Interview with Joseph E. Phipps, August 15, 1986

Interview Summary

At the time of this interview, Mr. Phipps was president of District 19 of the United Mine Workers of America. He talks extensively about coal mining and how technology has changed it during his lifetime. He began his own career as a common miner, and then became a union organizer. He discusses in detail the tactics, both legal and illegal, used by coal operators to discourage miners from joining the union, and also the role of the National Labor Relations Board which Phipps believes favors the coal operators. Phipps also talks about changes in the U.M.W.A. over the last forty years.

Other topics covered by Mr. Phipps are coal mine safety, and the role immigrant miners played in building both Middlesboro and Lynch, Kentucky. He also talks about a speech given by John L. Lewis in Cincinnati in the early 1960s that stopped a riot that had broken out on the convention floor during a U.M.W.A. election.

Interview Keyword

American Association Appalachian Immigrant Community Appalachian Region Arnold Miller coal camps Immigrant Coal Miners Immigrants John L. Lewis Lynch Kentucky Middlesboro Kentucky mine safety National Labor Relations Board union organizing United Mine Workers of America

Interview LC Subject

Appalachian Region Appalachian Region--Social conditions Coal miners Coal mines and mining--Appalachian Region Immigrants Phipps, Joseph E. Phipps, Joseph E.--Interviews

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Interview Usage

Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.