1892+Homestead+Strike



The strike was located at one of Carnegie's steel mills in Pennslyvania, just outside of Pittsburg in Homestead. The cause of said strike was Henry Clay Frick, a manager that watched the plant wwhile Carnegie was in Europe and he made working conditions hard for the workers. He would cut pay wages, broke union, and would lay off work forces if they didn't accept the pay cuts. 750 out of the 3,800 workers belonged to a union, and 3,000 voted to strike for their right of better wages. Carnegie didn't care what Frick was doing at the plant and seemed to agree with Frick's way of thinking. The mill was on the Monongahela River and a commitee of strikers took over town while the sheriff was unable to form groups among to locals to go against strikers. On the night of July 5, 1892; a shoot out broke out between the strikers and the Pinkerton guards when the guards refused to stay on the boat that they were arriving on to the plant. Records say that 1 detective was wounded, 3 guards and 7 workers dead. Guards surrendered, but the union's victory was short lived when the national guard came in and took over the plant in a matter of days. Public opinion turned against labor union when Frick was seriously wounded from an attempted assassination in his office. By November, union was broken and mill was reopened as a non-union place with African Americans and Eastern Europeans working there. Due to the strike, steel mills went from an 8 hour to a 12 hour day, 6 day work weeks, and 24 hour shifts every two weeks. It'll be another 44 years till mills will be unionized again.

The workers were suppose to be treated with more respect than what they originally got while working at Homestead, then it wouldn't have led to the strikes and the riots. The Pinkerton guards didn't help the situation and just caused more trouble than any good for the workers since that was their original plan; to observe, not impose. Even Carnegie had a hand in the strike because he could've done a better job at listening to his workers instead of traveling Europe and leaving a power hungry manage in charge of the mill. The union tried to help, but the same result happened like the guards; except the citizens turned on the workers and their leaders were black listed and arrested. Nothing good really came out of the strike since the plant reopened with non-union workers working it.

Zinn, Howard. //A people's history of the united States 1492-present//. 1. 1. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 2003. 257, 276-277. Print.

Allen, Micheael, and Larry Schweikiart. //A patriot's History of the United State//. 1. 1. New York, NY: Penguin Group Inc., 2004. 429-432. Print.

. "Strike at Homestead Mills." //American Experience. The richest Man in the World: Andrew Carnegie, Strike at homestead Mills//. WGBH, n.d. Web. 17 Jan 2012. []. []