United Mine Workers of America Local 6777 was chartered by the national union in 1934. The local met in Bradenville, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and was part of the then District 3 of the union. Beginning with nine members, Local 6777 organized coal miners in the immediate area. The local was active through at least 1954.
The entries in this 168 page volume are entirely handwritten. The first section of this volume records monthly roll calls of the local officers, January 1934 - November 1939. The first dated entry for a union meeting, January 4, 1934, discusses the transfer of members from other areas into the local and the application for a charter to the national union headquarters. In general, there is a one to two page entry for each monthly local union meeting, but some months have no entry. Each entry lists the local officers in attendance, records a brief minutes of the meeting, and a summary financial report. Some entries also contain sections on new business, correspondence and "Discussion in the Interest of Organized Labor." Issues taken up are the length of the work day (including enforcement of an eight or seven hour day), regulation of start times, fining members who violate the union contract by working extra hours and informing foremen not to request that miners work overtime. In addition, several entries note miners not receiving "full price" for the wagons of coal they mined, or the incorrect weighing of wagon loads by management. Other entries discuss regulating production, fining members who fail to attend union meetings, death benefits and assessments for miner families and taking action to get fired miners back on the job. A January 1936 entry notes receipt of a petition "opposed to war" along with a letter from Thomas Kennedy, national secretary-treasurer of the union, urging members to sign it. The minutes generally do not identify the name of the mines organized by the local, although it was noted that workers at the "Lizza" mine and "McKleveen" mine had joined the local in 1934 and 1937, respectively.
No restrictions.
Gift, 1963. Formerly aisMM3.
United Mine Workers of America Local 6777, Bradenville, Pa. Records, 1934-1954, AIS.2005.11, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System
United Mine Workers of America Local 6777, Bradenville, Pa. Records, 1934-1954, AIS.2005.11, Archives Service Center, University Library System, University of Pittsburgh.
Records of United Mine Workers of America Local 6777 (Bradenville, Pa.), 1934-1954, UE/Lab 2005:11, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh
This collection was processed by Ben Blake in November 2005.
Revision and rearrangement for the encoded version of the finding aid provided by Charles Stanford in January 2006. Information about the collection title and the controlled access terms was extracted from the MARC record in the University of Pittsburgh catalog Voyager ID number: 1460861
Permission for publication is given on behalf of the University of Pittsburgh as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.