“The press groveled at the feet of the steel Gods,” wrote organizer Mary Harris “Mother” Jones in her autobiography. Male and female steel workers picket at a factory during the general steel strike of 1919. They also tried to turn workers against one another, pitting immigrant workers against those born in the United States. They played on racial and ethnic stereotypes, fears of immigrants and the specter of Bolshevism to convince the public that the strikers were opportunists. Instead, companies took matters into their own hands, using the media to poison public opinion. With as many as 350,000 workers idle, the strike was a major disruption to the industry.īut since it wasn’t wartime, there was no War Labor Board to intervene on behalf of workers. Half the steel industry ground to a halt, and workers in six states walked off the job. Finally, after a referendum, the unions agreed to strike in September 1919. Frustrated, some workers who had been galvanized by strikes in other industries quit their unions. Eichar, but “workers were divided along ethnic lines, with as many as thirty different nationalities represented in the mills.”Īs they struggled to get and stay organized, the groups kept pushing off a strike. But working together was challenging: Not only were there the demands of 24 different craft unions to manage, writes historian Douglas M. During the war, the AFL joined forces with the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers. It was a craft union whose workers organized based on job instead of across industries. The AFL, the largest steelworkers’ union, had historically struggled with relatively weak union membership. Meanwhile, steel workers were watching and waiting for the right time to strike. When Seattle ground to a halt during a general strike in February 1919, fears of Bolshevism seemed justified. Steel refused to recognize unions, even though it was the largest employer in the country.Įmployers claimed that by organizing, workers were participating in a global socialist takeover. Workers wanted better wages, job protections and improved conditions. Postwar inflation made it harder to stretch wages. Steel workers faced 12-hour days, exhausting work and harsh discipline. It controlled a vast share of the steel market, and was a dangerous place to work. The company had become an industrial behemoth. In Pittsburgh, AFL members found that meeting halls had been shut down for “health violations,” and organizers had run-ins with Pinkerton security officers hired by U.S. Unionized steel workers who had been critical to the war effort now faced the same old harassment and intimidation. Foster, director of the strike.īut almost immediately after the armistice in November 1918, industrial employers made it clear that they expected things to go back to old norms. Seated at the table at left are John Fitzpatrick, organizer of the steel workers, and William Z. READ MORE: Andrew Carnegie Claimed to Support Unions, But Then Destroyed Them in His Steel EmpireĪ conference of leaders of the steel strike at the Pittsburgh headquarters on September 24, 1919. People who had toiled nearly all day long now worked for just eight hours union members who were used to being attacked by employee-hired thugs when they went on strike now resolved their labor disputes without going on the picket line. It was the first time the government had ever protected labor unions, and workers learned to love their improved working conditions. The board brokered a critical deal: Employers promised to improve labor conditions and recognize unions in exchange for a moratorium on strikes. In response, representatives from labor unions, the government and industrial employers banded together to form the War Labor Board, an entity designed to fend off strikes and mediate in labor disputes. If the United States wanted to win the war, it had to smooth over those disputes. Tensions ran high between workers and employers. During World War I, labor had become a crucial part of the war effort, but materials shortages and the draft threatened the nation’s ability to keep up with its labor needs. might try to violently overthrow the government or seize private businesses.įor many, those fears focused on unionized workers. This alarmed Americans who worried that socialists in the U.S. World War I had stoked nationalism, and in October 1917 Bolsheviks had taken over the Russian government and installed a socialist state. Īt the time, inflation was rampant and social tensions flared. A large crowd of workers outside the US Steel Corporation in Gary, Indiana, 1919 during the nationwide steel strike.

Seattle general strike definition