History in Our Everyday Lives

Background Knowledge: The Steel Industry in Pittsburgh, the Workers, and the Impact of Deindustrialization

Introduction

Although there were other prominent businesses within the Pittsburgh region, I decided to focus on the steel industry since Pittsburgh was once regarded as the steel capital of the world and the pride the city has in regards to its steel past is still prevalent today. Within this section, I began by looking at industrialization in Pittsburgh but primarily the start of the steel industry in the region. In addition, I discussed the make-up of the workforce in the early twentieth century to get a better understanding of who these people were that helped Pittsburgh become the steel capital. To display the data regarding the workers, I used information from the Carnegie Steel Company since it was the largest employer in the area at the time. Next, I examined the role unions had in the mills and the Homestead Works Strike of 1892. I then described the workers’ wages and hours, based on unskilled and skilled workers. Following, I discussed the decline of the steel industry and deindustrialization in Pittsburgh.

The content below addresses the standards associated with the development of the Industrial United States (1870-1900). This content will be taught throughout the unit through the use of primary and secondary sources as well as through public history tools and projects.

Industrialization

Pittsburgh’s economy and community were fixed from 1880-1910 when Connellsville Coke launched it as the leading iron and steel producers.¹ Coal mining, the glass industry, as well electrical manufacturing grew steadily throughout the region as well. In 1875, The Carnegie Steel Company opened the Edgar Thomson plant and eventually the Homestead, Duquesne and Clairton plants. The first expansion of the steel industry in the Pittsburgh region occurred from 1875-1890. In 1901 the Carnegie Steel Company, along with seven other companies merged to form the United States Steel Company and employed 50 percent of the nations’ steel workers. Other prominent steel companies in the Pittsburgh area included Jones and Laughlin and Crucible Steel. An expansion of steel mills occurred again from 1900-1903 with the last major new construction in the region in 1911. In 1907 the total population of Pittsburgh numbered approximately 521,000 with 70,000-80,000 making up the workforce in the steel industry. The early twentieth century saw the height of the steel industry in Pittsburgh and by 1910, Pittsburgh had produced approximately 25 million tons of steel, exceeding 60% of the nation’s total.²

The Make-up of the Workforce

Pittsburgh’s economy focused on heavy industrial enterprises, and a large percentage of the labor force worked in plants associated with those industries, which set the city apart from other metropolitan cities.³ The make-up of the workforce in the steel mills consisted of a majority of un-skilled workers. In 1907, there were a total of 23,337 employees, making the Carnegie Steel Company the largest employer in the area. The chart below provides an understanding of who these workers were that helped Pittsburgh become the steel capital of the world during the early twentieth century. Moreover, how race and citizenship reflected the positions held in the steel mills is presented in the chart.

The information provided below from The Steel Worker, by John Fitch, provided demographic information regarding the steel workers as well as their skills. Slavs outnumbered the whites more than double, yet the majority of them occupied unskilled positions, while American born whites constituted the majority of the skilled positions. Lastly, it shows that there were more unskilled positions within a steel mill than skilled and semi-skilled, therefore providing opportunities for individuals who were not skilled laborers.⁴

The Beginning of Unions in the Steel Mills

In 1858, a group of iron workers created a union known as the Sons of Vulcan which began the labor movement in Pittsburgh. Although this union was at first a secret union, by 1862 it was a national organization and became known as the National Forge. By 1876 the organization became one of the strongest unions in the United States. In 1876, the union and two other organizations united to create the National Amalgamation of Iron and Steel Workers. However, the number of steel workers associated with this group was extremely small due to Pittsburgh being the “iron city” during this time. The membership of the National Amalgamation of Iron and Steel Workers was approximately 3,500 in 1877 and continued to see growth throughout the years with approximately 24,000 members by 1891. However, it is important to note once again that this organization primarily consisted of iron workers, not steel workers.

By the late nineteenth century, the Carnegie Steel Company owned the four largest steel mills in the Pittsburgh region: Homestead, Edgar Thomason, Duquesne, and Clairton. Carnegie opposed unionization within the steel mills and by 1889, he had appointed Henry C. Frick as chairman of Carnegie Brothers and Company, who also shared his views. Although the Homestead mill was at one time the only one successfully unionized, after the Homestead Works Strike in 1892, the union ceased to exist. However the Steel Workers Organization Committee, founded in 1936, marked the return of unions in the Pittsburgh area. By 1942 the organization became the United Steelworkers of America, one of the world’s largest unions.

The Homestead Works Strike of 1892

Within the five years leading to the strike in 1892, the Carnegie Steel Company’s capital had doubled and their employment had increased to approximately 4,000 with 800 being members of the Amalgamated Association.⁵ The sliding scale, introduced in 1889, set pay by the ton and pay rates varied depending on the market price of steel. However, wages would not be reduced further if the price was to drop below $25 a ton. During the spring of 1892, the Amalgamated Association wanted to renew the contract on these terms, however, the Carnegie Steel Company wanted the base to be $22, not $25 as well as wanting the contract to expire in January instead of July.⁶ Not only did the members not want the base to drop below $25, they also did not want the contract to expire in January. However, as talks of wages and contracts ending were happening, there was another essential issue ¾ unionism.

