Steel Mill Strike 1919
The Steel Mill Strike began when the workers were denied their request from their employers. The workers at the Steel mill wanted to negotiate shorter working hours, wages were they can make a living, bargaining rights, and wanted union recognition. September 1919, the U.S. Steel Corporation refused to meet with union representatives. As a result, about 300,000 Steel Mill workers walk of the job and went on strike. Steel companies had to had to hire strikebreakers, which were employees who agreed to work during the strike. The Steel Mill Strike wasn't just hard on the companies but it was also hard on the striking workers. Striking workers were beaten by police, federal troops, and state militias. The strike was a huge public disturbance. The steel companies who were outraged by the strike link strikers to communism. The Steel Mill Strike eventually end in January 8, 1920 and the steel companies agreed with 8 hour shifts but the workers still remain without a union.
"We are all on the firing line once more and we are going over the top as we did in 1918 over there . . . . For we are determined to lick the steel barons and Kaisers of this country as we were to lick the German Kaiser."
-Striking steelworker, 1919.
"We are all on the firing line once more and we are going over the top as we did in 1918 over there . . . . For we are determined to lick the steel barons and Kaisers of this country as we were to lick the German Kaiser."
-Striking steelworker, 1919.