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The Impact of Internal Union Politics on the 1981 UMWA Strike
Author(s) -
GHILARDUCCI TERESA
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
industrial relations: a journal of economy and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.61
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1468-232X
pISSN - 0019-8676
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-232x.1988.tb01013.x
Subject(s) - politics , political science , political economy , economic history , law , economics
This paper explicitly addresses the role internal union politics played in the rank‐and‐file rejection of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA)‐Bituminous Coal Operators Association (BCOA) contract in March 1981. The strike decision is viewed as having both political and economic components and as being rooted in the specific history and traditions of the UMWA. Using a unique data set, a statistically significant relationship between the vote for challenger Richard Trumka and the vote for the strike is found. Miners struck for many reasons in 1981. This study concludes that one of those reasons was to protest the union leadership.