Strike Emergencies and The President

Report Outline
Coolidge Coal Strike Plan
Intervention by the President in Coal Disputes
Intervention in Railway Labor Disputes
Public Pressure for Intervention

The first situation definitely pointing to intervention by president Coolidge in an important laloor dispute arises in connection with the threat of a miners strike upon the expiration of the anthracite wage agreement August 31. A similar situation existed when Coolidge succeeded to the presidency, August 3, 1923, but the necessity for executive action was' avoided on that occasion by the intervention of Governor Pinchct of Pennsylvania, with the approval of the President,

No specific powers for the settlement of labor controversies are conferred upon the President by statute law, but a line of precedents has been established during the last generation which gives him a position of great influence in the presence of any dispute threatening the public welfare. Active intervention by the President has generally been confined in times of peace to suspensions or threatened suspensions in the coal and transportation industries.

Methods Heretofore Employed

A study of the acts of the last six presidents, designed to end or to avert strikes in basic industries, shows that they have generally taken three forms.