With local support groups in both the eastern and western coalfields, CEP also advocated for women on issues such as sexual harassment, mine safety, equal access to training and promotions, parental leave, and wages.
[1][2] Originally headquartered in Jacksboro, TN, CEP moved to Oak Ridge and added field offices in Hazard, KY, Westernport, MD, and Denver, CO, as well as regional support teams.
Living in tents while raising children, cooking, cleaning, and taking part in strikes that demanded better pay and labor conditions for their husbands were only some of the events they participated in.
[3][4] The superstition that a woman even entering a mine was bad luck and results in disaster was pervasive among male miners.
The spark that lead to the organization's founding was when a woman team member from two Tennessee grassroots advocacy organizations, the East Tennessee Research Corporation (ETRC) and Save Our Cumberland Mountains, was barred from a planned mine tour to better understand deep mining operations.
The ETRC director then contacted attorney Betty Jean Hall, and the two began to seek funding for an organization to research issues related to women's employment in the industry.
This information, amongst others, was prepared into a background paper that became the catalyst for CEP's advocacy and technical assistance to community organizations and their outreach to women seeking jobs in the coal mining industry.
[4] The initial legal strategy was based upon Executive Order 11246 signed in 1965 by U.S. President Lyndon Johnson, which bars sex discrimination by companies with federal contracts.
Based upon this, CEP founder Betty Jean Hall filed a landmark discrimination complaint on May 11, 1978, with the Department of Labor Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program.
In December 1978, Consolidated Coal Company was ordered to implement affirmative action and agreed to pay $360,000 in compensation to 78 women who had been denied jobs between 1972 and 1976.
After training she was employed as a parts runner for a mining company, where she reported that she was "very happy with my new job...not to mention the wages and benefits.
A 1978 CEP endorsement request resulted in the failure of President Arnold Miller to submit to the International Executive Board.
Miller's successor, Sam Church, responded with an off-color joke when pressed by the women for the addition to the contract for affirmative action and improved sickness and accident coverage.
[2] Women miners pushed for significant changes in contracts with the Bituminous Coal Operators Association (BCOA).
The BCOA cited high costs of parental leave in arguments against the policy but agreed to study the issue further.