Mine Operators' Association

In the United States a Mine Owners' Association, also sometimes referred to as a Mine Operators' Association or a Mine Owners' Protective Association, is the combination of individual mining companies, or groups of mining companies, into an association, established for the purpose of promoting the collective interests of the group. Such associations are sometimes referred to as MOAs, however, in some cases they may be designated by the state, district, or locale, such as the Cripple Creek District Mine Owners' Association (CCDMOA).

Mine Owners' Associations were often formed for the purpose of fighting against union organizing drives, but smelter trusts and railroad syndicates were also a concern. These latter issues were complicated by the fact that some mine owners also controlled smelters and railroad lines.

Prior to the formation of the Western Federation of Miners (WFM), local unions and protective associations formed by miners did not present much of a threat to the mine operators. Organizations such as the Knights of Labor had little power in confronting owners. Miners demanding better working conditions or wage increases were often fired. When local unions sought such changes, they were easily driven out of the mining districts.

During the 1896-97 strike of the Cloud City Miners' Union in Leadville, Colorado, mine owners formed a secret verbal agreement among themselves that none of them would recognize the union or negotiate with it, an arrangement later revealed in a report by the Colorado State Legislature.

Mine owners went a step further and formed a Mine Owners' Association in response to union organizing in the mining district of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho during the 1880s. A violent confrontation between local miners' organizations and mining companies in Coeur d'Alene in 1892 served as the impetus for formation of the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) in 1893. The mining companies of Colorado similarly joined together during a labor struggle with the WFM in 1894, and during the Colorado Labor Wars of 1903. However, the mining companies of the Cripple Creek District were not completely united, even during the 1903-04 strike. As in Coeur d'Alene, mining companies in the Cripple Creek District that made agreements with unions were shut down by military force.

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