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Amalgamated Association, union for iron and steel workers, forms.
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Carnegie put Frick in charge of the Homestead factory.
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Amalgamated Association won two big strikes against the
Carnegie Company. After 1889, the union became very powerful
and organized. They had a very strong union contract. -
Amalgamated Association asked for a wage increase. Frick
responded with a wage decrease. -
The old contract expired without the two sides reaching an
agreement. Frick locked the workers out of the plant, using a high
fence topped with barbed wire. -
Workers decided to strike and they surrounded the plant to make
sure that no strikebreakers would enter. -
After the local sheriff was unable to control the strikers, Frick hired
guards from the National Pinkerton Detective Agency to secure the factory so that strikebreakers could enter. The Pinkertons arrived by boat in the middle of the night, hoping to surround the factory unnoticed. The strikers knew they were coming. Shots were fired and people
killed on both sides.