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132nd anniversary observed with music and reflections on event’s meaning and legacy
By Cassandra Harris, staff writer
In one of the deadliest labor-management conflicts in the nation’s history, 12 people were killed on July 6, 1892, in a clash between striking Carnegie Steel workers and 300 Pinkerton detectives. Strikers and their families fought the detectives, who arrived by boat and attempted to come ashore at the Pump House, across the Monongahela River from Carrie Blast Furnace to break the strike.
In a commemoration of the Battle of Homestead 132 years later, people gathered at the Pump House again to remember the union’s struggle and how it changed worker’s rights.
With around 50 people in attendance, James Kuntz Jr., 70, a local history enthusiast and union member, spoke at the celebration about the history of the battle and the friction created between the union and Henry Clay Frick.
According to Mr. Kuntz, the union’s three-year contract with Carnegie Steel ended in June 1892. Shortly after, Mr. Frick, chairman and chief executive of Carnegie Steel, announced pay cuts for hundreds of Homestead workers. After refusing to negotiate with the 725 union workers, he locked all 3,800 union and non-unionized workers out of the mill.
To Mr. Frick’s surprise, all of them voted to strike, instigating the conflict.
United around a common goal
“Most of the time in the steel industry, even in the construction industry, you want to work 12 hours a day, seven days a week,” Mr. Kuntz said. “You may occasionally, if you had a good employer, you could get a couple of hours off on Sunday morning so you could go to church. But guess what? You still put your 12-hour day in, you just did it later [in the day] Sunday.”
Eventually the movement for a 10-hour workday arose. A movement followed to move it to eight. The second was started by the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, the union involved in the Homestead Strike, Mr. Kuntz said.
Rosemary Trump, 80, is the treasurer for the Battle of Homestead Foundation. She said the organization was founded to preserve the battle’s history. In 1892 there was a big work revolution when new technology displaced hundreds of workers.
“We don’t want to make the same mistakes,” Mrs. Trump said. “You're able to have a greater voice when you're united and are able to articulate a common goal.”
Historic collections
Collector Howard Scott, 69, is a member of the Battle of Homestead foundation and was at the event to display part of his collection of historical union pins.
He has union pins from various Pittsburgh railroad groups, CIO unions, some of the earlier 8-hour movements and pins against Jim Crow from the 19th and 20th century, he said. Each pin he purchased was anywhere from $2 to $25.
“Some of the pins have to do with local history and others tie in with pivotal events like the Homestead Strike or the 1919 steel strikes,” Mr. Scott said.
With his collection he wants to remind people about the value of working people.
“What workers have contributed to America wasn't all just the bosses. There were hundreds of workers behind every one of those bosses,” Mr. Scott said.
He considers unions important to give workers a full stake in society and a vote in their workplace to keep exploitation to a minimum.
Cassidee Knott, 27, an archivist for the Battle of Homestead foundation spoke about the foundation’s three collections, which came from donors Charles McCollester, Mike Stout and Mark Fallon.
They currently store everything at a temperature-controlled storage unit. One day she hopes to have a physical location that can be open to the public.
“It’s exciting. [The donors are] still alive so we get to talk about what they donated and why they donated,” Knott said.
Parts of each collection can be viewed on PA Power Library. Readers can view the directory for the collection under the archives tab at battleofhomestead.org.
Cassandra Harris is a Pittsburgh Media Partnership intern at The Homepage and a rising junior at Point Park University.
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