GILLESPIE / MOUNT OLIVE — United Mine Workers of America International Secretary-Treasurer Michael Phillippi emphasized the importance of preserving labor history and carrying its lessons forward during an October 10–11 visit that included the Illinois Coal Museum at Gillespie, the Springfield Mother Jones Foundation dinner and the Miners Day observance in Mount Olive.
Phillippi toured the museum on Saturday, October 10, accompanied by Scott Thomas, president of UMWA Local 1613, and museum curator Dave Tucker.
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Speaking the following day, Phillippi thanked Thomas for introducing him to the region’s history and described his first visit to the area as particularly informative.
“Scott, I thank you for your hospitality and your education while I’ve been here,” Phillippi said.
On Saturday evening, Phillippi delivered the keynote address at the Springfield Mother Jones Foundation dinner, emceed by Loretta Williams portraying Mother Jones.
On Sunday, October 11, he delivered the keynote address at Miners Day at Union Miners Cemetery in Mount Olive. The observance was organized by the Union Miners Cemetery Perpetual Care Committee with assistance from the Friends of Mother Jones Museum.
Phillippi connected the gathering’s remembrance of miners and Mother Jones with the continuing work of protecting wages, workplace safety, pensions and health care. Recalling his participation in a memorial service at Ludlow, Colorado, he urged working people to preserve the solidarity behind earlier labor struggles.
“We deserve a fair wage. We deserve to come home safe, and we deserve security when our careers are over,” he said.
He also thanked historians and educators for preserving workers’ experiences, while stressing that union families have their own responsibility to pass those stories to younger generations.
“We need to tell them our stories, because if we don’t pass our stories on, they become lost to time,” Phillippi said.
Following his address, Phillippi joined Williams, portraying Mother Jones, in laying a wreath at the memorial to the Virden martyrs.
Phillippi closed by urging those gathered to translate remembrance into action on behalf of working people and their families.
“Let’s stand up for each other. Let’s keep our union strong,” he said.
