People to Make Electricity - The Atlantic Documentary of mining practices in Hazard County, Kentucky. 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. "They didn't say nothin'; all they want's coal.' Members of The Harlan County Medical Society 1932 It is home to lawyers, doctors and coal operators; it has a hospital, several banks and a few fast-food . Freda Armes says, "I run him off. Three Point, Harlan County, Kentucky September 16, 1943 No. Faith Primitive Baptist Church. Perched atop Inspiration Mountain is the modern Mount Aire Motel. 1940-49 Harlan Co Miners Deaths - USGenWeb sites A federal bankruptcy judge ruled that the company could leave damages to the environment, abandon assets, and not pay the coal miners owed wages. USBM Final Investigation Report (1.7 Mb) Successful Rescue . In response, the coal owners and operators decided to sell their fuel at below cost to increase the national dependency on coal. Unemployment in 2017 was 9.4 percent, far above the national average. I have been married to David W. Sergent since May 4, 2013. We gather back in Evarts and announce that our report will be ready in two or three weeks. However, the battle continues to this day. The miners and the coal owners were still having disputes. Now and then, there is a neat, new frame house or a Pic and Pay market between scattered tarpaper shacks. We never would find out what happened. When the smoke had cleared, the bodies of three guards and one miner were found, and an undetermined number of other dead and dying had been carried away into the mountains. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". They are neatly and attractively dressed. 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. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. There was no functioning safety committee Medical and retirement benefits were minimal and unreliable. There is a suit still in litigation. Our driver points out Norman Yarborough's two-story frame house, across the highway from the camp and up out of the river bottom. 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. Harlan County: Working in the Coal Mines - kygs.org Harlan County Revisited - Memory of a Miner He speaks of "my people" and "my men." Genders. The miners could be fired if they refused to spend their paychecks only in the store. It has assets worth $2.5 billion. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. It is too early for dolor. Horn's letter questions the fair-mindedness of the inquiry members. When they went to jail, they say, some of the women took their children with them. Louis Stacy that he has several times been running a defective roofbolting machine when word came that inspector was on his way. In response, the United Mine Workers of America attempted to organize the miners. After breakfast, we travel fifteen miles east to Evarts. This caused the clergy to denounce the union. "I've had the foreman to tell me to set timbers or something until the inspector got gone. "I don't know nothing about the electrical part." Three of the federal reports state that there was no safety committee at Brookside, as required by law. (The union has told us that they are quite willing to limit the contract to the Brookside mine.) Nevertheless, as the county seat, the city of Harlan has resources much of the county lacks. The warrant was never served. Filmed during the coal strike of 1974-1975, this documentary does much to capture the tension brought on by the injustice of the coal operators to the coal miners in Harlan County, Kentucky. Before this war was over it is not known exactly how many miners, coal operators, deputies, and bosses would be killed. Coal companies refused to back down while the Red Cross refused to give aid . Yarborough says that he will not agree to the contract applying to Eastover's subcontractors. As in Germany, the AFSC used need alone to determine who got fed. (Brookside) were the only two mines of the Harlan County owner/operators association who rejected a 10% pay increase in 1933. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. These women have organized a special kind of feminist movement, and the issues to them are life-and-death issues. On the way back to the Mount Aire at the end of the day, we pass back through Brookside with its deteriorating mining-camp houses along the stinking Clear Fork River. Eastover agreed to sign the 1971 wage pact of the Bituminous Coal Operators Association which is in force at 1,200 mines. Attempts to organize led to the dismissal of employees who were suspected of having leanings toward the organization and having them evicted from their family homes. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Willard Wirtz says he senses that the Harlan County Coal Operators Association is a major factor in the dispute, that it doesn't want a settlement with higher wages and benefits and tough safety provisions to be made by Eastover, because it fears the domino effect of such a settlement on the rest of the companies in the county. 