ALEX HALL is disgusted by the misuse of ‘emotional narratives’ to justify uninformed geo-political prejudice
Miners’ strike: the US story
SUE TURNER is fascinated to read of another miners’ strike of the 1980s, told through the voices of women
Morenci Mine in Arizona, United States. Morenci represents one of the largest copper reserves in the world, with estimated reserves of 3.2 billion tonnes. From 1983 to 1986, workers at Morenci and three other mines went on strike due to layoffs impacting most of the workers at the mine following a large drop in the price of copper. The strike involved numerous violent confrontations between workers and hired strikebreakers. The strike completely failed in 1986 after the NLRB rejected appeals by the unions to halt the campaign of decertification against them.
SUE TURNER welcomes a thoughtful, engaging book that lays bare the economic realities of global waste management
JOHN GREEN welcomes an insider account of the achievements and failures of the transition to democracy in Portugal
SIMON PARSONS applauds an imaginative and absorbing updating of Strindberg’s classic
PETER MASON is enthralled by an assembly of objects, ancient and modern, that have lain in the mud of London’s river
MICK McSHANE rubs shoulders with Mod legend Steve Craddock and joins in with the joyous Glasgow choir
DENNIS BROE sifts out the ideological bias of the newest TV series offerings, and picks out what to see, and what to avoid
Holding the Line – Women in the Great Arizona Mine Strike
Barbara Kingsolver, Faber & Faber, £16.99
THE 1983-84 Phelps Dodge Coppermine Strike may not be well-known here but it gained a significant place in American labour history.
Phelps Dodge ran four copper mines in Arizona; Morenci and Ajo were company towns where all municipal functions, services and housing were run by the company, who even vetted the books in the library.
Mexican-Americans comprised about 40 per cent of the population of Morenci. Hispanic miners could only achieve the status of “labourer,” earning less than their non-Hispanic workmates. The segregation of Mexicans was felt in housing, education and social venues; Ajo’s swimming pool was only open to them late on Wednesdays just before the weekly change of water.
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