<P> The United Mine Workers under John L. Lewis called a strike for November 1, 1919 in all soft (bituminous) coal fields . They had agreed to a wage agreement to run until the end of World War I and now sought to make permanent their wartime gains . U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer invoked the Lever Act, a wartime measure that made it a crime to interfere with the production or transportation of necessities . Ignoring the court order 400,000 coal workers walked out . The coal operators played the radical card, saying Lenin and Trotsky had ordered the strike and were financing it, and some of the press echoed that language . </P> <P> Lewis, facing criminal charges and sensitive to the propaganda campaign, withdrew his strike call . Lewis did not fully control the faction - ridden UAW and many locals ignored his call . As the strike dragged on into its third week, supplies of the nation's main fuel were running low and the public called for ever stronger government action . Final agreement came after five weeks with the miners getting a 14% raise, far less than they wanted . </P> <P> One important strike was won by labor . Moved to action by the rising cost of living, the president of the Boston Telephone Operator's Union, Julia O'Connor, asked for higher wages from the New England Telephone Company . Wages of operators averaged a third less than women in manufacturing . In April, 9,000 women operators in New England went on strike, shutting down most telephone service . The company hired college students as strikebreakers, but they came under violent attack by men supporting the strikers . In a few days a settlement was reached giving higher wages . After the success O'Connor began a national campaign to organize women operators . </P> <P> The 1920s marked a period of sharp decline for the labor movement . Union membership and activities fell sharply in the face of economic prosperity, a lack of leadership within the movement, and anti-union sentiments from both employers and the government . The unions were much less able to organize strikes . In 1919, more than 4 million workers (or 21 percent of the labor force) participated in about 3,600 strikes . In contrast, 1929 witnessed about 289,000 workers (or 1.2 percent of the labor force) stage only 900 strikes . </P>

The first local unions in the united states were called .