Tag: West Virginia United Mine Workers Union

January 30, 1920: UMWA Mobilizes to Unionize W.Va.

On January 30, 1920, the United Mine Workers of America launched a concerted effort to unionize southern West Virginia. Relations between the UMWA and coal operators had regularly turned violent over the previous 30 years.

However, the two sides had reached a tenuous truce during World War I. During the 19 months the United States was involved in the war, coal production soared and miners’ wages rose.

When the fighting in Europe ended, though, there was too much coal for the available demand. Prices plummeted, and coal operators began cutting wages. Conflicts between UMWA organizers and coal operators again turned violent in 1919.

The UMWA’s 1920 campaign to unionize southern West Virginia focused on Logan and Mingo counties—which had one of the largest nonunion mining workforces in the country. This push to organize southern West Virginia escalated tensions with coal operators, leading to the Matewan Massacre and a virtual state of war in Mingo County, which raged for more than a year.

Ultimately, the UMWA’s campaign ended after the miners’ failed march on Logan County and their defeat at the Battle of Blair Mountain.

March 19, 1931: West Virginia United Mine Workers Union Founded

The West Virginia Mine Workers Union was founded on March 19, 1931. It was a radical alternative to the United Mine Workers of America, known as the UMWA. The new union was the brainchild of Frank Keeney, who had been a key UMWA leader during the West Virginia Mine Wars.

After the 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain, UMWA national president John L. Lewis began exerting greater control over local union matters. The year after the battle, Keeney had agreed to a temporary wage cut for miners. Lewis used the wage cuts as an excuse to fire Keeney.

But Keeney retained a strong following among miners. By March 1931, UMWA membership in West Virginia had dwindled to fewer than 600 members. Keeney launched his new union and, within weeks, had enrolled more than 20,000. He called a major strike that summer, but the costs virtually bankrupted the upstart union. Within two years, his union was broke, and the UMWA again became the dominant miners union in West Virginia.

A few years later, Keeney dropped out of the labor movement entirely. He died in 1970 at age 88.

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