Over the course of the 1880s, several unions were broken at other mills and industrial plants around the country, but in 1892 the workers of the Homestead mill were still represented by the powerful Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers. The Homestead strike is ranked as one of the most famous strikes in the history of the United States. Why or why not? How are these two industries important to the industrial growth of the United States? Dramatic historical interpretation by some of the region’s leading actors recreate vivid moments from one of American labor’s most significant management vs. workers incidents. However, by November 21 the union had given up, and some workers reapplied for jobs at the mill, agreeing to 12-hour days and reduced wages. The Homestead steel mill, located a few miles from Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River, was one of the largest of Carnegie’s mills. The Homestead Strike occurred in 1892 when the steel workers union could not reach an agreement with management of the plant. What are the reasons the strike was not successful? What was the result? Public support for the strikers, undermined by the brutal treatment of the surrendered Pinkertons, suffered more damage with an assassination attempt on Frick by Russian anarchist Alexander Berkman, who was not connected to the union, on July 23. The conflict between the union workers and the strikebreakers, meanwhile, took on racial overtones in the fall of 1892. The infamous story of the Pinkertons changed the ways of American business agreements. HOMESTEAD STRIKE, at the Carnegie Steel Company plant at Homestead, Pennsylvania, in 1892, was one of the most violent labor struggles in U.S. history. President Abraham Lincoln signed the act into law on May 20, 1862. The Civil War-era act, considered one of the United States’ most important pieces of legislation, led to Western expansion ...read more, The power looms that thundered inside the cotton weaving room of the Everett Mill in Lawrence, Massachusetts, suddenly fell silent on January 11, 1912. Homestead Strike happened in Homestead, Pennsylvania. Child labor, or the use of children as servants and apprentices, has been practiced throughout most of human history, but reached a zenith during the Industrial Revolution. An armed battle erupted between Pinkertens and workers. The workers from Carnegie mills went on strike because Andrew Carnegie, the head of the Carnegie Steel Company, refused to increase the wages. This assessment gauges whether students can identify the historical event or development depicted in a photograph from the past and evaluate the historical significance of the event. A Pennsylvania steel worker for 41 years, he toiled for 12 or more hours a day behind the locked doors of a steel mill with no days off and little hope for the future. His plant manager, Henry Clay Frick, stepped up production demands, and when the union refused to accept the new conditions, Frick began locking the workers out of the plant. The labor dispute was witnessed in the year 1892. The Homestead Strike was a violent labour dispute between the Carnegie Steel Company and many of its workers that occurred in 1892 in Homestead, Pennsylvania. Frick sent for three hundred Pinkerton guards, but when they arrived by barge on July 6 they were met by ten thousand strikers, many of them armed. Think of the actions taken by both Frick and the government. In all, nine strikers and seven Pinkertons were killed; many strikers and most of the remaining Pinkertons were injured, some seriously. https://www.history.com/topics/industrial-revolution/homestead-strike. The Homestead lockout and strike of 1892 had a big impact on the labor movement of the late 19th century. Given the alternatives they faced in the rural South, the steelworker jobs, even at the lower wages, provided them with a better life. Although almost all were eventually acquitted, the charges meant that the union leaders languished in jail, out of touch with their members, as the strikebreaking proceeded. The strike pitted the company’s management (which included owner American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and American industrialist Henry Clay Frick), the strikebreakers (replacement workers) who had been hired, and the Pinkerton National Detective Agency against members of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, who worked for the company. On June 29, 1892, workers belonging to the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers struck the Carnegie Steel Company at Homestead, Pa. to protest a proposed wage cut. The Homestead steel mill, located a few miles from Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River, was one of the largest of Carnegie’s mills. In late June Frick locked them out and fenced off the plant. Click to see full answer. Only about a fifth of the workers at the Homestead Works Steel Mill were skilled workers represented by the union. The Reader’s Companion to American History. Homestead to support the strike surprise you? The Homestead Strike or Homestead Riot was a violent confrontation between workers and management in 1892. The Homestead Strike changed the traditional American business environment by creating new laws and the awareness of the need for peace in business world. BACKGROUND. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). At least three Pinkertons and seven workers were killed during the battle and its aftermath. The Homestead Strike was a very violent, but important event to the people of the American Business Industry. Meanwhile, the corporation had more than a hundred strikers arrested, some of them for murder; though most were finally released, each case consumed much of the union’s time, money, and energy. Some 270 million acres were distributed under it. The striking workers were not successful … The Homestead Strike was ended after the Carnegie Steel Company asked Pennsylvania Governor Robert Emory Pattison for help and he responded by sending in 8,500 soldiers of the state National Guard. The Homestead strike was organized and purposeful, a harbinger of the type of strike which marked the modern age of labor relations in the United States. In the 1880s and 1890s, Andrew Carnegie had built the Carnegie Steel Company into one of the largest and most-profitable steel companies in the United States. With the Amalgamated Association virtually destroyed, Carnegie Steel moved quickly to institute longer hours and lower wages. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. The plant was turned over to the militiamen on July 12. The Homestead Strike of 1892. The union barred African Americans; many of the strikebreakers, therefore, were African Americans brought in from the South. Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Homestead Act of 1862, legislative action that promoted the settlement and development of the American West. Gradually, under militia protection, strikebreakers got the plant running again. The union workers continued the fight, but by November 21 the union had given up. Essentially, the strike was provoked by a proposal to reduce wages of employees following the harsh economic times that were being exp… The contract between the union and Carnegie Steel was set to expire on July 1, 1892, and Carnegie, who was in Scotland at the time, gave his operations manager, Frick, carte blanche to break the union ahead of this deadline. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. British trade unionism has a long and continuous history. The Carnegie Steel Company was a successful factory, which employed many hundred of workers. The strike directly influenced the reelection of President…, Organized labour, association and activities of workers in a trade or industry for the purpose of obtaining or assuring improvements in working conditions through their collective action. Armed proletarians from nearby towns rushed to the scene to reinforce their class brothers. The Homestead Strike took place in Homestead, Pennsylvania. The Great Strike of 1877 involved railroads; the Homestead Strike of 1892 involved steel production. Successful students will draw on their knowledge of the past to explain that this photograph is from the Homestead Strike of 1892 and then explain how this event was historically significant. It was a defining event which revealed in the starkest terms the respective strength of labor and management in America in the 1890s. In this interview, Mr. Ammon compares the Railroad Strike of 1877 with the Homestead Strike … Labor Day pays tribute to the contributions and achievements of American workers and is traditionally observed on the first Monday in September. The Homestead strike, in Homestead, Pennsylvania, pitted one of the most powerful new corporations, Carnegie Steel Company, against the nation’s strongest trade union, the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers. Andrew Carnegie gave his operations manager, Henry Clay Frick, permission to break the union before this deadline. The Homestead strike inspired many workers, but it also underscored how difficult it was for any union to prevail against the combined power of the corporation and the government. The AA strike at the Homestead steel mill in 1892 was different from previous large-scale strikes in American history such as the Great railroad strike of 1877 or the Great Southwest Railroad Strike of 1886. The contract between the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers union and Carnegie Steel was to expire on July 1, 1892. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. The workers then took control of the steel mill, but this did not last long. In the homestead strike they were fighting in labor dispute. Corrections? The Homestead strike, 1892 - Jeremy Brecher Jeremy Brecher's detailed history of the 1892 strike of workers at the Carnegie Steel Company against the eventually successful attempt of the employer to break their union, the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steelworkers. After poverty drove his family out of Scotland in 1848, Carnegie arrived in the United States as a penniless 12-year-old boy. Copyright © 1991 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Carnegie hired Pinkerton’s men to escort scabs into the mill. (a) As a result of their victory, what changes were Carnegie and Frick able to introduce in the Carnegie's Homestead plant manager Henry C. Frick, with Carnegie's blessing, locked out 1,100 steelworkers in an effort to cut wages and rid the plant of union labor. The guards and workers exchanged gunfire, and at least three guards and seven workers were killed during the battle and its aftermath. After an all-day battle, the Pinkertons surrendered and were forced to run a gauntlet through the crowd. (Although Carnegie professed support for the rights of unions, his goals of economy and efficiency may have made him favour local management at the Homestead plant, which used Pinkerton guards to try to break the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers. This company was situated at Homestead, Pannsylavania. Inevitably, shots were fired, and for the next 12 hours, the Pinkertons and the workers exchanged intense fire. …was marked by the bloody Homestead strike. The workers dubbed the plant “Fort Frick.” On July 2 Frick fired all 3,800 workers, and during the dark early hours of July 6, a force of 300 Pinkerton agents—private security guards hired by Frick—traveled up the river in two covered barges to occupy the plant. The strike began in Martinsburg, West Virginia, on July 16, 1877, after workers of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad were informed that their pay would be cut 10 percent. The world premiere was created as part of the […] Although it was a great offer that held good intentions, there were many factors that kept this act from being successful. The Homestead Strike changed the traditional American business environment by creating new laws and the awareness of the need for peace in business world. State militiamen were sent to quell the trouble. The striking workers were all fired on July 2, and on July 6 private security guards hired by the company arrived. Become a People's World sustainer today. If he worked eight hours a day, he imagined, “I could have a ...read more, The Industrial Revolution marked a period of development in the latter half of the 18th century that transformed largely rural, agrarian societies in Europe and America into industrialized, urban ones. The violent act of a desperate businessman, in attempt to retain peace, killed many men. Take advantage of our Presidents' Day bonus! The union, limited to skilled tradesmen, represented less than one-fifth of the thirty-eight hundred workers at the plant, but the rest voted overwhelmingly to join the strike. 125 years later, the Homestead Strike of 1892 retains its capacity to shock. )…, …the site of the noted Homestead strike of July 1892, when company guards (hired through Allan Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency) fought a pitched battle with the strikers who were in control of the town. Frick’s intransigence had won sympathy for the strikers, but an attempt on his life by anarchist Alexander Berkman on July 23 caused most of it to evaporate. All rights reserved. The Homestead strike led to a serious weakening of unionism in the steel industry until the 1930s.