Introduction
The Arizona Copper Miner strike of 1983 began on July 1 when negotiations failed between labor unions and the Phelps Dodge Corporation. Shortly after the strike began, Phelps Dodge was granted an injunction restricting Strikers presence on and up to the line. The result of this was the presence of women on the line. These women became the face of the great strike. For purposes of this essay, I will examine the conflict at the root of the strike. I will share the perspective of the women on the line, members of the Morenci Miners Women’s Auxiliary (Citizens for Justice). A secondary party to the conflict, these women stepped up without hesitation for the miners when the miners were unable to do so themselves. For eighteen long months,
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To start, Phelps Dodge Corporation declined the unions reasonable offer in negotiations, even after other mines (owned by other corporations) agreed to such terms. The union members reacted by striking. While the union was still attempting to negotiate a compromise and settlement with Phelps Dodge, operating in good faith, the Corporation suggested they have a cooling down period of ten days. Strikers went home optimistic of the agreement sure to come at the end of the waiting period. Unbeknownst to union members, Phelps Dodge was utilizing this time staffing the mine with replacement workers (Scabs), sneaking them in through another entrance to avoid detection. Strikers were outraged and reacted as such. Therefore, Phelps Dodge Corporation had the miners barred from striking. The response was the women picking up where their men had left off to preserve the line. As previously mentioned, the Morenci Women’s Auxiliary were barred from the line as well. This prompted them to change the name of their group and recruit bodies to enforce the line with an even greater presence then
Anne Morgan was the daughter of J.P Morgan; she helped keep the strike on the front page of the newspapers and gave the strikers hope. The mink brigade was other wealthy or socially privileged woman who helped the cause of the strikers. With this help the strikers weren’t being brutally beaten as often and by December some factories had given into striker demands. What caused Anne Morgan and mink brigadiers to reconsider their position was the refusal of better pay and fewer work hours, but without union only shops. Anne Morgan and others felt that this was an attack on their social status and way of life, she resigned from the strike union along with others.
Throughout Arizona’s history many remarkable women have made an impact on Arizona, such as Placida Smith, who taught and helped non-citizens of the United States to become legal; Veora Johnson, who was the first African American woman to have obtain administrative credentials in Arizona and Sister Kathleen Clark, who was nun who created a shelter for children who were abused and neglected called Casa de los Ninos. These are just some of the few important women in Arizona’s history. But one of the most influence and important women of Arizona history by far would have to be Sandra Day O’Connor. Sandra Day O’Connor was born in El Paso, Texas on March 26th 1930 to the parents of Harry Day and Ada Mae Wilkey. She was the oldest of three children;
In “The Winnipeg General Strike Reconsidered,” Bumsted provides a detailed examination of various aspects of the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike, including motivations, events, military, economy, ideologies, and overall impacts on early twentieth century Canadian society. Although not a direct link to my chosen topic at first glance, Bumsted’s analysis provides extensive information on the era I am researching and makes important connections between the war and worker unrest, particularly in the sections concerning the strike acting as industrial dispute, the returning soldiers, the role of women, and the
Leonora Marie Barry was hired by the Knights of Labor to serve as labor leader and a social reformer. She was the primary source writer of Organizing Women Workers and became the only woman to uphold national office within the Knights of Labor. Leonora’s main goal was to bring attention to the conditions of the working women. Through her involvement in the labor reform movement she furthered the progress of women’s rights and she herself had experienced the hardships of a former mill worker. Being a mill working, who had also suffered the hardships of any other women, child, or immigrant, she never had any high class training.
However, the tables turned against the organized factories when in November of 1909 the girls organized what would become the largest stoppage of work in the city’s history. It didn’t take long for the smaller factories to buckle, however the Triangle Shirtwaist factory did not budge. It only got worse for the factory owners when Anne Morgan, the daughter of J.P. Morgan, decided to stand with the girls in their strike. Media’s opinion changed and suddenly the strikers were brave and being admired. Due to this change in public opinion, Blanck and Harris had no choice but to begin negotiations.
