Theodore Roosevelt

Presidency

What other labor crisis did Roosevelt resolve in his first term?

Roosevelt intervened in the United Mine Workers’ strike in eastern Pennsylvania. The United Mine Workers union found it difficult to bargain with the mine operators. After coal prices skyrocketed, Roosevelt threatened to take over the mines as a federal receivership unless the two sides could reach a bargain. The operators agreed to binding arbitration with the net result that the workers received a ten percent wage raise and the operators received a ten percent price increase for coal.