Bituminous Coal Strike of 1977-1978

The Bituminous coal strike of 1977–1978 was a 110-day national coal strike in the United States led by the United Mine Workers of America, AFL-CIO. It began December 6, 1977, and ended on March 19, 1978. It is generally considered a successful union strike, although the contract was not beneficial to union members.

Since the 1940s, the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) had negotiated a nationwide National Coal Wage Agreement with the Bituminous Coal Operators Association (BCOA), a group of large coal mine operators. The three-year agreements covered national bargaining issues such as wages, health and pension benefits, workplace health and safety, and work rules. Local agreements, far more limited in scope, were negotiated by each individual local affiliate of UMWA.

UMWA president Arnold Miller had negotiated the previous collective bargaining agreement in during the Bituminous Coal Strike of 1924.

The right of local unions to strike—not wages—was the primary issue in the negotiations. In the 1930s and 1940s, destructive competition drove coal operators to cut prices so drastically that many went into bankruptcy. Many producers slashed wages drastically to survive. From the workers' perspective, this was bad enough. During the Great Depression, however, wages needed to be kept high in order to stimulate demand. UMWA and other unions took advantage of the depression by offering industry-wide, national collective bargaining agreements as a way to stabilize wages. Not only would wages remain high, but producers' costs would now also stabilize and remove—to a great extent—producers' ability to fund destructive competition through wage decreases. In return, UMWA and other unions agreed to "labor peace." In UMWA's case, this meant stripping local unions of the right to strike without the international union's approval.

But wildcat strikes had become common in the coal industry. UMWA miners grew frustrated with the poor terms of national contracts and employer foot-dragging on dispute resolution and grievances. Democratic reforms within the Mine Workers and an excellent 1974 contract had not released the pressure which caused wildcat strikes. The solution, as miners saw it, was power. And power flowed from the right to strike over local conditions. Absent the right to strike, UMWA's democracy movement rejected labor peace and wildcat strikes had become even more common.

...
Wikipedia