Welcome to Labor in Illinois, a service of the University of Illinois Labor Education Program (LEP) and the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations (ILIR) Library. We bring you news and information from the labor union community in the State of Illino
Through the early 19th to mid-20th century, coal mining was the industrial engine of downstate Illinois. Workers organized under the banner of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) to win safe working conditions and better pay.