In the early 1930s, the coal miners of central Illinois challenged the UMWA, a union to which they had been closely tied for thirty years. Coal mining was in transition: Mechanization was coming in and new technologies were supplanting old skills. Many were thrown out of work. "In 1932 anxious miners turned for help to their traditional ally, the United Mine Workers (UMW) but they received no response." The miners believed the UMW did not have their best interests at heart.
As miners became increasingly unhappy, grassroots labor movements formed. The Progressive International Committee led the battle against the UMW in Illinois' District 12. Their aim was to preserve democratic unionism and rank and file control of the workplace, and they promoted nationalization of the mines and job sharing. During that time, Wieck "repeatedly crossed swords with John L. Lewis.
In 1932 Illinois miners of District 12 went on strike. They rejected a settlement proposed by UMW leaders. However, the UMW "rammed the same contract through ('stole the election,' according to miners)" against the overwhelming wishes of the rank and file and ordered Illinois miners back to work on an emergency basis. In response, miners organized mass picket lines to halt operation of mines reopened under terms of the new contract. When Lewis brought in strikebreakers from other districts, the miners of District 12 were completely disillusioned. In September 1932, a "disgruntled group of UMW rank and file organized the Progressive Miners of America (PMA) in Gillespie, Illinois."
The PMA Women's Auxiliary was organized and held its first meeting in Springfield, Illinois. Agnes Wieck was their first president. Headlines announced: "Another Mother Jones." Wieck's son recalls: "I remember vividly, January 1933, in Springfield, when my mother, a miner's daughter and miner's wife, led ten thousand women assembled before the state capitol in singing 'Solidarity Forever'; they had come to protest the reign of terror in the Illinois coalfields."
He believed she was a natural choice because she knew the women and could articulate their feelings; she was an experienced and powerful speaker and could "inspire an audience with her emotion." The women also knew Agnes because of her activities at the Illinois Miner, which was delivered to every miner's home, and because she frequently had been invited to speak at miners' celebrations and memorials.
