But research proves decisively that Carnegie, who was out of the country during the strike, fully agreed with Frick and was in continuous communication with him throughout the strike. ![]() Andrew Carnegie’s public utterances had been more equivocal. Henry Clay Frick, the company’s chief executive officer, opposed unions – anywhere and everywhere. Strictly speaking, the Homestead strike began as a lockout. Following the union’s rejection of this ultimatum, the mill ceased production on June 28, 1892. The underlying issue, however, was union recognition itself, which became clear when the company made its initial offer and refused to negotiate further, saying in effect, “take it or leave it”. The company was demanding that the floor of the sliding scale be lowered by approximately 15 per cent. ![]() Adopted by some unions in the late 19th century, the sliding scale pegged wages to the selling price of steel. The main issue that triggered the strike was retention of the sliding scale wages system. Edgar Thomson works in Braddock, just across the Monongahela River from Homestead and also owned by Andrew Carnegie. The union had been defeated in 1889 at the all-important J. For all its success in gaining a foothold in the rapidly growing and changing steel industry, it had not successfully organized the entire industry. Founded in 1876, it was one of the largest unions in the country with a membership of over 20,000 and was a major force in the recently-formed American Federation of Labor.īut while a strong union for its time, the Amalgamated was not without weaknesses. ![]() Representing labor was the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers. It was also highly profitable, notwithstanding the violent fluctuations of the business cycle characteristic of the American economy in the late 19th century. On one side was the Carnegie Steel Corporation, capitalized at $25,000,000 and the world’s largest manufacturing firm at the time. The crushing defeat of the workers meant that there would be no recognized trade unionism and collective bargaining in steel and other heavy industries until the 1930s. It was a defining event which revealed in the starkest terms the respective strength of labor and management in America in the 1890s. More than 130 years after it occurred, the Homestead Strike of 1892 retains its capacity to shock.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |