Remembering Union History

Growing up in the mountains of Southwest Virginia, Unions were essential to our way of living. In the heart of Coal Country, the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) was one of the strongest unions in the area due to the mining of local coal. Many unions in our area fought tooth and nail to provide better wages and working conditions for the working-class citizens trying to make a living and provide for their families. Sadly, the strength of unions is not as strong as it once was and learning about the vital history of unions and how they can bring a positive outcome for the future of Blue-Collar workers.

One of my first childhood memories is back in April of 1989 when the Pittston Coal Strike was going on. It was not just the UMWA and coal miners that were on strike working against the greedy coal barons, it was also the whole community that was standing with them. That is what makes unions so successful, the sense of standing together to fight for what matters. Over 2,000 UMWA members walked out to the picket lines, using peaceful civil disobedience to draw attention to their plight and gaining a large support from all over the country with over 50,000 people coming to show support for the striking workers. During the strike workers wound up receiving less pay, but they never lost faith in what the union stood for and knew what it could do. The battle raged for 11 long months, with Pittston coal suffering larges losses in production.

Quoting Richard Trumpka when asked how long he thought that they could last when the Pittston strike was still ongoing, his reply was “One day longer than Pittston.” That quote really resonates throughout the labor history, the way that unions are successful is when they stand strong for what they are fighting for, which is highly different from where unions are today. The union is only as strong as their members; if the members waiver, then the strength of the union does as well. 

Giving up and losing faith in what can be done has been a destructive part of the union base. If union density was to increase to 30% then workers would see on average a 14.5% increase, but sadly most workers are afraid of financial impacts in hard economic times and how they can fight and be able to support their families when facing the high cost of living. The key is to remember history, that union workers have done it before and when morale would get low, unions would find ways to relight the union spirit to remind workers of just what they were fighting for as evidence by the historic takeover of the Moss 3 Plant in Russell County, VA. 99 striking miners held a 4 day sit in of the Preparation Plant halting production at the plant. An estimated 5,000 supporters showed up in support of the miners, re-igniting the fighting union spirit. 

Remembering union history and what it stands for can become a massive force of good, as I witnessed recently when a proposed Landfill was suggested in place of the old Moss 3 plant, which would have not only desecrated union history but destroyed the community that surrounds it with pollution as greedy investors saw the opportunity for the land to be used to line their pockets as they viewed the area as just a poor Appalachian Community. That community, however, proved them wrong as the entire community stood strong against the attempted landfill, creating a community-based group on social media and even voicing concerns to the local Board of Supervisors. They conducted community meetings and made sure that they were both seen and heard from posting yard signs to renting billboards to encourage folks to bombard the Board of Supervisors with phone calls, letters, and emails rallying against such an atrocity. This was their home and their heritage they were fighting for and pulling from their rich labor history, along with the support of the UMWA, who stood resilient with the We Say No to Moss 3 Landfill Group as it was dubbed on social media. What was the outcome? The Landfill was stopped and the community celebrated.

Successes like this shows that if we remember our union history, what they stood for and the positive impacts they have made on our lives, if we can remember this and strengthen our Unions, we could again make a change in history and shift more benefits to the Working-Class American instead of the Greedy Corporate Gazillionaire.

In Solidarity,

Kimberly  Fife

Cleveland, VA