The Homestead Strike in 1892, took place at the Carnegie Steel Company’s Homestead

Steel Works in Pennsylvania and was rooted in economic and social problems that had

been growing throughout the 19th century.

Mill workers were underpaid in the late 19th century and many were living in poverty.

Carnegie Steel was making large improvements to the quantity and quality of steel that

it could output with various technological improvements, expanding mills and the labor

force growing rapidly. Though Carnegie Steel was making more than ever, workers

were seeing their wages drop. The Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers

(AA) was a labor union that had already successfully striked to prevent a non-union

clause and again later that resulted in the limiting of the management's ability to

maximize output in the mill. The AA labor union saw substantial growth, with

membership doubling and its coffers swelling. Many townspeople backed the strikers

during the strikes, and relations between union and company were tense.

The strike involved various methods of bringing about social and economic change, with

varying degrees of success. First, when the collective bargaining agreement was

nearing its expiration, Henry Frick and AA leaders entered negotiations with the union

asking for wage increases and Frick countering with a 22% wage decrease. When

negotiations failed, the workers went on strike. Negotiating and striking were relatively

common and effective methods used by labor unions during this era. The success of

these methods relied on the strength of the union, public sentiment and the employer

himself. When negotiations failed and the strike turned to violent confrontation, the use

of force became a tool to pursue change. This doesn’t usually go well for the strikers. It

can lead to the loss of public sympathy and may lead to government intervention in the
strike. In the case of the Homestead Strike, it led to the deployment of state militia and

the strike ultimately failed.