NWLB Southern Coal Procedures Records

The Fact Finding Panel was appointed by the National War Labor Board to investigate the dispute which arose when the parties were unable to agree on the terms of a new contract in the spring of 1943. The following were members of the panel: Morris L. Cooke, representing the public, chairman; David B. Robertson, representing labor; and Walter White, representing industry.

Negotiations began on March 10, 1943. The principal demands of the United Mine Workers were: a wage increase of $2 a day, payment for travel time from portal to portal for all underground workers, inclusion of some supervisory personnel, and several minor issues.

No agreement could be reached, and the case was certified to the War Labor Board on April 22, 1943. The panel held its first hearing in Washington D.C. on April 28 at which the Mine Workers refused to appear. The panel was recessed when it learned that the Mine Workers had gone on strike in violation of the no-strike agreement of 1941. On May 1 the Federal Government seized the mines and the miners went back to work. On May 6, the National War Labor Board resumed hearings and issued a report on May 25, which the Mine Workers refused to accept, and struck again. President Roosevelt ordered the miners back to work. On June 7 negotiations for a new contract were resumed and in mid-June the Central Pennsylvania signed an agreement which it later repudiated on pressure from the other operators. On July 21 the Illinois operation signed an agreement which the NWLB refused to approve because it violated the "Little Steel Formula." The mines were returned to the operators on October 1. The miners struck for a third time on November 1, and the mines were again seized by the government, and a contract between the government and the Mine Workers was signed on November 3.