Homestead Strike

Examples of Homestead Strike in the following topics:

• The Homestead Strike

  • The Homestead Strike of 1892 was organized and purposeful; it was the second-largest labor dispute in U.S. history.
  • The strike by the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers (AA) 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 and the Great Southwest Railroad Strike of 1886.
  • The Homestead Strike, however, was organized and purposeful, a harbinger of the type of strike that would mark the modern age of labor relations in the United States.
  • But a race war between nonunion black and white workers in the Homestead plant broke out on July 22, 1892.
  • Frick, too, needed a way out of the strike.

• Lockouts

  • Companies may also take out strike insurance prior to an anticipated strike, to help offset the losses which the strike would cause.
  • How long will the strike last?
  • In the United States, it is legal to fire striking public sector employees if the strike is illegal.
  • One of the most famous examples of this occurred during the Homestead Strike of 1892.
  • Industrialist Henry Clay Frick sent private security agents from the Pinkerton National Detective Agency to break the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers strike at a Homestead, Pennsylvania steel mill.

• The Great Steel Strike

  • The strike began in September 1919, and collapsed in January 1920.
  • In 1892, the AA had lost a bitter strike, called the Homestead Strike, which had culminated with a gun battle that left 12 dead and dozens wounded.
  • The National Committee debated the strike issue, and agreed to begin a general steelworker strike in September 1919 .
  • Public opinion quickly turned against the striking workers .
  • Mass meetings were prohibited in most strike-stricken areas.

• Workers Organize

  • The first of these was the Great Railroad Strike in 1877, when rail workers across the nation went on strike in response to a 10-percent pay cut by owners.
  • Attempts to break the strike led to bloody uprisings in several cities.
  • In the riots of 1892 at Carnegie's steel works in Homestead, Pennsylvania , a group of 300 Pinkerton detectives , whom the company had hired to break a bitter strike by the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers, were fired upon by strikers and 10 were killed.
  • The strike collapsed, as did the ARU.
  • The Lawrence textile strike was a strike of immigrant workers.

• The Rise of Unions

  • In the Great Railroad Strike in 1877, railroad workers across the nation went on strike in response to a 10 percent pay cut.
  • Carnegie's steel works in Homestead, Pennsylvania, hired a group of 300 Pinkerton detectives to break a bitter strike by the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers.
  • Nonunion workers were hired and the strike was broken.
  • The Homestead plant completely barred unions until 1937.
  • The strike collapsed, as did the American Railway Union.

• The Western Frontier

  • The rigors of life in the West presented many challenges and difficulties to homesteaders.
  • The land was dry and barren, and homesteaders lost crops to hail, droughts, insect swarms, and other challenges.
  • Although homestead farming was the primary goal of most western settlers in the latter half of the 19th century, a small minority sought to make their fortunes quickly through other means.
  • The first gold prospectors in the 1850s and 1860s worked with easily portable tools that allowed them to follow their dream and try to strike it rich (a).

• Strikes

  • Strike action, also called a labor strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work.
  • Strikes without formal union authorization are also known as wildcat strikes.
  • Such strikes may be a form of "partial strike" or "slowdown. "
  • Companies may also take out strike insurance prior to an anticipated strike, helping to offset the losses which the strike would cause.
  • How long will the strike last?

• Coxey's Army

  • It passed through Pittsburgh, Becks Run, and Homestead, Pennsylvania, in April.
  • While the protesters never made it to the capital, the military intervention they provoked proved to be a rehearsal for the federal force that broke the Pullman Strike later that year.

• The Pullman Strike

  • The Pullman Strike began in 1894 when nearly 4,000 employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company began a strike in response to wage cuts.
  • The strike effectively shut down production in the Pullman factories and led to a lockout.
  • The ARU declared that if switchmen were disciplined for the boycott, the entire ARU would strike in sympathy.
  • Paul Railway, appointed as a special federal attorney responsible for dealing with the strike.
  • During the course of the strike, 13 strikers were killed and 57 were wounded.

• The New Immigrants on Strike

  • Two important labor strikes led by immigrant groups were the New York shirtwaist strike of 1909 and the Lawrence Textile Strike of 1912.
  • The New York shirtwaist strike of 1909 (also known as the "Uprising of the 20,000") was a labor strike primarily involving Jewish women working in New York shirtwaist factories.
  • The successful strike marked an important milestone for the American labor movement.
  • The Lawrence Textile Strike (also referred to as "Bread and Roses") was a strike of immigrant workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1912 led by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).
  • Identify key strikes that advanced the cause of labor in twentieth-century America