Union Busting in the Tri-State; The Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri Metal Workers' Strike of 1935

Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1986 University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, OK. 1986. Hardcover. First Edition in original shrink wrap covering. Book is tight, square, and unmarked. Book Condition: New. DJ: New. Red boards and spine with bright black lettering on spine. 282 pp. The National Industry Recovery Act (1933) and National Labor Relations Act (1935) substantially improved the lot of most American workers by assuring their federally-mandated right to organize and engage in collective bargaining. Union Busting reveals a worker community-the Tri-State District (Southwest Missouri centering on Joplin, Southeast Kansas centering on Galena/Baxter Springs, and Northeast Oklahoma centering on Picher/ Commerce/Miami]-that was denied the benefits of that reform legislation. The Tri-State District had a history of intense, sustained anti-unionism understandably supported by mine owners, but, ironically, also supported by workers. When professional labor organizers entered the T ri-State District under the aegis of the New Deal labor legislation, mine owners were confused and uncertain. Worker plight was exacerbated by the suffocating effect of the Great Depression and drastically reduced employment opportunities in the district. Union Busting poignantly presents the strife that followed. Operators countered by forming a "company union," the Tri-State Metal Mine and Smelter Workers Union. They served as union officers, formed their worker-members into "pick-handle brigades," and mounted a successful back-to-work movement. The resultant violence led the governors of Kansas and Oklahoma to break the strike by ordering national guard companies to protect returning workers.This saga of labor-management strife is cast in readable prose and comprises a useful account of successful thwarting of the federal will in an isolated segment of the nation's industrial establishment. A clean new copy.