Spring Break
Union leader speaks about workers rights, civil rights
Jack Willems
Issue date: 2/5/07 Section: News
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Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, challenged UA students to work for a better America in the tradition of union and civil rights leaders.
"We've got a society that tells us that only millionaires and billionaires are patriots," Roberts said. "Well I didn't see any millionaires in Vietnam."
Roberts spoke at the Leflar Law Center Wednesday as part of the Hartman Hotz Lecture series. The main topics of his speech were the history of organized labor in the United States, its connections with the civil rights movement and where society is today.
The UMWA began in 1890 when coal miners were required to live in towns created by the coal company, Roberts said. No one could leave the town without permission, and workers were paid with company money. After paying for rent and food, the average miner had nothing left over, he said.
"Let me ask you a question. When someone is paid nothing for his work, what is he? A slave," Roberts said. "It was legal to enslave someone between 1890 and 1935."
When the union was formed, the union constitution specifically forbade racial discrimination because the company used racism to fracture the workers ethnically, Roberts said. The UMWA had a black member on its executive board in 1890, he said. Roberts told the audience about the early, often violent struggles that unions went through.
"There are such things as unfair laws that need to change," Roberts said.
When the Wagner Law was passed in 1935, millions of people joined labor unions, Roberts said. At this time, John L. Lewis formed the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) when he had a disagreement with the American Federation of Labor, Roberts said. Soon, A. Philip Randolph became the first black head of a national labor union, Roberts said.
"When the CIO went into a steel mill or an automobile plant, everybody got a raise," he said.
Unions instituted seniority rules in plants, established the first pensions and vacation days and supported the creation of Social Security, Roberts said.
"We've got a society that tells us that only millionaires and billionaires are patriots," Roberts said. "Well I didn't see any millionaires in Vietnam."
Roberts spoke at the Leflar Law Center Wednesday as part of the Hartman Hotz Lecture series. The main topics of his speech were the history of organized labor in the United States, its connections with the civil rights movement and where society is today.
The UMWA began in 1890 when coal miners were required to live in towns created by the coal company, Roberts said. No one could leave the town without permission, and workers were paid with company money. After paying for rent and food, the average miner had nothing left over, he said.
"Let me ask you a question. When someone is paid nothing for his work, what is he? A slave," Roberts said. "It was legal to enslave someone between 1890 and 1935."
When the union was formed, the union constitution specifically forbade racial discrimination because the company used racism to fracture the workers ethnically, Roberts said. The UMWA had a black member on its executive board in 1890, he said. Roberts told the audience about the early, often violent struggles that unions went through.
"There are such things as unfair laws that need to change," Roberts said.
When the Wagner Law was passed in 1935, millions of people joined labor unions, Roberts said. At this time, John L. Lewis formed the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) when he had a disagreement with the American Federation of Labor, Roberts said. Soon, A. Philip Randolph became the first black head of a national labor union, Roberts said.
"When the CIO went into a steel mill or an automobile plant, everybody got a raise," he said.
Unions instituted seniority rules in plants, established the first pensions and vacation days and supported the creation of Social Security, Roberts said.
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