Homestead Strike

action with 150,000 members called for a strike at the Pullman Palace Car Company. Pullman was furious by the strike, Pullman closed the plant, intent on waiting out the workers. The members of the ARU called for the national membership to take over. The union voted to refuse to work on any train in the country that had a Pullman car, this put the passenger rail service came to…

deadly. On one standoff in 1892, in Homestead, PA, it became a battle scene with fires, a cannon, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and ending with three Pinkerton employees and ten strikers dead (Grabianowski).…

A factory in Homestead, Pennsylvania which manufactured steel caused one of the biggest turning points towards the creation of the early unions. In this factory, working conditions were oppressive. Workers would work twelve hour shifts in pitch black rooms. Accidents would occur like getting caught in the machinery and losing limbs. Cases of third degree burns from exploding hot steel were common. Unions would form amongst the workers to protect their rights against these casualties. Besides…

The late nineteenth century witnessed the most violent labor conflicts in the nation’s history. Strikes and worker relations were so bad that many feared that class warfare between workers and management was imminent. Management held most of the power in struggles with organized labor due to the vast surplus of cheap labor and many workers believed they were being taken advantage of and fought for certain privileges. Unions such as the Nation Labor Union and the Knights of Labor advocated…

The 1800s was a rough century. They had a war going on, a lot of strikes, and death. But right after the war was over people started reconstructing America. During the reconstruction there were more jobs available and there were labor unions forming to help with employment. But the labor unions didn’t really work that well because what they care about is pay, worker’s safety, and work hours The workers didn't get much of any of that. They said that their safety was terrible, they didn’t get paid…

wages, shorter hours and greater worker control in the face of increased mechanization. Then the Homestead Lookout occurred. Henry Clay Frick locked workers out of the mills and prepared to bring in strike breakers. The workers sounded the alarm and they were armed with rifles, hoes and fence posts. When they escaped they started killing people and killed at least thirty strikers. This action of the Homestead lookout, workers struck at the heart of the capitalist system, pitting the workers’…

the disunity among labor societies, the negative view upon organized labor, and the fact that strikes…

the owners themselves. Moreover, Lawrence was certainly not the worst mill in the country, but it was not in the best condition to be living and working in. The workers started doing meetings with their individual nationalities to discuss possible strike against the mill owners. Furthermore, 100 Russian, 350 Italian and 350 French Canadian went back to their native land because of the treatment they received at the mills. Some individuals expressed that mill workers treated them like dumb cattle…

like the Knights of Labor founded 1869, and the AFL demanded an eight hour work day, higher wages, and in some cases the abolition of child labor. They also had their hands in numerous strikes in an effort for reform: the railroad strike of 1877, the Haymarket bombing, the Homestead strike, and the Pullman strike. Despite the military like…

improve many working conditions. They also tried to make the work days shorter with less hours, and have higher wages. One of the reasons why organized labor was not a success was the public had many bitter opinions about the labor unions. Many of the strikes led to a horrible reputation and image of the unions. Most times, the riots caused discomfort within the public. The depression of the 1870s and the Panic of 1873 were also not in favor of the unions. Labor unions had to face many…