The settlement was an unqualified victory for
the union. It conceded the miners a 20 percent increase in wages, the
establishment of the eight-hour day, the abolition of company stores,
semi-monthly payments, and a restoration of the system of fixing
Interstate wage rates in annual joint conferences with the operators,
which meant official recognition of the United Mine Workers. The
operators in West Virginia, however, refused to come in.
The first of these Interstate conferences was held in January, 1898, at
which the miners were conceded a further increase in wages. In addition,
the agreement, which was to run for two years, established for Illinois
the run-of-mine[53] system of payment, while the size of the screens of
other states was regulated; and it also conceded the miners the
check-off system[54] in every district, save that of Western
Pennsylvania.[55] Such a comprehensive victory would not have been
possible had it not been for the upward trend which coal prices had
taken.
But great as was the union's newly discovered power, it was spread most
unevenly over the central competitive field.
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