Westmoreland County Coal Strike, Pennsylvania 1910 -1911
The Westmoreland County strike affected more than 60 mines operated by seven companies in the Irwin gas coal basin. The coal mined there was suitable for conversion to coal gas. Many of the communities where the miners and their families lived were company towns serviced by company stores. The miners in the region were paid lower wages than miners in other areas, and most of their pay went back to their employer through rents and store purchases.
The miners were paid based on the tonnage of mined coal produced, thus time spent laying or replacing track, removing slag, draining water and other additional work was uncompensated. When Keystone Coal and Coke cut wages and ordered the miners to use new safety equipment at their own expense, the miners formed a local union of the UMW and went on strike in March of 1910. Keystone promptly fired workers who joined the union.
Striking miners who were fired were evicted from their homes in company towns. The UMW erected tent cities and shantytowns to house them. As the strike spread throughout the basin the companies began to import Eastern European immigrants as strikebreakers. The Coal and Iron Police – employed by the coal companies – were used to intimidate the strikebreakers, threatening them with deportation or worse if they supported the strike.
Numerous acts of violence occurred throughout the strike. The Coal and Iron Police, the Pennsylvania State Police, local sheriff’s and their deputies, strikers, and strikebreakers were all involved in violence, and at least 16 deaths occurred as a result of strike activities. The State Police injured dozens of strikers by indiscriminate shooting into the tent cities and by using mounted officers to charge into crowds. Striking miners with legal permits to demonstrate were frequently arrested or beaten by local sheriff’s deputies.
By June of 1911 the strike had cost the UMW more than $1 million dollars, and the means of continuing financial support were gone. The coal companies had spent much more than that opposing the strike and in lost production, but they had the means to continue using funds from other business operations. The UMW ended the strike without achieving their goals and most miners returned to work, less some 400 who had been permanently blacklisted for strike activities.