Thomas Lewis (unionist)
Thomas Lewis | |
|---|---|
John P. White | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1866 Locust Gap, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | May 31, 1939 (age 73) Charleston, West Virginia, U.S. |
| Occupation | Miner; Labor leader; Business executive |
| Known for | President, United Mine Workers of America |
Thomas L. Lewis (1866 – May 1, 1939) was a miner and president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) from 1907 to 1911.
Biography
Born in Locust Gap, Pennsylvania in 1866, Lewis worked in the mines as a boy. He later helped found the United Mine Workers in 1890.
He first ran for the presidency of UMWA in 1898 against
Although Lewis stacked the organizing staff of the Mine Workers with his political supporters and turned the union's journal into a propaganda organ supporting his presidency, he did not retain leadership of the union after he signed regional wage agreements in 1909 and 1910 without the consent of the affected district presidents. He was defeated in 1910 by
After leaving the union, he became an anti-labor consultant for coal operators in
Death
Lewis died in Charleston, West Virginia on May 1, 1939.
See also
- Michael Ratchford
- John Mitchell (United Mine Workers)
- John Phillip White
- John L. Lewis
References
- ^ Lane, Winthrop D. (Winthrop David) (1921). Civil war in West Virginia. The Library of Congress. New York, B. W. Huebsch, inc. pp. 97.
- Fink, Gary M., ed. Biographical Dictionary of American Labor. Westport, Ct.: Greenwood Press, 1984. ISBN 0-313-22865-5
- Lane, Winthrop, Civil War in West Virginia: A Story of the Industrial Conflict in the Coal Mines, NY: B. W. Huebsch, Inc., 1921.
- Phelan, Craig. William Green: Biography of a Labor Leader. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1989. ISBN 0-88706-871-5