Daughters of the Mountain: Women Coal Miners in Central Appalachia

3 Ours in Solidarity: Women Miners and the UMWA

3 ours in solidarity: women miners and the umwa When women joined the ranks of men in mining coal, they also joined the miners’ labor union, the United Mine Workers of America (umwa). Historically, Appalachian women have been active in union affairs as the mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters of coal miners. Many were members of umwa ‘‘ladies’ auxiliaries,’’ which marched during protests and stood on picket lines during strikes. (For more discussion of their participation, see Giesen 1995; Maggard 1990; Moore 1996a, 1996b; Scott 1995). But unlike most of these women, who acted as supporters of coal-mining men, the women who began mining in the mid-1970s became card-carrying members of the umwa. By July 1977, there were 858 women in the umwa’s rank and file (Mountain Life and Work 1978b). Initially, the umwa leadership reacted to the prospect of women members as negatively as the coal operators did to hiring them. At first they paid little attention to the women and their advocacy organizations, such as the Coal Employment Project (Lilly 1989; Thrasher 1981). But slowly women miners nationwide began to make themselves known. Many of them attended the meetings of their locals faithfully; often their attendance records were far superior to many of the men’s (Moore 1996a, 1996b). In addition, some women became active in their union locals by serving on mine and safety committees (Dawson 1992; Moore 1996a). Many women miners also walked the picket lines during the 111-day nationwide strike that began in December 1977. Being from coal- 104 daughters of the mountain mining communities and families with deeply pro-union traditions, these women understood the importance of gaining the union’s acceptance through hard work, loyalty, and pride. In this way they could truly belong to a historically strong and often feisty union that would protect their rights in return (Moore 1996a). Thanks to the success of the class-action suit filed by the cep, the number of women miners had begun to increase dramatically by the end of 1978. At that time there was a growing recognition among these women and their advocates that women miners were seriously underrepresented among the ranks of local union leadership. The previous year, of the more than eight hundred delegates at the umwa international convention, only two were women (Mountain Life and Work 1978b). It was clear that the umwa leadership intended to ignore them and their concerns. In an effort to remedy the situation, a group of twenty women miners visited umwa president Arnold Miller in Washington , D.C., in August 1978. They asked him to issue an official statement supporting women’s rights to fair and equal mining employment. Although Miller agreed, he later went back on his word when he refused to ask the International Executive Board (ieb) for a resolution of support . Union officials claimed that the women’s request had come too late for them to put such a resolution on the board’s agenda for the following month (Moore 1996a). Over the next few months, in an attempt to pressure the union to pass the resolution, the cep featured a story in its newsletter that asked, ‘‘Which Side Is the umwa On?’’ Meanwhile, women miners from coal- fields around the nation lobbied their ieb representatives, stressing the need for the umwa’s support against all forms of discrimination in the industry. In response, the ieb unanimously adopted a resolution at its November meeting ‘‘that the umwa support efforts by sisters who are trying to achieve greater opportunities for women in the coal industry as it tries to meet the needs of this nation’’ (United Mine Workers’ Journal 1979a, 23–24). Thus, five years after the first women officially entered the mines, women at last began to receive at least the tacit acceptance of their union brothers. Even so, the umwa, with its 180,000 members, still had no committee for serving the needs of its women workers. Ironically, the greatest problem women posed to umwa leaders at that point was their political activism (Business Week 1979; Perry 1984). Unable to achieve legitimacy as union members and to have their concerns addressed, women miners involved with the Coal Employment ours in solidarity 105 Project took matters into their own hands. In June 1979 the cep sponsored the first national conference for women coal miners in Institute, West Virginia. Among other issues, such...