PRINTER'S NO. 918
No. 40 Session of 1989
INTRODUCED BY DeWEESE, WOZNIAK, WAMBACH, LUCYK, DALEY, KASUNIC,
LESCOVITZ, WASS, VEON, McCALL, STISH, BLAUM, TIGUE, CAWLEY,
BILLOW, HALUSKA, BELARDI, JAROLIN, TANGRETTI, LEVDANSKY,
KAISER, COLAIZZO, TRICH, EVANS AND ITKIN, MARCH 14, 1989
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON RULES, MARCH 14, 1989
A RESOLUTION
1 Petitioning the Postmaster General of the United States Postal
2 Service to issue a stamp commemorating the late John L.
3 Lewis.
4 WHEREAS, John L. Lewis, whose leadership of the United Mine
5 Workers of America and the Congress of Industrial Organizations
6 resulted in his greatest achievements, was a giant of the
7 American labor movement; and
8 WHEREAS, John L. Lewis became President of the United Mine
9 Workers of America in 1920 and served in that position for 40
10 years; and
11 WHEREAS, During his tenure as President of the United Mine
12 Workers of America, John L. Lewis' leadership and negotiating
13 skill won a number of crucial gains for coal miners in
14 Pennsylvania and across the country; and
15 WHEREAS, Those crucial gains included the establishment of a
16 health care and retirement plan, improved mine safety, better
17 wages, the establishment of a minimum age for working in coal
1 mines, abolition of the payment to miners in company scrip and
2 abolition of compulsory company housing and company stores; and
3 WHEREAS, John L. Lewis was a chief founder of the Congress of
4 Industrial Organizations and served as its first president from
5 1935 to 1940; and
6 WHEREAS, Under John L. Lewis' leadership, the Congress of
7 Industrial Organizations organized millions of workers in the
8 steel, auto, rubber, textile and shipbuilding industries; and
9 WHEREAS, President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded the Medal of
10 Freedom, our nation's highest civilian decoration, to John L.
11 Lewis for his efforts on behalf of American working men and
12 women; therefore be it
13 RESOLVED, That the General Assembly petition the Postmaster
14 General of the United States Postal Service to issue a stamp
15 commemorating the late John L. Lewis; and be it further
16 RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to
17 the Postmaster General of the United States Postal Service and
18 to the editors of the United Mine Workers Journal, 900 15th
19 Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20005.
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