- Collection:
- Working Lives Oral History Project
- Title:
- Interview with William E. Mitch
- Contributor to Resource:
- Mitch, William E.
Kuhn, Cliff - Date of Original:
- 1984-06-27
- Subject:
- Mitch, William E.--Interviews
- Location:
- United States, Alabama, Jefferson County, Birmingham, 33.52066, -86.80249
- Medium:
- interviews
transcripts - Type:
- Sound
Text - Format:
- audio/mpeg
image/jpeg - Description:
- In this interview Mitch recalls organizing unions in Alabama, beginning in the 1930s. Mitch's father was an organizer in the United Mine Workers of America of Indiana. The family moved to Alabama, where Mitch's father discovered that that there were no unions. Mitch describes company towns or mining camps, explaining that the miners rented from the employer and bought groceries from the employer. Many of the miners had never handled cash because they were paid with metal coinage that could only be redeemed at the company store. Mitch recalls various challenges in trying to establish labor unions in the South, including the inaccessibility of rural employees, threats of reprisal from employers and being required to hold meetings in secret. He added that local governments were also often anti-union because they were afraid that unions would "run industry off." He later adds that workers "had very little to lose. They weren't making a living anyhow, and they were ready to do anything." Mitch adds that without the advent of the New Deal and passage of the Wagner Act and National Labor Relations Act, "we'd still be in the 1920s." Mitch believes coal miners are unique, in terms of race relations, solidarity and strong sense of loyalty. The race issue was not a big problem because the miners worked side by side. He adds that organizing could have never happened without the cooperation of black workers; black leaders and churches were key components in organizing. Mitch says that employers who resist unions fear loss of control, so the authority to hire and fire is most guarded. He adds that the Depression undermined the fear of losing control among workers. "A man understands the need for the union... [but] he's got to work somewhere." Mitch also briefly explains the historical developments in coal mining. He describes strip mining, mechanization, mining house coal with mules, continuous mining and robbing pillars.
The digitization of this collection was funded by a gift from EBSCO Industries. - Metadata URL:
- http://digitalcollections.libraries.ua.edu/cdm/ref/collection/u0008_0000003/id/23
- Language:
- eng
- Additional Rights Information:
- Images are in the public domain or protected under U.S. copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code), and both types may be used for research and private study. For publication, commercial use, or reproduction, in print or digital format, of all images and/or the accompanying data, users are required to secure prior written permission from the copyright holder and from archives@ua.edu. When permission is granted, please credit the images as Courtesy of The University of Alabama Libraries Special Collections.
- Original Collection:
- Working Lives Oral History Project
- Contributing Institution:
- William Stanley Hoole Special Collections Library
- Rights:
-
