The Miners and the Mediator: The 1906 Lethbridge Strike and Mackenzie King

The attitude of United Mine Workers of America representatives towards Mackenzie King at the beginning of his mediation of the Lethbridge coal-miners' strike of 1906 was negative. At the end their opinion of him was positive. A detailed examination of the mediation process reveals that this changed outlook was a consequence of the fact that King's intervention had resulted in important gains for the strikers. These improvements had been facilitated by King but since his goal was to end the strike, specific conditions of work for Lethbridge miners were, in his mind, a means to an end rather than the end itself. Thus, in a real sense union representatives had won these gains through their tenacious and reasonably skillful "negotiations" with King himself. In short, on the whole the interplay between the mediator and union spokesmen was beneficial for Lethbridge miners.