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i“ ro i oie ea ee en 2, re ne Se os C O Re: JOHN L, LEWIS, ET AL L 4 a BILD. INTERVIEW WITH company said the men should work. "I think the company was playing favorites in ietting these men work. When ve saw the company was going to let the men work we all went below and started working. When I saw that some of the other fellows were loading cars short I decided I would also load some cars short. ‘ve continued loading short until we were called out of the mine. I think it was about 3:00 PM when we got on top and were void the sine was on strike. continus "I wert to work the next day as I think it was pay day and I sed / i en L-«=A thought the strike might be over, ‘hen we got to the mine we were handed a pamphlet by our union man a : & this pamphlet had the provisions ot // show the new contract set forth a retroaqid clause. The managemen put out a pamphlet which was distributed by and this / pamphlet had the contract set forth, but there was no retroactive clauge in it. We decided we wouldn't work so ve all came home. "During the summer of 1937 I signed two or three PMA petitions. I think I signed one at the mine and one at the union hall, JI was never forced to sign any of these petitions. In Sept. of 1937, after a notice was in the paper that the mine was to open we all went out to the mine. Shen we got to the mine we were told by our union men that the company had said we couldn't go to work unless we signed up with United. I don't believe any of the men tried to go to work that day. "The next day we started a picket line and kept it up until Dec, of 1937 when we were served with an injunction. Most of the men felt pretty bitter about the injunction. We felt that the court was wrong in issuing the injunction and we felt the company wasn't giving us @ square deal, The mine was our bread and butter and although we felt our union was doing as much as they could, we felt the company was against us. I stayed on the picket line from Sept. to Dec. and stayed because I wanted to, Ye were allowed to come home and change clothes & see our families when ever we wanted to, "About the same time Charles Bohannon came to my house and asked me to join the U.M.W. He did not threaten me and I told him 7 didn't want to join the UMW at that time. "Thore was an NLRB election in Dec. of 1937 and I voted in that election. To the best of my knowledge there wasn't any fighting and the voting was conducted in a fair manner. "T didn't go back to the mine until November of 1939 when I got a letter from the company. I wont out to the mine a few days later and my section wasn't ready due to dirt, etc. The bottom had heaved up and «+ 65 ~