What issues caused the Homestead Strike? According to one of its workers, what w

Question

What issues caused the Homestead Strike? According to one of its workers, what were the working conditions in this steel mill? Were the news stories in the Illustrated American sympathetic or non-sympathetic to the cause of the strikers? Use specific examples to support your case. What kinds of gains or losses did U.S. labor experience as a result of the Homestead strike in 1892?

These questions were kind of answered already but with far less information then I was looking for, if anyone else has information to add or a different answer it would be much appreciated.

Explanation / Answer

Answer:

The Robber Baron Andrew Carnegie precipitated the Homestead Strike of 1892 with his attack against the standard of living of the workers and his bid to break the union representing the highest skilled workers.

The Homestead Strike was at the Homestead Steel Works, owned by Andrew Carnegie but run by Henry Clay Frick. Labor went on strike because of pay rates that were continually adjusted down as well as poor working conditions.

Frick was the man in charge.A miscommunication resulted in Frick using too much force to suppress the strikers. Labor was responsible for the strike, but Frick was resposible for subsequent events and deaths.

Carnegie announced his intention to impose an 18 percent pay cut and issued a statement saying that the real issue was whether the Homestead steel workers would be union or non-union. He ordered a 12 foot high fence to be built around the plant – 3 miles in length – with 3 inch holes at shoulder height every 25 feet, signalling preparation for an armed fight with the workers. At the same time Carnegie hired the notorious Pinkerton company to provide armed thugs for the upcoming struggle. An ultimatum was issued for workers to accept the wage cut by June 24th or face mass layoffs.

The Advisory Committee took responsibility for organising an elaborate network to track the company’s manoeuvres, to monitor the possibility of an anticipated transport of Pinkerton goons by river boat from Pittsburgh.

The Committee assumed virtual control of the town, assuming authority over the water, gas, and electricity facilities, shutting down the saloons, maintaining order and proclaiming ad hoc laws.

Labor historians are skeptical of the notion that workers and other subaltern groups in society experience oppression, exploitation, defeat, and very little else. Despite losses in the aftermath of Homestead, subsequent generations of steelworkers fashioned viable survival strategies for themselves and their families, engaged in another titanic struggle for union recognition in 1919, and finally prevailed with the coming of the New Deal and the CIO in the 1930s.But for many years after 1892, Homestead and the other steel towns of America fell far short of anything that could be called political or industrial democracy. The corporation cast its shadow everywhere. Local government could not accomplish anything that the corporation opposed. Homestead itself was dependent upon US Steel, even after the coming of the United Steelworkers of America, for such basic public services as snow removal and street repairs. For many years, the gap between what the industry could afford to pay and what workers actually received in wages widened to an extent seldom seen at any time in the history of industrial society.

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