Conciliation and Arbitration in the Coal Industry of America (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: a little over two hundred working days in a year. This situation and the adverse conditions of work prompted the miner to demand and fight for the eight-hour day as a means of lessening overproduction, distributing the work more evenly over the year, and giving him more time to spend in the daylight and for self-improvement. 3. THE STRUGGLE FOR A JOINT AGREEMENT FROM 1885 TO 1898 A. The National Fedebation Of Minebs And Mine Labobebs The economic pressure of the conditions described, the relative homogeneity of population,1 and the rise in intelligence of the mass of workers laid a basis for the system of joint interstate agreements begun in 1885. The miners' organizations in the various States and districts were learning the futility of attempting to cope with the economic pressure without solidarity of organization and purpose. The leaders from the various States came together in convention at Indianapolis, September, 1885, and formed a national organization known as the National Federation of Miners and Mine Laborers. The preamble to the constitution recited the evils growing out of excessive competition and overproduction and recalled the adverse working conditions under which the craft was laboring. The belief was expressed that in a federation of all lodges and branches of miners' unions lies our hope. The chief purposes of the organization were to spread intelligence and promote the social and industrial welfare of the workers by the use of arbitration and legal enactment.2 The executive and legislative powers of the organization were put in the hands of five representatives at large, and one member from each of the coal-producing States with one additional member from the anthracite field. The five members at large, a secretary, and a treasurer were char...