UMWA Records: Series 2. Joint Grievance Board Transcripts on Microfilm, 1915-1928
Collection Number: 5301/2 mf

Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Cornell University Library


DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Title:
UMWA Records: Series 2. Joint Grievance Board Transcripts on Microfilm, 1915-1928
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection Number:
5301/2 mf
Abstract:
Transcripts of hearings of joint labor-management grievance boards for District 12, United Mine Workers of America.
Creator:
United Mine Workers of America (UMWA)
Quanitities:
0.44 cubic feet
Language:
Collection material in English

Biographical / Historical

In a system of interstate, district, subdistrict, and local agreements, questions concerning the proper interpretation of the many provisions bound to arise. Disagreements developed concerning alleged violations of the contract, non-compliance with its provisions, or matters not directly covered in the agreement. The district and subdistrict contracts specified how such disputes or grievances of either the miners or the operators should be handled. This record group contains materials having to do with only that adjustment procedure which has developed in District 12 during the period 1900 to 1927, although procedures were generally similar throughout the entire Central Competitive Field.
An Illinois miner who felt agrieved with some condition of work or some action of the management first discussed his grievance with the pit boss or mine foreman. If he failed to receive satisfaction from the foreman, he referred his complaint to the pit committee. Each mine had a pit committee. Each mine had a pit committee, usually composed of three men, elected by the local union. The pit committee attempted to adjust the grievance with the mine manager. It has been estimated that the pit committees settled approximately 70 per cent of the case which were brought to them. In the earlier days of collective bargaining, the pit committee was the sole judge in the disposition of disputes. If the pit committee could not reach an agreement with the mine management, it ordered a strike and fought the matter out.
As the bargaining relationship matured, the methods of settlement were expanded and more steps were added to the adjustment procedure. Disputes upon which the pit committee and the mine manager could not agree were passed on to the president or vice-president of the subdistrict union and the superintendent of the mine where the dispute occurred. If they failed to agree, the dispute was submitted in writing to the executive board member of the district union and a commissioner of the operators' association. The case description cited evidence which had been agreed upon by the mine superintendent and the subdistrict president.
District 12 was divided into ten executive board election districts which are not to be confused with the subdistricts. The election districts were not coextensive with the subdistricts. The executive board election districts were divided with due regard to number of members, while subdistrict divisions wwere based upn geologic structure and mining conditions. The operators' commissioner and executive board member often held hearings at the mines to settle cases referred to them. In case of disagreement, the commissioner and board member submitted in writing such evidence as they could agree upon to a joint group board.
During the time period covered by this record group, there were five joint group boards operative in Illinois. Each board was composed of an equal number, usually eight, of representatives of the union and of the operators. On three of these boards, the operators eight representatives were named by the Ilinois Coal Operators' Association; on the fourth by the Coal Operators' Association of the Fifth and Ninth Districts; and on the fifth by the Central Illinois Coal Operators' Association.
The jurisdiction of Joint Group Board No. 1 was the northern field of Illinois; Joint Group Board No. 2 was comprised of representatives from the central portion of the state; while Joint Group Board No. 3 served the southern Illinois field. Joint Group Board No. 4 served the jurisdiction of the Coal Operators' Association of the Fifth and Ninth Districts, and Joint Group Board No. 5 that of the Central Illinois coal Operators' Association.
The fifth joint group board seldom if ever met. If the commissioner of the CICOA and the district executive board member of the Springfield district failed to agree, the case was referred to the presidents of the District union and the operators' association who appointed a commission to settle the dispute. If this commission failed to agree, the fifth joint group board cases were most often submitted directly to arbitration.
In cases before a joint group board, the executive board member and commissioner who referred the case to the board presented the case and offered the arguments for each side. Occasionally witnesses were called before the board, but usually only written evidence was submitted to a joint group board. A dispute before a joint group board could be permanently or temporarily disposed of in the following ways:
1.It could be closed by either denying or granting the demand of the claimant.
2.It could be referred back to the commissioner and executive board member who brought the case before the board with instructions to gather more evidence and act accordingly.
3.It could be dropped for lack of evidence.
4.It could be referred to a special commission.
5.It could be referred to the full joint board.
6.It could be referred to arbitration.
7.It could be withdrawn by theminers for "independent action".
As just described, the board could refer any dispute to a special commission appointed by the board. The commission usually consisted of two executive board members of the union and two commissioners of the operators' association, although it sometimes included only the presidents of the respective organizations. If the parties wished to have a case decided without setting a precedent for future cases, the dispute was submitted to a commission which decided the case outside the joint group board meeting and did not record its decision.
Important cases were sometimes submitted by a joint group board to the Full Joint Executive Board which consisted of all the executive board members of District 12 and the entire governing executive board of the Illinois Coal Operators' Association. When the full board disagreed, the case was often referred to the presidents of the two organizations or again to a special commission appointed by the full board. In the event that no agreement was reached at this step, the dispute was either submitted to final and binding arbitration or withdrawn by the miners for "independent action". A case could, however, proceed to either of these last steps directly from action by a joint group board.

Cases decided upon by the joint grievance boards include issues of wage rates, labor discipline, working conditions, insubordination, intoxication, jurisdictional disputes, incompetence, hours of work, improper dismissal, compensation for management negligence, and fringe benefits. The board was also called upon to interpret existing contracts and agreements.
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Conditions Governing Use

This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet and Procedures for Document Use.

INFORMATION FOR USERS

Preferred Citation

UMWA Records: Series 2. Joint Grievance Board Transcripts on Microfilm #5301/2 mf. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.

Related Materials

Related Collections: 5301 mf: United Mine Workers of America District 12 (Ill.) Records on Microfilm 5301/1 mf: UMWA Records: Series 1. Joint Conventions and Conference Proceedings on Microfilm 5302 mf: "History of the United Mine Workers, 1890-1932" Unpublished Manuscript on Microfilm

SUBJECTS

Names:
United Mine Workers of America.
Subjects:
Arbitration, Industrial. United States. Cases.

CONTAINER LIST
Container
Description
Date
Reel 4 1
Record Group C-3, United Mine Workers
Scope and Contents
Negative
Reel 5 1
Record Group C-3, United Mine Workers
Scope and Contents
Negative
Reel 6 1
Record Group C-3, United Mine Workers
Scope and Contents
Negative
Reel 7 1
Record Group C-3, United Mine Workers
Scope and Contents
Negative