coal trade bulletin - Clpdigital.org

THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN. 19
j CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA OPERATORS MAY GO INTO COURT WITH
DAMAGE SUITS AGAINST MINE WORKERS
Coal operators, members of the Central Pennsylvania
Bituminous Coal Operators' Association,
may go into the courts to secure damages from
the United Mine Workers of America of the
Central Pennsylvania, or No. 2 district, because
of the numerous annoying petty strikes that
have occurred during the past year.
Recently the association sent to the district
officials of the Mine Workers a letter demanding
that the organization must live up to its con­
tracts (see COAL TRADE BULLETIN, January 2,
1914, page 41) and, receiving no reply save an
acknowledgment of its receipt, the association
met at Philadelphia, December 8, to consider the
matter. The result of the meeting is embodied
in the following letter sent out at its close:
The Association of Bituminous Coal Operators
of Central Pennsylvania held their regular annual
meeting at its office in the Betz building,
Philadelphia, Pa., January 8. Almost the entire
membership was in attendance. The tonnage
represented amounted to approximately 70,000,000
tons per annum. The meeting was not entirely
harmonious owing to the fact that there was a
strong disposition on the part of a number of
members to dissolve the association for the reason
that the United Mine Workers of America,
District No. 2, allowed their members to grossly
violate the present scale agreement. The argument
being that it was useless to make a contract
with a labor organization which willfully
violated its contract at its convenience and with
apparently no officials connected with such organization
with power to enforce the terms of
the contract. This situation was considerably
aggravated when the executive committee reported
to the meeting that on December 12, 1913,
that a meeting held in Philadelphia a communication
was prepared and submitted to Patrick
Gilday, president District No. 2, United Mine
Workers of America, calling attention to the
numerous violations of the contract on the part
of the miners and that the dissolution of the
association was seriously threatened by continuation
of such conduct and that up to date no
reply had been received by the association other
than a mere acknowledgment of the communication.
At the time the communication was addressed
to President Gilday closed shop strikes
were being enforced in the district, some of which
not only still exist but are being supported by
the United Mine Workers of America, in furnishing
the striking miners with relief funds. The
effort to smooth out the difficulty caused a motion
to be made to refer the matter of dissolu­
tion to the executive board of the association
and after a very heated discussion which indicated
a defeat of the motion, it was suggested
that under a recent decision of the United States
courts that labor organizations such as the
United Mine Workers of America, both as an
organization and individually, could be held
liable in damages resulting to the operators from
these violations and particularly from the closing
down of the mines on the closed shop proposition
which was prohibited by the terms of the
contract.
It was reported to the association that approximately
one hundred strikes have occurred
during the life of the contract in violation thereof,
a substantial number of which was based almost
entirely on the closed shop proposition and
it was only when the association agreed to the
appointment of a committee for the purpose of
listing all the strikes that occurred in violation
of the contract and ascertaining from each individual
operators the damage suffered by reason
thereof and to make report within 30 days of the
result of such investigation, together with such
recommendation as the committee deemed proper
towards instituting actions for the recovery of
damages, that the members of the Association
agreed to submit the question to the executive
board. This was considered quite a victory for
the members who advocated the continuation of
the association, but when it came up to the
executive board to take action, a surprise was
met with as a close vote resulted, seven voting
against and six for dissolution.
Tlie meeting was in session from 10:30 A. XI.
until six o'clock P. M., excluding an hour's adjournment
for lunch. The officers elected for
the ensuing year are as follows: President, I!.
M. Clark, Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal & Iron
Co.; vice president, C. H, Rowland, president
Moshannon Coal Mining Co., Inc.; secretary and
treasurer, XV. R. Roberts. Executive Committee:
L. W. Robinson, president and general manager
Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal & Iron Co., Punxsutawney,
Pa.; Rembrandt Peale, president Peale,
Peacock & Kerr, Inc., New York, N. Y.; R. A.
Hatfield, Hatfield & Hilles, Philadelphia, Pa.; C.
H. Rowland, president Moshannon Coal Mining
Co., Osceola Mills, Pa.; W. A. May, general manager
Northwestern Mining & Exchange Co.,
Scranton, Fa.; John Langdon. Huntingdon, Pa.;
Arthur M. Riddell, David E. Williams & Co., Altoona,
Pa.; F. A. Hill, resident manager Madeira,
Hill & Co., Inc., Pottsville, Pa.; J. B. Irish, Irish
Bros., Philadelphia, Pa., H. B. Douglas, vice presi-