hough the union had won some strikes about wages the competition between oil and coal was resulting in layoffs in the South and the Midwest. With John's stubbornness his saying was "no step backward" (Lewis, Time movie) meaning that he would not negotiate lower wages even if it means thousands lose their jobs. In the late 1920's, the UMWA lost about 80% of their members. This drastically reduced the power of the UMWA. This personally offended John because he used to be a miner. John was blamed for this because of the harsh way that the people thought that he had dealt with the mine owners. In 1928 he wrote the book The Miners Fight for American Standards, which combined a grim depiction of miner's poverty with a call for the extension of modern standards. "Only through a powerful union could the miners get out of poverty." (A Miners Life, Alinsky) In the early 1930's, John played an important role in the making of the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933, which helped the UMWA by giving the money and aid during the depression. John launched a campaign to rebuild the UMWA with also including the before nonunion South. This campaign was trying to get the coal miners of America to regain their trust is the union.After WWII had broken out and the Americans had entered the war, the UMWA singed the no strike pledge. Coal production was booming but the accident rate was up to, also the miners were sinking farther and farther into poverty because of growing inflation. In 1943, John led a series of walkout strikes with 500,000 miners for better wages and safer conditions. Since the UMWA singed the no strike plan these walkouts were not backed by the union they were called wildcat strikes. They were usually short in duration; they really did not effect the national coal reserves. Cause of these walkouts congress passed the Smith-Connally Act, which subjected unions to tighter regulations about strikes. John did get health car...
