About this episode
On this day, 29 June 1892, workers at the Homestead Carnegie steel plant in Pennsylvania were locked out after workers refused to accept new production demands.
Andrew Carnegie was determined to break the Amalgamated Association of Iron Steel Workers, in which skilled workers at the plant were organised. His plant manager, Henry Clay Frick, locked out the union workers, then sacked them on 2 July. The non-union, so-called "unskilled" workers then walked out on strike in protest.
Frick brought in 300 armed Pinkerton detectives to break the strike. They did kill nine strikers, but eventually a crowd of 10,000 workers, many of them armed, repelled the attack.
The workers held out until November, when the governor brought in 8,000 militia to escort strikebreakers into the plant. The dispute basically destroyed the Amalgamated Association, and enabled Carnegie to implement pay cuts and longer working hours.
More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10109/homestead-steel-lockout
Our work is only possible because of support from you, our listeners on patreon. If you appreciate our work, please join us and access exclusive content and benefits at patreon.com/workingclasshistory.
Andrew Carnegie was determined to break the Amalgamated Association of Iron Steel Workers, in which skilled workers at the plant were organised. His plant manager, Henry Clay Frick, locked out the union workers, then sacked them on 2 July. The non-union, so-called "unskilled" workers then walked out on strike in protest.
Frick brought in 300 armed Pinkerton detectives to break the strike. They did kill nine strikers, but eventually a crowd of 10,000 workers, many of them armed, repelled the attack.
The workers held out until November, when the governor brought in 8,000 militia to escort strikebreakers into the plant. The dispute basically destroyed the Amalgamated Association, and enabled Carnegie to implement pay cuts and longer working hours.
More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10109/homestead-steel-lockout
Our work is only possible because of support from you, our listeners on patreon. If you appreciate our work, please join us and access exclusive content and benefits at patreon.com/workingclasshistory.
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