By the time Frick became chairman of Carnegie Brothers and Company in 1889, the Amalgamated Association had become more powerful, but members worried he would threaten their union due to his suppression of the strike in the coke region years earlier.⁷ The Homestead Works Strike officially began on June 30, 1892. Although the sliding scale had affected the skilled workers, unskilled workers were moving in to skilled positions, therefore, the Association needed the assistance of them as well. Since Frick had used Pinkerton detectives during the coke strike in Connellsville, PA, workers worried he would do the same in Homestead. On July 6^th, 1892, 300 Pinkertons came up the Monongahela River to keep the strikers out of the mill. The Pinkertons surrounded the Homestead works after hours of bloodshed, seven deaths, and others wounded.

By October, men started to return to the mills in either their old positions or in inferior positions, moreover, some were not allowed to return at all. Furthermore, cuts in wages occurred as the year went on, which workers accepted and did not protest.

Workers’ Wages

In regards to wages, unskilled laborers in 1892 earned 14 cents an hour in Homestead, whereas in 1907-08 they earned 16.5 cents in mills operated by US Steel and workers in the Jones and Laughlin plants earned 15 cents an hour in 1907.⁸ Although workers saw an increase in wages, the Bureau of Labor Bulletin noted that wages still feel short by 4 percent with keeping pace of the increased cost of necessities.⁹ The skill workers, paid by tonnage rates, saw their wages impacted by the fluctuation of steel prices. For example, in 1892 in Homestead, a person in a Roller position earned approximately $11.84 an hour during an 8 hour work day, whereas in 1907 the same position earned approximately $9.90 during a twelve hour shift, a decline of 16.39.¹⁰ The figures represented indict that rises in workers’ wages did occur, however, the workers were still not making enough money to keep up with the increased cost of necessities. Since there was not a presence of a union in these mills, workers were not in a position to negotiate their wages. It was not until the 1930s and 1940s that the presence of unions returned and workers had a voice in the mills regarding their wages.

Workers’ Hours

Steel mills operated twenty-four hours a day on either eight hour shifts or twelve hour shifts. By 1890, the twelve hour shift was customary in steel mills throughout the region and over half of the men worked twelve hour shifts.

Although the blast furnace’s operated on Sundays, other mills such as the rolling mills did not. Though, by the early twentieth century, as the twelve hour work day become increasingly routine, and the unions were not prevalent, work on Sunday became routine as well. Not only did these employees work for half of the day, but coupled with the exhaustion endured during these hours, they had little time and energy to participate in family life, such as attending church as well as entertainment.

John Fitch, author of The Steel Workers, interviewed steelworker John Barr who provided a glimpse of what life was like as a mill worker at the time. Barr worked Sunday and twelve hour shifts which had become more prevalent which he understood as the result of the dissolution of the union.

He occupies a skilled position in one of the mills, where at the time I visited him he   was working an eleven-hour day one week, and the next, a thirteen-hour night. On   alternate Sundays he had the long turn of twenty-four hours. This Sunday work,   had told me, came in after the union had been driven out, and the twelve hour day   is more general now than it was under unionism. “Tell me, how can a man get any   pleasure out of life working that way?¹¹

Barr’s last remarks reflect his inability to have an enjoyable life due to his working conditions during the early twentieth century.

The Demise of the Steel Industry in Pittsburgh and Deindustrialization

During World War II, the steel mills in the area contributed to the war effort but the industry began its decline soon after. In 1966, the area saw the first closure and demolition of a US Steel mill -- the Donora Works. While steel mills in other countries paid their workers $7-$9 an hour, American steel companies paid their employees $25.¹² Because of foreign competition and the use of old technology, Pittsburgh priced themselves out of the market.

Within the next two decades, the trend of closures and layoffs continued throughout the area. During the most drastic period in the 1980s, the Pittsburgh region saw the closure of the USS Carries Furnaces in Rankin in 1982, the USS Duquesne Works and Clairton Works in 1984, the J&L Pittsburgh South Side and J&L Hazelwood Works in 1985, the USS Homestead Works and the Wheeling-Pittsburgh Monessen Works in 1986, and lastly in 1987 the USS National Works in McKeesport shut its doors.¹³ Within the first few years of the 1980s, 30,000 employees -- approximately 90% of the work force --had lost their jobs.¹⁴ A total of over 75,000 people lost their jobs in the steel industry from 1972-2002.¹⁵

Due in part to deindustrialization, Pittsburgh and Allegheny County also witnessed a population decline. Allegheny County’s population loss can be attributed to younger middle and upper income out-migrants and semiskilled workers who finally realized that the old blue collar manufacturing jobs would not return.¹⁶ Although Pittsburgh had made a comeback in the 1990s with high technology and service industries, it had not provided jobs for the thousands who lost theirs during the demise of the steel industry. The unskilled workers of the steel mills, who typically did not have a college degree and had performed work that did not require specific experience, had found nonunion jobs throughout the region but most had offered lower pay than what they had received in the steel mills.

Pittsburgh’s Attachment to its Steel Past

Despite no longer being the steel capital of the world, Pittsburgh holds tightly to its steel past. Although known more now by its universities and medical centers, the city continues to remember its industrial history. The question is – why? Are the blue collar workers protesting the loss of their way of life? Is it simply commercialization? Or is it the people’s pride of their identity and their blue collar roots in history?