The waistmakers protested peacefully. Hundreds were arrested, including WTUL president Mary Dreier for discouraging strikebreakers from working in the factories. The women never utilized violent techniques, nor did they retaliate against the police arresting them. Instead, they forced the shops to listening to their demands by striking strategically and in such a strong force; by striking during the busy season, shops were desperate for employees and some were willing to agree to union demands. William Mailly, a writer sympathetic to the strikers, wrote on the strike: “The strike has been inspired by women; it is mainly women who have done the picketing, been arrested, fined, run the risk of assault, received ill-treatment from police and police courts alike, and shown themselves eager to sacrifice without stint to bring about better conditions in the shops and factories.”
One major event that happened in the Mine Wars was at Paint Creek. In 1912 and 1913, Paint Creek went on a strike. It was one of the bloodiest conflicts in the 20th century. The strike started on April 18, 1912. The strike started because one of the operators rejected the demand of their unionized workers for a wage increase.
The U.S. government helped the mine owners by using policemen and the army to stop the workers’ rebellion, which was interfering with the capitalist social order and undermining the profitability of the mines. Background The period
Many of these head householders where miners fighting for justice in the coal mines. Because those men went on strike, the cash flow into the family was slim to nothing. Relief was promised by the United Mine Workers of America, but the amount of help that was needed was more than what the leaders had expected. According to Dwight Billings, a professor of sociology and Appalachian studies stated, “The economic distress-both local and national- combined with the United Mine Workers of America’s unwillingness to support the mines provided the opening for what John Hennen calls a “radical alternative.” The National Miners Union (NMU) was the result of the American Communist Party’s decision to no longer “bore from within” established trade unions bust instead to create its own unions.”
Among the many issues they wanted resolved, some were like many other workers’ union goals. They were fighting
The long hours and difficult work did not faze these women as they were driven by a sense of patriotic duty and
Inability to complain about work, low wages, and charge for necessities that they thought should have been provided by Pullman all caused rage in the employees. An economic depression made life more difficult for Pullman’s employees, because They quit their jobs and sought to get fair treatment in the work environment.
It is a difficult task to challenge the social and economic policies of a country, especially one as patriotic as the United States during the post wartime Red scare era of the 1920 's. labor unions could account for this as they saw their membership fall from a high of 5 million in the 1920s to a mere 3.6 million by 1923(Rosenzweig 353). A combination of Supreme court decisions, Employer pressures and in many cases a lack of a strong leadership seen in previous individuals like Samuel Gompers contributed to this. Yet this trend surprisingly didn’t remain consistent as the great depression emerged around the 1930s. In fact they tripled there membership during the 1930s(Rosenzweig 429).They opened up, recruiting millions of women in their causes
The Knights of Labor, founded by Terence Powderly and Uriah Stephens in 1869, helped create a union contract with Carnegie’s Braddock Mill. While the Knights of Labor were trying to have broad social reform around the country, they created a lockout in the Braddock Mill. Workers like Kratcha did not care as much about the union’s goals, instead they wanted the mills to be open so that they could earn money (25). Large business owners, like Carnegie, tried, and usually succeed, at breaking strikes and unions in their mills. In Homestead and Braddock, Kratcha experienced the effects of strikes, and they were not positive.
The novel, The Day the Cowboys Quit, by Elmer Kelton is not a typical cowboy story filled with waving guns and violent fights. Instead, this story shows what the real life of a cowboy would have been like through the story of Hugh Hitchcock. The Day the Cowboys Quit is based on a cowboy strike that occurred in Tascosa, Texas in 1883. Kelton based his fictional story on the causes of the strike and what became as a result of the strike. This paper will explain historical events concerning the cowboys and depict their true lifestyle which contrasts the stereotypes normally associated with being a cowboy, as well as summarize the novel The Day the Cowboys Quit.