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. All too many Americans are under the naive belief that, while unions may have been necessary in the 30's, they are no longer needed in the United States today. During the big coal boom in the early 1900s, Harlan County was amongst the largest contributors. America in the Harlan County Mine Wars, 1931-1939 Carletta A. Bush Early accounts of the Harlan County mine wars place the inability of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) to establish a permanent foothold in the county, first at the feet of of the Harlan County Coal Operators Association (HCCOA) and secondly at Harlan County U.S.A. (1976) - Harlan County U.S.A. (1976) - User - IMDb "I've got so many duns from the hospital that I just quit lookin' at them. The decision caused unrest in the county among the miners. The officials were listed were the "veteran safety director of the Harlan Coal Operators Association, and Rufus Bailey and H. Hamlin, state . Its profits in 1973 were $90 million, up 14 percent from the year before. The Harlan County Coal Miners, 1931-39 (Paperback) at the best online prices at eBay! Done. The prospects for settlement do not look good unless Duke begins to feel public pressure. It seems to me that for a great many people in Harlan County-for poor people and a lot of coal miners the whole county is a jail. Free shipping for many products! Harlan, district mine inspector of the State Department of Mines and Minerals, and James Bryson, safety director, Harlan County Coal Operators Association. She talks about the women being armed with sticks, mace . I don't like- workin' in them kind of conditions." Harlan County Struggle Collection, 1931-1932 - LibraryHost So we lay down in the road." Why haven't the car bodies been removed from the highway and the streets? PDF "I Am a Union Woman": Gender, Class, and Folk Music in The Harlan 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. Strikebreakers were often beaten. Rev. We are told that Eastover has announced its intention to tear down the mining-camp houses and move the striking miners out. Two hundred people crowd. 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. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. The distance a miner had to walk and how time was looked at was in 15-minute increments. In 1970, Joseph Yablonski had led a rank-and-file revolt against Boyle, and Yablonski and his wife and daughter had been brutally murdered by killers hired with union funds. Special Judge F. Byrd Hogg, a neighboring county judge who has been assigned to the case, entered an early order limiting the strikers to three pickets at each of two entrances to the Eastover Mining Company property. The transcript will be published as a book. by Ron Soodalter. They were convicted on charges of conspiracy to murder. Benham Coal Company Records - University of Kentucky 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 . had them make me go in and pin it because it wasn't done right the first time. 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. Three Harlan County incorporated towns were not owned by the coal mines, they became a sanctuary for the evicted and starving miners. Pay ranged from $17 to $32 day, the average being $25. Mr. Blanton explained the reasoning behind coal camps. Soon after the "Battle of Evarts," novelist Theodore Dreiser led a citizens' group to Harlan County to find and publicize the bloody facts. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to . They're trapped. Killed - 12. Bryan W. Whitfield III (1925-2010) - Find a Grave Memorial Since the county began mining, over one billion tons of coal have These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. The Price of Coal, Part II. A Committee was formed and conducted by Activist Theodore Dreiser under the auspices of the National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners (NCDPP). Featuring a haunting soundtrack-with legendary country . This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. The judge's fines and sentences were appealed. . "Roof falls are a constant hazard, but the bosses just keep on rushin'.". Remembering Bloody Harlan | Parallel Narratives Does the Association hire for all the mines in the county? The miners say that, somehow, management always knows when the government inspectors are coming. In one of these, the septic tank has been out of order for several months. 5355 after Local Union 4495 at Black Mountain folded up. "Faith, power, and conflict: Miner preachers and the United Mine Worker He then answers a question he wasn't asked. The Brookside mine is capable of producing only about a half-million tons of the 15 million tons of coal Duke uses each year. An organic shape, small and shiny and pinkish white, sits . Segment Synopsis: Lois Scott continues her conversation from her previous interview. He tells me that the miners plan to picket on Wall Street, hoping to give Duke problems with its stock. Depression-era Harlan County, Kentucky, was the site of one of the most bitter and protracted labor disputes in American history. Dalton points out that there were 132 mine fatalities in the United States in 1973, only seventeen of them in UMW mines. Bill Doan says, "When I got hurt, I couldn't find Jim Miller, the man who had charge of the sick fund." . "You could hunt for one, but there just weren't one there," he says. Sometimes, they'll be a black scum on the rag." 