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mm er ne ee ee. nami A a . i . Bowxe ot Re: JOHN L. LEwIS, ET AL. L eo ees — file miner under the Thi. . 7 “Before September, 1932, we always seamed to get along {continued} woll with Elshoff and Falcetti. During this perio Hine "B® closed down for about four months due to lack of coai orders. | ‘®I was isfied with the wey the PHA was run, and I think the leaders of the A treated the ninere fairly. I did not like the special assessment taken from my wages the first year. JI worked under the Pla, but the PMA was newly organized and needed the mcney obtained by the special essessments so it was alright with me. I attended some PMA mootings, but I i never had much to say atcut either union and took no active part in forming union pdicies. 7 "There were ahcut twelve men in Mine "B" who worked there fron 1932 who were UL. organizers although they held Fils cords, These men were as follows; JOB ALBAESS JOH EEDRE.. SCHRELEVIOVS LEE _BULGARNER {"Cudge™) DCMINIC PaSQUsLE “GEORGE ORGE Jkt AY PETE CaRTER CELORY JACK. “ay FRANK AUSTIN “CHLRLES BORANNOM “TONY _PLOTCH JaiES HALE "4 number of times I sew Emory Jacaway, Charles Bohannon, and Tony Plotch in Elshcff's office before the men went to work in the morning. These men and the other nine mentioned above al) appeared to be very friendly with Elshoff. It locked like these twelve men were much more friendly with Elshoff than the other minors. This was before the mine shut down in 1957 aud also after the mine opened in Novermber, 1939. "I do not remember much about the wage scale trouble, but I remember that after the mine had cpened in 1939 that there was a lot of talk in the wash room that tho UkiW men would get the back pay, but the Pro- gressive members would not. "] was not at the FAA meeting on the night of May 11, 1937, but I heard abcut the meeting. I do not remember much abcut the results cf this — mesting, but I heard sbcut the five men who were thrown out of the PA for being (Ei organizers, On the next day the coal cars came up shorted. They wera being shorted by PAZ. I doen't know why they ware shorted. ie od eae Se ee “The strike started because Elshoff would not sign a contract with Pi4 and because Elshoff wouldn't fire the five men who were thrown cut of the PMA, - 277 « —y