death_place death_date birth_place nationality birth_date known_for article_title name occupation
massillon , ohio , u.s. 12 december 1927 county clare , ireland irish american august 1860 president , united mine workers of america michael ratchford
 michael ratchford miner executive ; labor leader ; civil servant ; business
michael ratchford

michael ratchford -lrb- august 1860 - december 12 , 1927 -rrb- was an american labor leader and president of the united mine workers of america -lrb- umwa -rrb- from 1897 to 1898 .
ratchford was born in county clare , ireland .
he attended public school and emigrated to the united states in 1872 with his parents .
the family settled in massillon , ohio .
he married the former deborah jordan in 1884 .
he started working in coal mines when he was just 12 years old .
he became active in the united mine workers after its formation in 1890 and was elected local union president that year .
he was hired as an organizer by the international union in 1893 and was elected district 6 president in 1895 .
after umwa president phil penna declined to run for a full term in 1895 , ratchford was elected as his successor .
during his single term as umwa president , ratchford dramatically re-invigorated the union .
he led a hugely successful national coal miners ' strike in july 1897 which involved more than 100,000 workers .
supported by the american federation of labor , the strike lasted 12 weeks and shut down almost all coal production in the u.s. .
the strike was settled when mine owners agreed to sign a national master contract , the central competitive field agreement .
it covered all coal-producing states except west virginia .
the agreement established the eight-hour day and dramatically raised wages to 65 cents per ton .
more than 23,000 miners joined the union , raising its membership to 33,000 .
the strike energized the entire american labor movement .
ratchford resigned as president in 1898 to serve on the united states industrial commission , remaining on it for two years .
an ardent republican and personal friend of both william mckinley and mark hanna , ratchford was appointed ohio 's commissioner of labor statistics in 1900 .
in 1909 , ratchford was named commissioner of the ohio coal operators and in 1913 assumed the same position with the illinois coal operators ' association .
he served in this last position until his death .
michael ratchford died in massillon on december 12 , 1927 .