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. But I ain't leaving because this is my home.". In America, the word describes a region, including Harlan County, Kentucky, between the Appalachian Mountains and the Atlantic coast. Three of our Inquiry members plan to talk with the president of Duke Power Company. Eight miners were sentenced to life in prison for the actions that were taken on May 5, 1931. I'm standing at 2800 feet above sea level. Mr. Nolan, a resident of Cawood, is survived by his wife, Mrs. Stella Nolan . While their main objectives were a steady job, a decent wage and a program of safety checks . The miners speak of other dissatisfactions with Eastover and the old Southern Labor Union contract. Apparently, this is one of Eastover's major objections. They tell of two night incidents when rifle shots were fired at the picketers by unidentified persons. knee-deep in water, he has experienced many electrical shocks. Afterwards, they gathered near the picket line at the Eastover property in Brookside. Working barns of gray-black weathered wood. Wanted to be able to spend their money at a store of their choice besides the Black Mountain Coal Company store. Pistol Annies - Harlan County Coal (Audio) - YouTube She pays $10 a month for rent and $10 a month for electricity. . The union abandoned its efforts after less than a year. Documentary Noise: The Soundscape of Barbara Kopple's Harlan County, U The Brookside labor dispute erupted spontaneously soon after Miller's election. Bobby Simpson, 79, has been blind for more than a half-century, but still managed to shovel coal. HARLAN COUNTYHarlan County, Kentucky, is a rural county located in a major coal-mining region in the Appalachian Mountains. At these locations, the mine wages began to be comparable to other jobs around the nation. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. No wonder R C Cola has so many signs everywhere. On May 5, 1931 the pot boiled over; in Harlan County Kentucky, heavily armed deputies and company men, called "gun thugs" by miners, confronted disgruntled union men on a road near Evarts. If those under them behave in an approved manner then they receive housing, work, food, and other perks of their position. I say that the issue is whether or not the men will be allowed to have their own union to protect their safety and secure and maintain decent wages and benefits, that if enough pressure is put on Duke Power Company, maybe something will give. After the Battle of Evarts, the Red Cross and the United Mine Workers Union refused to help the striking men on the basis that it was now an industrial conflict that needed to be resolved internally. Neither will Dr. Robert Coles, psychiatrist and author of Children of Crisis. Duke went into the coal business directly in 1970 when it organized Eastover Mining Company as a wholly owned subsidiary and, through it, bought several mines in eastern Kentucky, including the one at Brookside. There were shots exchanged and all three deputies and one striker were killed. He said that when the coal industry was at its height in 1928, the peak of . Harlan County in eastern Kentucky, which has been brought out into the spotlight this summer by the violence with which the local Coal Operators' Association has carried on this attack, is, as far as I can find out, a pretty good medium exhibit of the entire industry: living conditions are better than in Alabama and perhaps a little worse . Miners in Harlan County, Kentucky, have drawn national attention with their direct action occupying a railroad track to halt a coal train . We drive to the Evarts Community Center and report to the other members of the Citizens Inquiry. These charities began to give aid to blacklisted miners who were unable to find employment as the soup kitchens had closed once the NMU had closed its doors. Destitute miners were in no position to take a 2 wage cut; yet, in February of 1931 the newest in a long series of wage cuts occurred, reducing miners' weekly pay by 10 percent. "If we could monitor these inspections, perhaps we could cut down on the fatalities," he says. Two more Inquiry panel members join us, Willard Wirtz, who was Secretary of Labor under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, and the Reverend Max Glenn, executive director of the Commission on Religion in Appalachia. 13Month Strike is Ended By Kentucky Mine Accord There had been several clashes with the "scabs," the mine guards, and the state police, Kahn says. Laid off and owed pay: the Kentucky miners blocking coal trains We first hear from a number of the striking miners about safety conditions in the Brookside mine. Established in 1916, its membership consisted of nearly all the large mining companies, and it represented the major political force in the county. 