UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA

(UMWA) American labour union, founded in 1890, that engaged in bitter, and often successful, disputes with coal-mine operators for fair pay, safe working conditions, and other worker benefits. An industrial union, the UMWA includes miners in the bituminous and anthracite coal mines, as well as workers outside the mines. Under John Mitchell, president from 1898 to 1908, the union grew rapidly despite determined opposition by mine operators. The UMWA held successful strikes in the coalfields in 1897 and 1902, and by 1920 it had about 500,000 members. But the union lost members, strength, and influence during the 1920s because of the antiunion climate of that era and the presence of newer and unorganized coalfields in West Virginia and Kentucky (the union itself had its basis in the fields of western Pennsylvania and the lower Midwest). From 1920 to 1960 the UMWA was led by John L. Lewis, a militant and usually effective chief. In 1933 Lewis capitalized on the prolabour mentality of the New Deal and set about organizing the Appalachian coalfields. He succeeded, and as a consequence the UMWA formed the backbone of Franklin D. Roosevelt's labour support in the presidential election of 1936. Lewis and the union were also a mainstay of the Committee for Industrial Organization (founded in 1935 and renamed the Congress of Industrial Organizations in 1938). In 1942 he withdrew the miners from the CIO, and, except for the years 194647, the union remained unaffiliated until 1989, when it joined the AFL-CIO. Among its many strikes was that of 1943, during World War II, which provoked much public indignation and led to the government's seizure of the mines. After Lewis retired in 1960, the UMWA went through a period of unstable and erratic leadership that lasted until the early 1980s. One president, W.A. (Tony) Boyle (196372), was convicted of conspiracy in the murder of the insurgent union leader Joseph Yablonski and his wife and daughter in 1969. Richard Trumka restored a degree of order and democracy to the UMWA upon his election to the presidency in 1982. The UMWA's efforts made American miners among the best-paid and best-insured miners in the world. But automation, the development of alternative sources of fuel, and a general decline in American unionism lessened the importance of the union in the second half of the 20th century. There had been about 500,000 UMWA members in 1946, but by the 1990s there were fewer than 200,000 members, who mined only a third of the nation's coal.