One cause of the Homestead Strike was the decision by Henry Clay Frick, the company manager at Carnegie Steel, to impose a wage cut. This wage cut was seen as a significant reduction in the workers' pay and led to dissatisfaction among the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers, who then called for a strike.
One effect of the Homestead Strike was the violent clash between workers and Pinkerton detectives. This clash resulted in several deaths and heightened tensions between the two parties involved. As a response to the violence, the state militia was sent in to restore order and protect the nonunion laborers who were brought in to replace the striking workers. This ultimately led to the defeat of the strike and weakened unionism in the steel industry, preventing successful unionization until the 1930s.
Read the following secondary source, then describe at least one cause and one effect of the Homestead Strike:
Homestead Strike
The first and bloodiest of a series of industrial strikes in the 1890s, the Homestead Strike took place at the Carnegie Steel Company plant in Homestead, Pa., in 1892. It was precipitated when company manager Henry Clay Frick sought to impose a wage cut. When the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers refused his terms and called a strike on June 29, Frick brought in about 300 Pinkerton detectives to run the plant. On July 6 an armed clash occurred between workers and detectives, in which several were killed; soon afterward, the state militia was sent in. Under the soldiers' protection, nonunion laborers manned the steel mills from July 12 to November 20, when the strike collapsed. Frick's success gravely weakened unionism in the steel industry, which was not unionized successfully until the 1930s.
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