The Homestead Strike was a conflict between the United States’ strongest labor union - the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers (the AA) - and the Carnegie Steel Company. Three years prior, the Iron and Steel Workers were successful in negotiating labor reform. However, in 1992, Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick wanted to roll back on reform in order to lower labor costs and increase production. Ironically, the Carnegie Steel Company was raking in huge profits: up to $4.5 million a year. Carnegie and Frick realized that they could make even more money if they lowered wages.
The AA was a very successful union leading up to the Homestead Strike and had significant control in the operations of Carnegie’s steel plant. They were exceptional at bargaining and Carnegie Steel Workers had exceptionally high wages leading up to the strike. When Carnegie decided to start lowering wages to make more money, workers became increasingly dissatisfied with their constantly decreasing wages. The AA rejected Carnegie’s and Frick’s policies regarding lower wages and refused to accept the conditions. This prompted Frick to lock workers out of the plant, preventing them from working at the mill. Not only did Frick lock them out, but he also built a fence with barbed wire, made sniper towers, and created cannons that could spray boiling liquid.
The strike began. The Amalgamated Association joined together and formed one of the first well-organized strikes. There were leaders and an advisory board to the strike, which was very different than previous times. As the strikers grew in number, they exhibited an increasing amount of control over the town. In response, Frick brought in three hundred Pinkerton guards (a private detective agency in the nineteenth century) to quell the rebellion. The Pinkertons, though, failed, and the strike kept going.
Frick then called the National Guard. They defeated the strikers and the steel plant resumed its operations. After crushing the rebellion, Frick announced, "Under no circumstances will we have any further dealing with the Amalgamated Association as an organization. This is final." The National Guard left and the AA was destroyed financially and disheartened. The AA no longer existed, which allowed Carnegie and Frick to achieve what they wanted. They destroyed the union and instituted longer working days with lower wages. At the end of the rebellion, there was a total of about 10 deaths (http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-235). In the short term, the Amalgamated Association was destroyed and labor reform seemed to cease to exist. The number of members in the AA were decreasing rapidly in the years following the rebellion. In the long term, though, the Homestead Strike had an important impact on worker rebellions. Strikes became more organized and well-planned, which was more successful in the future (although not for the AA).
The workers’ pleas for better working conditions were unrealized. In the end, they were punished with even worse conditions: longer workdays with lower pay. Interestingly, Carnegie publicly supported labor reform and unions. However, when they started coming at the expense of his already massive profits, he drew the line. Despite being one of the richest people in American history, Carnegie went to great lengths to quell the workers’ strike and ultimately pay them less money.
Sources:
https://aflcio.org/about/history/labor-history-events/1892-homestead-strike
https://www.history.com/topics/industrial-revolution/homestead-strike
http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-235
https://www.britannica.com/event/Homestead-Strike
https://www.antiwarsongs.org/canzone.php?id=42342&lang=en&justlyrics=1
I really like how in-depth and thorough your post is. It is interesting to note that the spirit of the workers advocating for their rights has not died. Over a century later, the United Auto Workers (UAW) are facing off against General Motors (GM). I think that this would add nuance to your post and be an interesting perspective to cover. Similar to the reaction that the Carnegie Steel Company had when the AA went on strike, GM stopped paying health insurance benefits for the 46,000 striking employees who went on strike and placed that responsibility on the UAW union. Given that the our country has modernized significantly over the century, do you think GM is in the right to institute these restrictions? Would your view on this question differ based on the time period (ie. Given the conditions one hundred years back, do you think that these autoworkers would be in the right to strike?)?
ReplyDeleteSources:
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/09/25/stee-s25.html
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/general-motors/2019/10/13/gm-strike-day-28-general-motors-uaw-back-table/3968396002/
I like how thorough you were in collecting information and compiling it. It's also good that you included some primary sources, like quotes from Frick at the time of the conflict. It's also beneficial that you included the strengths and weaknesses of both groups and the effects of these things. It's interesting how at the time, corporations had the ability to fight against strikes in this way which would likely be seen as inhumane and unnecessary by today's standards.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post as I got an in depth summary on the Homestead Steel Strike. I did not realize that the AA actually defeated the first troops that that Frick called, and it would be interesting to see what would happen if the National guards could not defeat the AA as well. Also, I though it was really interesting how Carnegie and Frick could call in the National guards to help deal with their problems. It just goes to show how much of a monopoly Carnegie had and how it attributed to so much power. Building off the previous post, I also thought it was really interesting how strikes like that off the AA would be considered inhumane in today's society. What would happen if something like that happened at Google or another major company today?
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