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NRA Not to Permit Exten sion After April 1, 1935 SPRINGFIELD, ILL., March 10— (UP)—Extension of existing con tracts between rival Illinois unions and their respective operators’ as sociations after April 1, 1935, will not be permitted under the Na tional Recovery Act, the United Press learned today. Dr. John Lapp, Chicago, chair man of the Regional Bituminous Coal Board under the NRA, is authority for the statement that no further extension of existing con tracts will be allowed. He said his board has jurisdiction over the question and will order new con tracts negotiated. ‘The National Recovery Act pro vides specifically that contracts must be reached through collective bargaining with the employees and employers involved,” Lapp said. “Extension of the present code for another period would be a direct violation.” New contracts between the two unions and their respective op erators, Lapp said, must be made through negotiations between rep resentatives of each union and the operators with the contract to be approved by a referendum vote of the membership of the union in volved. The Illinois mine union contro versy which has resulted in the death of more than thirty persons and a widespread reign of violence and terror throughout the state’s coal fields over a period of nearly two years, was a direct result of the signing of the present contra between the United Mine Workers of America and the Ilinois Coal Operators Association. In November, 1931 members of the Illinois district union met here in annual convention at which time they instructed their wage scale committee to endeavor to obtain an increase from the then existing con tract of $6.10 a day to $7 a day. After lengthy deliberation with the coal operators association the wage scale committee finally ap proved a contract providing for a basic rate of wage of $5 a day, a decrease of $10 a day from the previous rate. A referendum vote was held on the scale and it was rejected. The wage scale committee went back into executive session with the op erators’ association and came out with practically the same contract and it was again subjected to a referendum vote. Before the referendum vote was finally tabulated however, tellers employed by the district union re ported they had been robbed of the tally sheets showing the votes of the various local unions on the pro posed contract. John L. Lewis, president of the United Mine Workers of America, then stepped into the picture, de clared a state of emergency exist ed and signed the contract as an emergency. Shortly after the contract was signed a group of rebellious miners left the ranks of the United Mine Workers of America and set up the Progressive Miners of America. The latter union's fight for power has resulted in considerable vio lence and bloodshed throughout the state. The contract over which the con troversy started was to have ex pired March 31, 1933. It was extend ed however, for a period of two years to March 31, 1935 by agree ment between the district officers and operators without submission to the union membership. The contract under which Pro gressives and their operators are working was negotiated in 1932 and runs until March 1, 1935. Plan Picketing Against Peabody Coal. Co. GILLESPIE, ILL., March 10— (UP)—Plans for an intensive cam paign to force recognition of their union were peewee here today at a meeting of officials and members of a strike committee of the Pro gressive Miners of America. The meeting was called by Claude Pearcy, president of the un ion, and follows his announcement that members of the P. M. A. will start picketing activities in the near future against mines operated by the Peabody Coal Company throughout the state. Aroused over action of the Na tional Labor Board in validating certain contracts between the Pea body Company and the United Mi Workers of America, rival union the P. M. A. and refusal of the ‘Board to grant a plea of the Pro Turn to page two. ..ieas,
Newspaper Details
Murphysboro Daily Independent
Murphysboro, Illinois, US
Sat, Mar 10, 1934
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Carol C.
USA 11 Jan 2026
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