by Mike Hall, Jun 28, 2009

Today, Mine Workers (UMWA) leaders, union activists, lawmakers and historians will dedicate the site of the 1914 Ludlow Massacre—one of the bloodiest chapters in the nation’s labor history—as a National Historic Landmark.

On April 20, 1914, in Ludlow, Colo., thugs hired by several coal companies and the Colorado militia attacked a peaceful encampment of striking miners and their families. By the end of the day, 20 were shot or burned to death, including 14 women and children.

More than 90 years ago, UMWA erected a monument there. But since 1918, despite the efforts of family survivors, historians and labor activists, there was no state or national commemoration of the site.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of the Interior designated Ludlow a National Historic Landmark. UMWA President Cecil Roberts says the designation will “preserve the memory of this brutal attack on workers and their families.”

The tragic lessons from Ludlow still echo through our nation, and they must never be forgotten by Americans who truly care about workplace fairness and equality. With this designation, the story of what happened at Ludlow will remain part of our nation’s history. That is as it should be.

In 1913, southern Colorado miners and their families walked out of the mines and mining camps striking for adequate wages, enforcement of state mining laws and union recognition. For more than a year, they lived in tent colonies near the mines. According to a UMWA history of the Ludlow Massacre:

Upon striking, the miners and their families had been evicted from their company-owned houses and had set up a tent colony on public property. The massacre occurred in a carefully planned attack on the tent colony by Colorado militiamen, coal company guards, and thugs hired as private detectives and strike breakers.

They shot and burned to death 20 people, including a dozen women and small children. Later investigations revealed that kerosene had intentionally been poured on the tents to set them ablaze. The miners had dug foxholes in the tents so the women and children could avoid the bullets that randomly were shot through the tent colony by company thugs. The women and children were found huddled together at the bottoms of their tents.

Since erecting the monument, the union has maintained the site, including installing interpretive markers and displays, as well as building a shelter where the annual Ludlow Memorial is held.

Click here for a detailed look at the Ludlow and other western mining conflicts by the Colorado Coal Field War Project.

Dick Lally submitted a letter of his intent to retire to Local 70's Membership, the Executive Board and Staff at the May 14th General Membership meeting.  The effective date of Dick's  retirement is at the end of his current term of office, September 1, 2009.

After 17 years as a Business Representative and as the Business Manager/Financial Secretary of the Local, Dick is looking forward to retirement and the opportunity to spend more time with his wife Jan.

A copy of the letter of Dick's intent to retire is below.

Election of new officers for the Local is scheduled beginning with nominations at the June 11th General Membership meeting at the Rosetown American Legion, Roseville, MN at 5:00 p.m.

A mail ballot election will be held for any contested offices with ballots to be counted in August in accordance with the By-Laws of the Local Union.

Thank you DIck for your years of service to the membership of Local 70.

True to its campaign promises, the Obama Administration is now pushing Congress to tackle real health care reform.  Now, it's time for America’s union members to make sure that we get real health care reform, with affordable health care for all, from this effort. Here are the key points to make when you’re discussing health care reform with family, friends and colleagues.

• A public health insurance plan makes reform work.  It will bring down costs and guarantee quality affordable health care for all.  Giving everyone the choice of a strong public health insurance plan will inject needed competition into the market and drive lower costs and improved quality across all plans.  It will also mean that health care will be there for all of us, no matter what.

• Employers must pay their fair share.  Health reform must build on what works, which for 160 million Americans is the employer-based system.  To do that, employers must be required to either offer coverage to their workers or pay into a fund to finance coverage for uninsured workers.

• Health reform must ensure affordable coverage for pre-Medicare retirees.  Employers that offer coverage to their pre-65 retirees incur enormous expense, but without that coverage, retirees have no affordable options for finding coverage on their own.  Health care reform must bring down costs for retirees.

• No taxation of health benefits.  Putting a new tax on job-based benefits will raise costs for workers in plans that cost the most because they cover people with more medical problems and older people – and that’s wrong.