The Homestead Strike refers to events that occurred July 1-6, 1892 at the Carnegie Steel Company’s Homestead Steel Works in Homestead, PA, but the story of the strike begins a few years earlier.

Andrew Carnegie acquired the Homestead factory in the early 1880s, and in 1889, workers went on strike with the help of Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers. The negotiated contract was good for three years and workers got benefits related to work and working conditions, but they also had to take a pay cut.

In 1892, Henry Clay Frick, Andrew Carnegie, George Lauder, and Henry Phipps Jr. joined together to form Carnegie Steel Company. That same year, that contract negotiated in 1889 was set to expire. When negotiations began in early 1892, Frick, as company president, along with Carnegie, looked to break the power of the union at Homestead and wanted wage cuts. The union asked for raises and in the end, negotiations were not successful. Frick announced that if no contract was reached by a set time, the company would cease to recognize the union and made preparations. The company produced more steel in order to pad the inventory to weather a strike and erected fencing around the mill, a move that was dubbed Fort Frick by workers. On the night of June 28, some workers were locked out, and by the 29th, when no contract had been signed, Frick ordered all workers locked out of all facilities once the contract expired on July 1.

The several hundred employees and members of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers organized themselves and set up a 24-hour picket lines and were determined to keep the mill closed. To keep watch for out-of-town strikebreakers and other company activities, the rivers were patrolled and ferries and trains were watched. They were even able to connect with people in other towns who would provide any useful intelligence.

The company was also busy. Company president Frick advertised for replacement workers with the goal to open for business using non-union men. He also hired the Pinkerton National Detective Agency who sent several hundred agents. When it became known the Pinkertons were trying to sneak in on July 6th, workers and their families tried to keep them out. Guns were fired and there was other fighting. After several days, the number of injuries and deaths compelled Pennsylvania Governor Pattison to order the state militia to Homestead. The militia under the command of Major General George R. Snowden arrived on July 12, surrounded the plant and disbursed the strikers, making it possible for company executives to enter the plant.

Frick was able to find workers and restart production. In the end, the union agreed to the company’s terms and so the strike had failed. The failure of the strike meant the union collapsed in Homestead and its reputation suffered nationally. The coming years saw de-unionization in the industry that lasted a number of years. In 1900, the union changed its name and became the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers and is today the United Steelworkers.