page_title: Compagnie minière de Carmaux
section_title: Labour conditions and unrest
hierarchical_section_title: Compagnie minière de Carmaux / Later 19th century / Labour conditions and unrest
caption_attribution_description: English: Coal breaker at Carmaux
context_page_description: The Compagnie minière de Carmaux, or Société des mines de Carmaux, was one of the first coal mining companies in France.
  It was founded in 1752 in the isolated Carmaux basin.
  The company was at first slow to expand and modernize, but grew much faster after the introduction of a railway connection in the 1850s.
  A strike in 1892 drew national attention and had an important impact on French labour relations.
  By 1900 there were almost 3,500 miners and 500,000 tons of coal were produced each year.
  Demands increased with the two world wars of the 20th century, and foreign miners were brought in to compensate for shortage of French laborers.
  The company was nationalized in 1946.
context_section_description: From the second half of the 19th century wages were relatively high and the miners could even enjoy retirement after their working career.
  The pay of the miners in the second half of the 19th century increased, but not as fast as the profits to the owners.
  Working conditions were poor, with workers suffering from explosions, suffocation, anaemia and tuberculosis.
  They were thrown out of work during periods of low demand.
  Between 1880 and 1892 thirty six men died in the Carmaux mines.
  It took time for the farm laborers to adapt to mining, where they were expected to work regular hours, work hard and accept the discipline of the company.
  They became proletarians rather than peasants, learned to buy on credit, and became discontented with the political structure.
  During the 19th century industrial revolution the miners organized themselves and fought for shorter working hours, higher wages, improved safety and social insurance.
  A strike in 1883 failed, but when the law of 1884 made it legal the Carmaux workers formed a union.
  Marcelle Auclair wrote in 1954 that towards the end of the 19th century the Carmaux workers were starting to say, "Without Carmaux, where would the Solages clan be?"
  On 28 November 1886 the deputy Charles Emile Wickersheimer (1849–1915) attacked the 1810 mining law, saying "The State has no right to commit future generations; to say that mining property is property like any other is an obvious mistake." 
  On 19 November 1889 several left-wing deputies proposed nationalization, and demands for nationalization or regulation grew as the number of miners strikes grew.
  Baron René Reille (1835–1898) was a member of the Comité des houillères, the coal mine owners' association, and president of the board of directors of the Compagnie minière de Carmaux.
  Reille was the father-in-law of the Marquis de Solages.
  His opponents called him the "King of the Black Mountain."
  In the election of 22 September 1889 Reille was elected for the 2nd district of Castres, presenting himself as a "resolute conservative and a sincere Catholic."
  In the election the Reille-Solages industrialists and the clergy opposed the Republican deputy Jean Jaurès (1859–1914), who was defeated by Reille.
  Jaurès wrote that the Marquis de Solages had won election in the Carmaux constituency by implying to the workers that their jobs depended on his victory.
  When Solages joined the board of directors of the glass factory, Jaurès implied that the glass workers would also come under the control of the Reille-Solages group.
caption: Coal breaker at Carmaux 1889
exif: {}