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
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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archivist for access to these materials.
This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet and
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INFORMATION FOR USERS
UMWA Records: Series 2. Joint Grievance Board Transcripts on Microfilm #5301/2 mf.
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.
Names:
United Mine Workers of America.
Subjects:
Arbitration, Industrial. United States. Cases.
CONTAINER LIST
Container
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Description
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Date
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Reel 4 | 1 |
Record Group C-3, United Mine Workers
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Scope and Contents
Negative
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Reel 5 | 1 |
Record Group C-3, United Mine Workers
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Scope and Contents
Negative
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Reel 6 | 1 |
Record Group C-3, United Mine Workers
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Scope and Contents
Negative
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Reel 7 | 1 |
Record Group C-3, United Mine Workers
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Scope and Contents
Negative
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