The Effects of the 1914 Ludlow Coal Strike on Unionization in the U.S. Research Paper

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Ludlow Coal Miners' Strike in ColoradoToday, workers in the United States take a number of things for granted, including state and federal employment laws, a 40-hour workweek, paid holidays, sick leave, vacation time and retirement plans, among numerous others, and few Americans would be willing to work at arduous and dangerous jobs for free. The situation in 1914 was dramatically different, though, and Americans workers today can credit the heroic Colorado coal miners who took up arms to protect their families and their livelihoods during the most violent labor uprising in the nation’s history. Indeed, at least 25 people, including 11 of the coal miners’ children, were killed in the ensuing Ludlow massacre on April 20, 1914 and far more are believed to have died during the duration of the 15-month strike. The purpose of this paper is to provide a description of the events that led up to the 1914 Ludlow miners’ strike, what took place during the uprising and the implications of this event on the nation’s labor relations. Following this review, the paper provides a summary of the research and important findings concerning the uprising in the conclusion.Review and DiscussionThe beginning of the 20th century came hard on the heels of the Gilded Age when America’s labor force increased dramatically and businesses began to consolidate into major concerns that wielded substantial political and economic clout. As the number of workers increased while the number of employers decreased, there was a growing recognition among labor that they lacked a real voice in their employment arrangements and were rather at the mercy of Big Business. In this regard, Burt (2011) reports that, “As more and more laborers worked for fewer and fewer companies and as individual workers in the capitalist economic system lost the ability to negotiate directly with their employer, they began to organize in the hope that in numbers they might find a voice” (p. 62).In reality, the coal miners at Ludlow needed a very loud voice indeed in view of their hazardous working conditions and parsimonious pay arrangements. Hundreds of coal miners died each year due to the working conditions and the dangers included not only cave-ins but also explosions from the accumulated coal dust that also caused black lung disease among the miners.

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Further, the coal miners were only paid for the amount of coal they dug each day, and the employee who weighed it was assigned by the company and was believed to routinely cheat the workers. Not only were the miners cheated out of their fair wages in this fashion, they were also forced to dig the tunnels using pick and shovels as well as explosives, reinforce them with wooden bracings and lay railroad tracks without being paid for these services since…

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…machine guns, shooting indiscriminately at the miners’ tent city which they then torched for good measure. Women and children who tried to escape the flames were shot dead by the National Guard, and several members of one family died when their burning tent collapsed on a shallow cellar. The strike and uprising finally ended when President Woodrow Wilson agreed to dispatch more than 1,600 federal troops to “restore the peace” (as cited in Burt, 2011, p. 66). As a result of this strike, nationwide support for unions gained momentum and helped labor achieve a more equitable deal for their membership.ConclusionThe research showed and the historic record confirms that greed can cause humans to act with inhumanity towards others, especially if they are not in a position to resist. In the final analysis, the 1914 coal miners’ strike in general and the Ludlow massacre in particular made it clear that labor needed a voice and that unions could provide it. These are important issues for Americans today who may become complacent about the rights in the workplace. As an active member of Local Union #3 of the IBEW in New York City who enjoys a voice in workplace matters, this author and other American workers owe a great deal to the sacrifices of the miners at Ludlow who provided the catalyst that was needed to force the nation to come to grips with….....

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