The+United+Mine+Worker's+Strike+-+1902

The **Coal Strike of 1902** was a strike by the [|United Mine Workers of America] in the [|anthracite coal] fields of eastern [|Pennsylvania]. The strike threatened to shut down the winter fuel supply to all major cities (homes and apartments were heated with anthracite or "hard" coal because it had higher heat value and less smoke than "soft" or bituminous coal.). President [|Theodore Roosevelt] became involved and set up a fact-finding commission that suspended the strike. The strike never resumed, as the miners received more pay for fewer hours; the owners got a higher price for coal, and did not recognize the union as a bargaining agent. It was the first labor episode in which the federal government intervened as a neutral arbitrator.

Strike for pay increases and better working hours that further weakened public support for unions; first UMW strike led by John L. Lewis