At the Pump House, lessons from the Battle of Homestead still relevant 131 years later

On Thursday evening, the Battle of Homestead Foundation honored the 131st anniversary of the bloody conflict to reinforce the relevance of labor rights in today’s world. 

The nonprofit held the event at The Pump House in Munhall, and what the historic single-story brick building lacked in air conditioning, it made up for in history. It was the same site that saw armed combat in 1892 when the Carnegie Steel Corp. sent paramilitary guards who tried to break a union among workers. Today, 15 banners commemorate a century of steelworkers who occupied the site.

Along with music by local groups such as the May Day Marching Band and Pittsburgh Labor Choir, and lots of potluck-style home-cooked food, speakers and participants at the evening event reflected on takeaways from the Battle of Homestead that connect to modern labor issues.

A few days before the battle in 1892, the contract between the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers and Carnegie Steel was set to expire. Carnegie and Operations Manager Henry Clay Frick were unwilling to negotiate, so the workers went on strike, only for Frick to lock them out of the mill and fire all 3,800 workers days later. 

In the early morning of July 6, 300 Pinkerton agents arrived in Homestead and were met with thousands of workers and residents. Armed combat between the two sides raged on for about 12 hours. It ended with a Pinkerton surrender and steelworkers ushering them to jail on barges, which the crowds set aflame. The strikers’ brief control of Homestead did not last long, as the Pennsylvania governor sent in 8,500 members of the National Guard, who took hold of the mill and facilitated the replacement of all its workers with new “scabs.”

“The rich made the rules, and the government supported them. That’s what happened. The union and community were united and resisting efforts to bring in strikebreakers, but they couldn’t succeed,” said John Haer, president of the Battle of Homestead Foundation. “The same scene that’s been played out at Homestead has been played out throughout our history.”

Charles McCollester — one of the nonprofit’s founding members as well as a former professor and director of the Pennsylvania Center for the Study of Labor Relations at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania — focused not on the events of the battle itself but the lives of workers before and after the union lost power at the mill. 

McCollester spoke about the stark differences in working conditions. Under the union contract, there were reasonable working hours and wages; Sundays off; a voice in production matters; and an “amazing amount of unity” among lower- and higher-skilled workers alike, of different ethnicities. After the Battle of Homestead, he said, things took a sharp turn for the worse.

“Instead of having a possible dream of a negotiated way, where workers really have some power and a place at the table, what you had was a corporate dictatorship,” he said.

Along with 80-plus-hour workweeks, occasional 24-hour shifts, much lower wages, and an overall “brutal existence,” the replacement workers operated under employment at will. Today, at-will employment, which McCollester called the “central issue that helps the suppression of democratic participation” is a common form of employment in the United States.

Event participants saw several other parallels between the present labor movement and the Homestead Strike. Rosemary Trump, the foundation’s treasurer, noted that in the late 19th century, craftsmen were being replaced by the Bessemer system, which took away the need for specialized steel workers and increased opportunities for mass production. 

Without widespread protections in place, these workers lost their jobs. Trump said she fears advances in artificial intelligence threaten to have a similar impact in the modern day, citing the current Writer’s Guild of America strike.

“Everybody thinks, ‘Oh, well, it’s not gonna affect me,’ but it’s gonna affect marketing specialists, tech people, media people, I mean, it’s gonna affect everybody,” she said. “Really, the same threats that existed in 1892 are with us, unfortunately, all too well in 2023.”

On the topic of AI, foundation operations manager Lawrence McCullough said the issue is twofold. Not only could skilled workers be replaced by machines, but also companies could take advantage of workers operating the machines, considering them “disposable.”

For May Day Marching Band member Kane Karsteter-McKernan, who performed at the event, learning about the Battle of Homestead is radicalizing in a few ways. He agrees that now, just as in 1892, “time and time again, when given the choice between backing corporate interests and human interests, the federal government will side on with business.”

Another lesson from the past that Karsteter-McKernan feels is relevant is that violence is never an answer when it comes to labor movements and creating change. A self-described “radical pacifist,” he says he tries to “lend my energy towards things that I think are constructive and enriching and enlightening — moments like this among them.”

Moving forward, the foundation is focused on fundraising and building up The Center for the History and Future of Work, according to McCullough. The center will feature both live events and online programs that educate the public on labor history. 

McCullough said programming will tackle central questions in both past and present labor movements, such as, “Is there a way to make sure that the process is more fair and equitable and just for all the people working?” and “Can workers share in the massive prosperity they’re producing?” 

Trump and Haer agreed that education and discussion on these issues are vital to the Battle of Homestead Foundation’s mission. Haer said, “Our hope is that through seeing where we were, we have a better idea of where we need to go.”