The Mine Wars of 1912-21 were the height of labor organizing in the Mountain State. Organizing to demand real money for wages and less lethal work environments were punishable crimes; but paying employees in company money and letting hired guns beat up employees were legal. Unions were outlawed, and joining or recruiting for a union was dangerous, but the labor organizing movement gained momentum. Strikes and clashes with Baldwin-Felts guards increased in frequency until it all came to a head in Logan County.
The Battle of Blair Mountain was notable for the way it brought together miners from across the racial and ethnic spectrum to demand better working conditions for all of them. Skin color didn’t matter when you wore a red bandana around your neck.
It was also notable for the trials afterward. More than 500 participants were indicted. The federal government declined to press charges, but the State of West Virginia went after the miners with everything it had, charging defendants with murder, conspiracy to commit murder, accessory to murder and even charging some with treason against the state, according to the National Park Service.
The first, and most publicized, trial was against union leader Bill Blizzard. Blizzard was charged with treason. Unions across the nation followed the proceedings closely; if Blizzard was found guilty, it spelled doom for labor organizations throughout America and across industries. But Blizzard was acquitted, setting a precedent in favor of unions.
The Battle of Blair Mountain concluded 100 years ago today, Sept. 2, 1921 — and while the example set here boosted unions in other states, the backlash against labor organizing in West Virginia was brutal. Unions were crushed in coal camps across the state and conditions deteriorated as mine owners and coal operators kept miners under the careful watch of hired guards.
The labor movement didn’t gain a foothold in West Virginia again until after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Wagner Act, which guaranteed the “right of self-organization of employees in industry for the purpose of collective bargaining.”
But for as long as there have been workers organizing, there has been pushback.
For all the pride West Virginia politicians take in our coal-mining history, they are quick to spit on the unions’ legacy. In 2016, West Virginia became a right-to-work state, which means employees are not required to pay dues to unions, even if they benefit from the union’s collective bargaining power. In 2021, the state Legislature passed a bill that prohibited union dues from being automatically deducted from paychecks, making the payment of dues a more arduous process. And most abhorrent of all was the passage of SB 11 this past session.
SB 11 writes into law that strikes and work stoppages by public employees are illegal — an obvious response to the teacher strikes in 2018 and 2019 that set off a nationwide movement.
Unions aren’t perfect. One of West Virginia’s most notable strikes was from 1977-78 when union miners went against union leaders’ wishes. The union leaders had cut a deal to curtail “wildcat strikes” — work stoppages undertaken by employees without the consent of their respective unions, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. News publications periodically reveal underhanded deals among top officials that cast a shadow on unions as a whole.
But it can’t be denied the advancements made through the years speak to labor organizing’s effectiveness. Whether a formal union or an informal coalition, workers organizing to protest, strike, boycott and lobby have given us many of the workplace rights we have today: eight-hour workdays, breaks, safer conditions and bans on discrimination based on gender, race, religion, etc.
When employees work together, rather than fight as individuals, they can make huge gains toward a better quality of life.
