Homestead Strike
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The Homestead Strike was a labor confrontation lasting 143 days in 1892, one of the most serious in U.S. history. It occurred in Homestead, Pennsylvania, between the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers and the Carnegie Steel Company.
Andrew Carnegie, who attempted to project a pro-labor image, left the country for a trip to Scotland before the strike occurred, leaving the situation in the hands of his manager, Henry Clay Frick, who was well known to be staunchly anti-union.
The company attempted to cut the wages of the skilled steel workers; when the workers refused the pay cut, management locked the union out. (Therefore, the confrontation was actually a "lockout" by management and not a "strike" by workers.)
Frick brought in thousands of strikebreakers to work the steel mills and security agents from the Pinkerton Detective Agency to safeguard them. The arrival, by barge, on July 6, 1892, of a force of 300 men, only 40 of whom were Pinkerton agents from New York and Chicago. In the resulting gun fight at least 10 men were killed (seven strikers and three Pinkertons). The Pinkertons attempted to surrender numerous times, but each time their white flag of surrender was shot down. Finally, their surrender was accepted, but after the Pinkertons landed they were brutally beaten. They were taken to jail for their own safety and left the next day. To restore order, two brigades of the Pennsylvania state militia were called out. In response to the fight between the striking workers and the Pinkertons, anarchist Alexander Berkman attempted to murder Frick. Frick was only wounded, but the violent assault helped turn public opinion away from the striking workers.
Afterwards, the company successfully resumed operations without the union. The skilled workers were replaced by unskilled, mostly immigrant laborers, and labor activism was infrequent in the Pittsburgh area steel mills for five decades.
References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition{{#if:{{{article|}}}| article {{#if:{{{url|}}}|[{{{url|}}}}} "{{{article}}}"{{#if:{{{url|}}}|]}}{{#if:{{{author|}}}| by {{{author}}}}}}}, a publication now in the public domain.