Frick’s Folly: The Homestead Steel Strike of 1892

Valissa Hicks

History 2100

November 30, 2014

Admired by his Gilded Age peers, Henry Clay Frick was loathed by labor for his union busting tactics, and condemned by working=class America for his handling of the Homestead Steel strike. Frick was a hard-nosed businessman who realized early on that the kind of discipline required by a captain at war was needed to keep workers in line. Keeping workers in line, without regard for their welfare, was what Frick did best. “Frick's toughness, particularly in his stoic acceptance of the shedding of blood – even his own – to put labor in its place, made him a hero to his peers....” (Schreiner, 1995, x).

Henry Clay Frick was chosen to head up the Homestead Mill when, Bill Jones, a Carnegie manager who handled employee relations and was popular with the workers, was killed in a blast furnace accident (Dray, 2010, 170). Frick was less empathetic than Jones, and was anxious to demonstrate his management style and eagerness to cut costs to Andrew Carnegie.

The Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, preparing for the expiration of their existing contract, proposed a new contract with wages in line with increased prices for steel and the increased productivity of the Homestead mill. Frick wanted to make Homestead a nonunion factory and set wages as he saw fit. Making ready for the battle that was to come, Frick stepped up production to record levels, then ordered a 10 foot fence built around the facility, topped it with barbed wire, cut holes for rifles, and installed searchlights on the towers.

Frick locked the entire workforce out of the facility and declared it a nonunion mill (Dray, 2010,171). Amalgamated went on strike, taking union and nonunion workers with them. Frick ordered barges to be readied to escort Pinkerton agents to the site if necessary. The union assigned some 1,000 employee volunteers to watch for scabs, spies, or other interlopers. The union also rented Edna, a small boat they used to patrol the river approach to the plant.

Strikers were warned by supporters in Chicago and New York, when the Pinkertons were on their way to the Homestead Mill. The Pinkertons were met by some 10,000 strike supporters, and a gunfight ensued. In the end, the Pinkertons surrendered, and were taken from their barges to be tortured. The strikers went unchallenged for several days until the militia was called in. Instead of reacting violently, the strikers welcomed the militia with open arms.

Frick hired numerous strikebreakers to keep the mill running, but the strikebreakers couldn't accomplish what the strikers could. When it was known that Frick was hiring strikebreakers, Alexander Berkman pretended to head an employment agency, in order to meet, and kill, Frick. Armed with a gun supplied by Emma Goldman, Berkman entered Frick's offices and shot Frick twice in the neck. Frick's injuries were not fatal, Frick told the press, “this incident will not change the attitude of the Carnegie Steel Company toward the Amalgamated Association. I do not think I will die but whether I do or not the Company will pursue the same policy and will win” (Schreiner, 1995,100).

Finding operations difficult using strikebreakers, the company eventually posted a notice giving Homestead workers the opportunity to apply for their old jobs. “But not a single one of the locked-out men applied (Brecher, 1997, 77). The company changed tactics, and tried to have the strikers charged with treason, murder, and many other lesser charges. No strikers were ever found guilty.

The strike lasted for four months until, with winter approaching, and sensing that defeat was inevitable, Amalgamated called off the strike. The men returned to work and Frick gloated that they would not have labor trouble again. After the 1892 strike the twelve-hour day, seven days per week was restored at Homestead. Grievance committees were abolished. Wage scales were kept secret, and extra pay for Sunday ceased (Wolff, 1965,232).

The Homestead Steel strike, one of the bloodiest conflicts between management and labor, was the beginning of the end of the legendary Carnegie-Frick alliance. The question that remains after the Homestead Steel strike, even until today is, should business operate only to make as much money as possible or does it have at least some responsibility for the welfare of its employees?

SourcesBrecher, Jeremy. Strike! Rev. and Updated ed. Vol. 1. Boston, MA: South End Press, 1997.

Dray, Philip. There Is Power in a Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America. New York: Doubleday, 2010.

Schreiner, Samuel Agnew. Henry Clay Frick: The Gospel of Greed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995.

Standiford, Les. Meet You in Hell: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and the Bitter Partnership That Transformed America. New York: Crown Publishers, 2005.

Wolff, Leon. Lockout: The Story of the Homestead Strike of 1892 : A Study of Violence, Unionism and the Carnegie Steel Empire. New York: Harper & Row, 1965.

Zweig, Jason. "Business Headlines, 1889: Workers Shut Down Homestead Steel Plant." The Wall Street Journal. July 4, 2014. Accessed November 28, 2014. http://online.wsj.com/articles/business-headlines-1889-workers-shut-down-homestead.