Altoona, Pa., (special.) - The failure of vice-President Pierce, of the Amalgamated Association, to induce the iron workers at Duncansville to strike, is the greatest victory yet won by the American Steel Hoop Company during the present labor differen ces. To the mill owners it means that at least one plant can be kept in operation simply by the will of satisfied employees, who realize that it is with them and their town a matter of steady employment, or in case they strike, the shutting down of the mill forever. It is thought their stand will break the backbone of the whole strike." [SOURCE: "U.S. STEEL." Wall Street Journal (1889-1922), Jul 24, 1901, pp. 8. ProQuest, http://ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/128786450?accountid=10226. Accessed 27 Sep. 2018.] "Altoona, Pa., Aug. 11. - [Special.] - The Duncansville steel hoop plant will not be closed by the strike, as the men have flatly refused President Shafer's proposal to stand by them on the Eastern scale of wages if they would walk out. The Duncansville men say that the wages offered to them on the Eastern scale are less than those they are getting now, so they cannot see how a strike will benefit them. Instead of trying to close the mills it is understood that the Duncansville men will try to work the mill to its capacity and profit accordingly." [SOURCE: "STEEL MEN THINK STRIKE BROKEN." Chicago Daily Tribune (1872-1922), Aug 12, 1901, pp. 2. ProQuest, http://ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/173085770?accountid=10226. Accessed 27 Sep. 2018.] "The U.S. Steel recognition strike of 1901 was an attempt by the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers (the AA) to reverse its declining fortunes and organize large numbers of new members. The strike failed... ...In 1892, the AA had lost a bitter strike at the Carnegie Steel Company's steel mill in Homestead, Pennsylvania. The Homestead strike, which culminated with a day-long gun battle on July 6 that left 12 dead and dozens wounded, led to a wave of de-unionization. From a high of more than 24,000 members in 1892, union membership had sunk to less than 8,000 by 1900... ...The formation of the U.S. Steel trust in 1901 threatened the AA with ruin. U.S. Steel not only combined Elbert Gary and J.P. Morgan's Federal Steel with Andrew Carnegie's steel operations, it also incorporated the plants of the American Tin Plate Co. The AA was confronted with a crisis: It had to organize the plants of U.S. Steel before the corporation, with its relatively infinite resources, could stop the union drives. But the executive committee of U.S. Steel was equally aware of the threat the AA posed, and the company's board of directors secretly adopted a resolution on June 17, 1901, opposing any unionization attempt. U.S. Steel's Tin Plate subsidiary reneged on promises to recognize the AA on the grounds that the union had not won contracts at every plant owned by the American Sheet Steel Co. Sheet Steel executives, meanwhile, not only refused to recognize the union at its nonunion plants but also began withdrawing recognition and refusing to bargain at its unionized plants... ...Unionized facilities at the National Steel and National Tube subsidiaries turned out almost to a man, but the overall effect on U.S. Steel was too weak. Strikebreakers were pouring into plants by the thousands, and shuttered works were reopening. Shaffer appealed to Samuel Gompers, asking for American Federation of Labor support and the calling of a national labor conference to make the strike the federation's main issue. Gompers refused. The strike against U.S. Steel ended on September 14, 1901. The AA settled for terms far worse than those offered in August. Only plants which had started and ended the strike were covered, which meant that the union lost recognition at 15 plants. The company even won a pledge from the union not to organize any plant not already unionized, and to reject any offer of affiliation from a unionized plant... ...U.S. Steel slowly dismantled AA unions in its plants. When the company merged its National Steel and American Steel Hoop subsidiaries into its Carnegie Steel arm in 1903, the union found itself servicing contracts with the now-nonexistent Steel Hoop company rather than Carnegie. In the depression of 1904, the Carnegie Company demanded significant wage cuts. The union balked and struck, but by December the strike had been broken and the union had lost almost all of its Western affiliates. U.S. Steel idled AA mills whenever possible, breaking the union through attrition... ...By 1909, membership in the AA had sunk to 6,300, and the union was finished as a force in the American labor movement." [SOURCE: "U.S. Steel recognition strike of 1901." Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Steel_recognition_strike_of_1901. Accessed 27 Sep. 2018.]
Language
English
Library Location
Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University