RSS
Home
History of the struggle on film: Matewan
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
.jpg)
"You ain’t men to that coal company, you’re equipment."
"There’s only two sides to this world. Them that work and them that don’t. You work, they don’t."
"We’re the workers; we take care of each other."
Joe Kenehan
It was 1920 in the southwest West Virginia coal fields, and, as the narrator recalls, "things were tough." In response to efforts by miners to organize into a labor union, the Stone Mountain Coal Company announces it will cut the pay miners receive, and will be importing scabs into town to replace those who join the union. The movie is a dramatization of the Matewan Massacre which led to the Battle of Blair Mountain.
Incredibly during the Battle of Blair Mountain coal companies hired private planes to drop homemade bombs on the miners. On orders from the famous General Billy Mitchell, Army bombers from Maryland were used to disperse the miners, a rare example of air power being used by the federal government against US citizens. A combination of gas and explosive bombs left over from the fighting in World War I were dropped in several locations near the towns of Jeffery, Sharples and Blair.
Today American employers hire a different type of hired gun: the union buster. But in countries as diverse as Iraq and Colombia trade unionists are murdered for trying to organize to improve their family’s lives. From passage of the Employee Free Choice Act to denying Colombia free trade status Americans can take a stand in the memory of those who fought and died for our freedom.
For more about the Battle of Blair Mountain go to whenminersmarch.com
Read my tribute to William Blizzard the son of Battle of Blair Mountain leader Bill Blizzard.
More About:
Labor ·
Employee Free Choice Act ·
Iraq ·
United Mine Workers of America ·
William Blizzard ·
Matewan ·
History of the Struggle
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
When most Americans see the U.S. stars and stripes they think of honor, duty and country. Corporate leaders see dollar signs. Since 9/11 corporations …
How do you deliver heartbreaking, life shattering and soul numbing news about the loss of a loved one? Well if you serve in the U.S. military you do …
- American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations-AFL-CIO
- Change to Win
- American Federation of Government Employees-AFGE
- American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees-AFSCME
- American Federation of Teachers-AFT
- Communication Workers of America-CWA
- International Association of Firefighters-IAFF
- International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers-IAM
- International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers-IBEW
- International Brotherhood of Teamsters-IBT
- Laborer'' International Union of North America-LIUNA
- Service Employees International Union-SEIU
- Transport Workers Union of America-TWU
- United Automobile, Aerospace, & Agricultural Implement Workers of America International Union-UAW
- United Food and Commercial Workers International Union-UFCW
- United Mineworkers of America-UMWA
- UNITE HERE
- Blueman Productions, IATSE
- EchoStar Dish Network, CWA
- Pacific Beach Hotel, Wakiki Hawaii, ILWU
- R. J.Reynolds Tobacco Co., BCGTM
- Vincent Bach Division, Conn-Selmer, Inc.,UAW
- For more information
- A. Zahner Company
- Alabama Power
- Delta Construction Corporation
- Delta Construction Corporation
- DMAX-Ltd.
- Gamesa Technology Corporation, Inc.
- Justice Clothing
- Maimonides Medical Center
- State of Kansas
- Team Industries, Inc.
- Washington National Opera
- For more information
