Keywords :
Coal mining industry; Mine workers; Belgium, 19-20th Century; Industrie minière; Ouvriers mineurs; Belgique, 19e-20e siècles
Abstract :
[fr] Piliers du développement économique de la Belgique depuis la révolution industrielle, les charbonnages ont occupé une abondante main-d’œuvre, principalement recrutée avant la Première Guerre dans l’hinterland des sièges d’exploitation. Formés dans un cadre familial, les ouvriers mineurs exercent aux différents âges de leur vie professionnelle un travail manuel lourd, qui se complexifie à l’âge adulte avec la maîtrise du descellement de la houille, du boisage et des mesures de sécurité. L’abaissement des rendements, dans un contexte de concurrence internationale exacerbée, impose une mécanisation et une réorganisation des travaux qui entament durablement la reproduction familiale de la force de travail et imposent son recrutement à l’étranger. D’abord affaiblies par leur dispersion, les forces syndicales minières s’organisent davantage après l’Armistice et s’engagent alors dans la voie d’une négociation collective qui les coupent cependant d’une partie de leur base.
[en] The coal mines, pillars of the economic development of Belgium since the Industrial Revolution, have occupied a huge workforce. Before the First World War, this workforce was coming from the hinterland and trained in the family. From an early age, miners carried out very heavy work. In adulthood, operations became more complex: it is a question of controlling the coal cutting, the timbering, etc. in the context of vital security measures.
When the economic yields fell in a context of increased international competition, the answer promoted by the industry leaders was the mechanization, the reorganization of underground work. As a consequence the family reproduction of labor power was called into question and the recruitment of minors increasingly took place abroad. In the social field, the labor unions were first weakened by their dispersion. After the Armistice, they engaged in a process of collective bargaining with the employers. This resulted in some improvements in term of legal protection and wages, which however had cut unions off from a part of their base.
Scopus citations®
without self-citations
0