1931, only $13.5 million. In response, the coal owners and operators decided to sell their fuel at below cost to increase the national dependency on coal. Source Citation [ }] Descriptive Note Contributors from initial SNAC EAC-CPF ingest. Why couldn't Eastover live with the same national UMW contract that so many other companies have accepted? An investigation was conducted on Terrorism in the Kentucky Coal Fields. That year, annual wages dropped from $1,235 to $749. Figure 2: Harlan County Coal Mine Employment, 2000-2016, (KYEEC, 2017) In 1942, shortly after Harlan County experienced record high coal mine employment, the county experienced is highest production levels with 15.6 million tons of coal being produced in this year (KYEEC, 2017). Done. Prior to Miller's election, the union had become corrupt, dictatorial, and a frequent collaborator with the mine owners. An essay on The Harlan County War : r/history 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. Prior to the strike, the pay of the Brookside miners started and stopped at the face of coal. They also plan to join with a North Carolina group in protesting Duke's requested rate increase, and they are going to attend the meeting of Duke's stockholders on May 30. While it succeeded in organizing thousands of miners, it failed to complete a bargaining agreement with Harlan County's coal operators. The trees are barely beginning to bud in the early March warmth. Is that the only objection that is holding up a settlement? 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 . There are very few vacant houses in the county. Sheriff Blair was voted out of his office in 1933 and died just a year later. The median family income is $4600 a year. Theoretically, even operators' and owners' children were . The most shocking moment in Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976) looks at first like an abstract painting. Quakers and Bloody Harlan - Appalachian History Interview with B. W. Whitfield, Jr., February 9, 1989 SPOKEdb This was not just a flashy slogan, and the truth of it is . In "Bloody Harlan" in the 1930s, miners and union organizers faced bayonets and many died fighting the coal bosses, helping to fuel a national wave of organizing. There were constant beatings of the miners by the Sheriffs deputies. He'd worked seventy-eight hours straight the preceding week. Harlan, Kentucky coal miner killed - World Socialist Web Site - wsws.org Thirty percent of the families lack automobiles. In 1973 the 13-month Brookside Strike brought almost 200 workers to battle Eastover Coal Company's Brookside Mine and Prep Plant, a company owned by Duke Power. Inside the Harlan County Coal Miner Protest - Rolling Stone He sentenced nine men and seven women to six months in jail and fined them $500 each. But, Aaronson says, Norman Yarborough had then called back to say, simply, that there was nothing of further interest to them in the negotiations More public pressure on Duke is needed, he says. When Barbara finishes her answer, Wirtz raises a clenched fist and says, "Right on!" Bill Doan says that the roof bolts often didn't have enough torque on them, sometimes causing roof falls as high as thirty-five feet above the regular ceiling, and that once he complained about this to the visiting inspector in the presence of his foreman. 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. Why is garbage left on the roadway? Mostly, the miners were fighting for improved working conditions, higher wages, and better housing options for their families. Get a Demo. It is a warm night and at every bend in the asphalt road we hear a chorus of croaking frogs. "I don't try to blacklist anybody," he says. He hopes the other side will do the same. He says that, standing. Harlan County Coal Operators' Association. - Details - SNAC Some seventy-five state policemen were on hand as the crowd gathered. The roof is approximately forty-eight inches high in the mine. During the rest of the afternoon, the miners talk about what has happened on the picket line and in the local court. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". The coal companies refused to back down from their positions and change anything. Now, forty-three years later, Harlan County is again gripped in a UMW strike, this time at the Brookside mine of the Eastover Mining Company, and another citizens' group has been formed. The Citizens Inquiry meets in the attractive, river-rock Evarts Community Center, directly across the Clear Fork from the site of the 1931 "Battle of Evarts." Si sticks a wad of Red Man chewing tobacco in his cheek and begins to fill us in on the background of the Brookside strike. They have probably helped keep their own men from exploding too. The mining company had ordered a motorcade to deliver food and supplies to the strikebreakers known as Scabs. The Sheriff reportedly got rich on payoffs from the companies, and he used 181 mine company gunmen as special deputies. In Harlan County, Kentucky, are some of our country's richest natural resourcesand some of its poorest people. One of the towns that were a refuge was Evarts, Kentucky. ", Bill McQueen says that when the shuttle's lights and brakes were not working and the inspector was coming, the foreman would say, "Park it." Their foothold there ultimately ended because the local clergy who were the labor organizers found out that the union was communist in nature and held animosity toward religion. Abstract. Appalachia: Coal Operators Oral History Project SPOKEdb
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