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eee me em nr ce ee iy ne a a a FAR ce Rl oN lg Ae al RR Ee © “06432 Re: JOHN L. LEvIS, CT AL fo. 4 ”~ ™ O2D "On the day of the strike we all thought that we would get an incrsasc and it was on a pay day but when we got paid we wore told uc would get the same old rete. “e wore told this by our FMA officials, Also a majority of the men kne about the 5 members being expelod and inasmuch as Mine B was a closed shop the management should have fired thom. I and other miners felt that inasmuch as these five were expeled they should be fired. “e heard that the management would not fire them but they were afraid to como out and stayed in the office of the management 211 day and leto that afternoon the Sheriff come out and assistcd them in lceving the mine property. On this seme time and dey I saw some coal cars in the mince that were partly loaded and the men who were loading these cars told mc that the crivers would come along and take the cars away before they ~cre full<c loaded. Some of the drivers then were in favor of the Unitcd and were against the PHA. My car was loaded the same as ususl tho. There wos not any talk at ell that day about going out on strike and when I came up out of the mine I figured I would be back cft all my tools in the mine. the next day and I le "The strike wis celled because the management would not fire those 5 expcled men anc everyone thought the strike would lest only a few days or so and it was not caused over any wages, J and others wer satisfiedc with our old wages wvon tho we did not gct any increase. "Shortly after the mine closec in May, 1937 I signed a petition for the PMa, which was given by the PMA officials and I signee this at the meetinz hell anc as I reeall it the FMA official wes going to take that petition ta washington, D. C. ZT and no other inincr was threatened by anyone to sign this petition and wo all signed it of our own frcoe and wantcd PMA to be our local there and not the TS: During the summer of 1937 I heard that UMT hed @ petition out but I was not personally contacted as I had said before to them to stay sway from mc but I heard they went around to homes of miners with the pctition, "EY don't rceill about another petition in summer of 1937, I recall thet in summir of 1937 WE formac a new local but I never was isked to join it at all. However, some time prior to the opening of the mine in 1939 Tony Plotch cams to my home ane asked mo why I didn't join the UM.. He did not thrcaten me at al] but just told ine I ought to join. "During summer of 1537, after the mine closed I never heard anything «bout any fights or of anyone being threatcned to do something. "During foll of 1937 I reccived a notice from Mine B that thc mine wos going to reopen and it also appotred in the paper. I went out but never vent Gown into the mine. Tho fcllows mentioned beforc I saw at Nine B and thay went down into the mines to work so no FMA went down to work and - 17% -