United Mine Workers of America       As stated previously, District 26 of U.M.W. was formed in Cape Breton (1909) when a number of the P.W.A. lodges dissolved. The president of District 26 was Dan McDougall; Vice President, J.B. Moss; Secretary Treasurer, J.B. McLachlan; and International Board Member, James D. McLennan.      The new union had a hard struggle because the P.W.A., the recognized union, combined forces with the Dominion Coal Company to resist the new union which was agitating for changes. The Dominion Coal Company opposed the U.M.W. because it was a foreign union based in the United States and might be overprotective of American markets. Secondly, the U.M.W. might demand that Nova Scotian miners be paid the same wages as American miners. Lastly, they feared that the U.M.W. might call a general strike which would include Nova Scotia.      One of the main advantages that the U.M.W. had over the P.W.A. for the miners was that it had the monetary resources available for a strike fund.      On July 6, 1909, when attempts to meet with the operators of the Dominion Coal Company proved unsuccessful, a strike resulted. A circular distributed in Montréal asked men not to come to Cape Breton to break the strike. The Company claimed the circular was written by McDougall and he was charged with libel. During this strike, the U.M.W. members were not working, but those who still followed the P.W.A. remained working. The striking miners received no media support as the struggle progressed, and fences with electrified barbed wire were erected around the collieries by the company.      Some disturbances were now occurring at the collieries between the U.M.W. men and non-strikers. General Manager Duggan appealed to Glace Bay Mayor, John C. Douglas for military protection; however, Douglas felt the civil authorities were able to cope with the situation. General Manager Duggan then went to Judge Finlayson who signed a formal requisition for military aid on July 7, 1909.      The Deputy Minister of Labour, F.A. Ackland, was sent to Cape Breton to report on the strike and commented on the policy of the Dominion Coal Company of evicting strikers from the houses owned by the Company as a means of inducing men to return to work. On July 8, 1909, approximately 500 men from the Royal Artillery and Royal Canadian Regiment arrived in Cape Breton.      On July 31, 1909, a protest march of approximately 1,500 miners gathered in Glace Bay and set out towards the nearby town of Dominion. As they approached the town, a machine gun nest was spotted and the leaders ordered the men to return to Glace Bay.      As the months passed by, the men and their families found it harder to survive on handouts. The U.M.W. relief was distributed once a week, 2 dollars for each man, 1 dollar for a wife and 50 cents per child. Also, the Company hired strike breakers from Belgium, Montréal, Scotland, Wales, Newfoundland, and even some from Cape Breton. These men were housed in specially built barracks and constantly feared attack by angry strikers.      The strikers were condemned in the press, from the pulpit, and the supporters they did have were looked upon as radicals. By November, only 500 men remained on strike and by April 28, 1910, the strike of eight months had ended.      Technically, the strike was a failure. The United Mine Workers had failed to win recognition, it was monetarily defeated and between 1911-1915 membership dropped (reportedly only 30 staunch supporters remained), and its charter was taken away by the International.      The U.M.W. was to rise again when the P.W.A. failed in obtaining fair wages for its members. In March 1917, the P.W.A. and the U.M.W. applied for a conciliation board because of difficulties in matters of wages, working conditions and discrimination. The Commission saw the causes of dispute at Glace Bay as being: 1)     rivalry between two unions and 2)     unsatisfactory wages.      In 1917, the two unions, on recommendation of the commission, joined and formed the Amalgamated Mine Workers of Nova Scotia (A.M.W.N.S.). The President was Silby Barrett (Newfoundland); Vice President, Robert Baxter; and Secretary-Treasurer James Bryson McLachlan.      In the 1920s, the Dominion Coal Company assets of Whitney were sold and a new company, the British Empire Steel Corporation (Besco), began operations under the leadership of Montréal entrepreneur, Roy M. Wolvin. By 1921, Wolvin announced there would be a 33.3 percent wage reduction effective January 1, 1922. E.P. Merril (General Manager) wrote to J.B. McLachlan (Secretary-Treasurer, District 26) concerning the wage cut: "Business conditions compel us to very reluctantly ask for a reduction in wages." The U.M.W. quickly sought an injunction against the wage cut. This injunction was subsequently successfully appealed by Besco.      The so-called Gillen Commission was set up in 1922 to resolve the problem. It consisted of Mr. V.E. Gillen (Chairman) , Col. W.E. Thompson (Besco) and Mayor James Ling of New Waterford (acting as representative of the union). The case for the U.M.W. was presented by Robert Baxter and J.B. McLachlan. Baxter pointed out that the average production per man in Glace Bay was 3 tons, worth approximately 18 dollars, and the men were paid 6 dollars.      When no decision could be made, Col. Thompson (Besco) recommended a reduction in wages of 30 percent, one third less than his previous offer. Baxter signed, but McLachlan refused vigorously. On March 14, 1922, a pit head vote was taken and the agreement was defeated by a seven to one ratio. This prompted the executive of the union to hold a slowdown strike.      Cape Breton miners were already in very poor financial shape. It was estimated (Dominion Bureaus of Statistics) that it cost a miner and his family 90 percent of his earnings to pay rent and feed his family and datal employees paid more for rent and food than they received in weekly earnings. Soon the Company Stores received orders that, until the strike ended, no credit was to be given to employees. Bob Baxter, Silby Barrett and W.P. Delaney warned against a strike stating that the International would not support them. The men paid no attention and reduced production by one third. This slowdown tactic has been attributed to James Bryson McLachlan. NEXT PAGE

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