The United Mine Workers of America as an Exemplar of Union Activity

Giving Notice of Nominations and Election Results

Unions elected their leadership at the local, national, and international levels democratically. Van Tine examines how this appeal to the rhetoric of democracy is used by labor unions. Van Tine claims that the appeal to democracy acted as propaganda for raising union support by displaying it as an exemplar of the American governmental ideal; managing complaints of local workers by placing blame on their choice of leader, because in this democratic environment, when a mistake or disaster happens, the leaders could "dodge blame for any ill conceived move" (45) by reminding the laborers that they were democratically elected; and providing a stance from which to discredit anyone who speaks against them, because it allowed the leaders to claim that the naysayer was undemocratic for dissenting against the majority's choice (44-46). Provided below is a document provided by the district organization to local unions detailing the documents and procedures that were necessary for a vote to occur.



Operating within this democratic environment, the organization had to organize elections including nominating candidates, organizing voting, tabulating results, and announcing the results to their membership and the public. An example of a vote tabulation and a nomination card are contained below to provide examples of some of the documents outlined in the document above. The local and district level leadership were chosen by the membership, as was the national and international leadership. These multiple instances of voting were organized, advertised, and tabulated by the union. Local votes generally occurred at the prearranged local meetings, and district votes were determined by a collection of these local results that were tallied together. 

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