Labor Unions in Western Pennsylvania: History and Impact

Introduction: Western Pennsylvania as an Industrial Hub

The history of unions in Western Pennsylvania is strong and rich. Factors including locality and population growth made Western Pennsylvania — and Pittsburgh in particular — an ideal place for various industries. Sullivan (1955) asserts that Pennsylvania was ideal because it possessed many natural resources: wooded mountains, fertile valleys, and vast deposits of coal and iron ore. The state also provided access to two major waterways, the Delaware Bay and the Chesapeake Bay, which opened Pennsylvania's natural products to world markets.

"This richly endowed colony with its heterogeneous population was destined to assume a commanding position among the English settlements in North America. Throughout the eighteenth century, its commerce and industries held a preeminent position in British America, and Philadelphia, its capital, was unquestionably the cultural and intellectual center of the thirteen English colonies" (Sullivan 1955).

Sullivan (1955) asserts that Pittsburgh in particular had significant potential for manufacturing. As early as 1786, media outlets such as the Pittsburgh Gazette were predicting that the city would become a place of "great manufactory; indeed the greatest on the continent, or perhaps in the world." Like other cities in Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh's location was ideal for the industries it supported. The city sits at the point where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers converge — a location that, prior to 1860, was considered the most important channel of both transportation and migration between the Atlantic seaboard and the Trans-Appalachian West.

Sullivan (1955) notes: "No other city in the State grew as rapidly as this one. Pittsburgh in 1803 had a population of about 2,500. In 1820, this city had 7,248 inhabitants; ten years later, it had 12,568, indicating a 73% increase; and by 1840, this city had a population of 21,115, making it the fifth city in the nation. In a struggle that began over the control of this strategically located village the French lost an Empire."

History and Rise of Unions in Western Pennsylvania

The influx of settlers into the region, combined with its natural advantages, aided in the rapid development of Pennsylvania. More specifically, these factors contributed to what would become an enormous labor movement as the demand for products and workers increased.

It was during this period of rapid growth that workers in Pennsylvania recognized that the conditions of their employment were deplorable (Sullivan 1955). For this reason, workers decided to organize and bargain collectively in an effort to improve those conditions (Sullivan 1955). According to Sullivan (1955), there were many reasons why workers felt the need for such organization.

The main factor was the increased number of people entering the wage-earning class. This situation created merchant capitalists who possessed large amounts of money. Combined with a vast and growing market, a sharp division arose between capital and labor, compelling workers to take defensive action against what they called the "inroads of a Mushroom Nobility" (Sullivan 1955). Workers were pushed toward labor unions because the labor movement was becoming increasingly class-conscious, which threatened their standards of living.

This threat was particularly acute for skilled artisans, who were the first to form labor unions (Sullivan 1955). The development of industry during the 19th and early 20th centuries brought steam-driven machinery and the expansion of the factory system, both of which threatened the paramount position of skilled artisans. These forces brought unskilled hands and additional wage earners into direct competition with skilled workers, and it was at this moment that labor became an organized and active force in the economic and social life of Americans (Sullivan 1955).

The Steel Union

Sullivan (1955) summarizes this transformation: "The idea of antagonistic interests between the workers and their employers was of slow but persistent growth. Early in the nineteenth century at the trial of the Philadelphia cordwainers this discord, which was to characterize the relations between capital and labor, was very much in evidence. Subsequent decades saw it spread to most of the other trades. By the middle 1830s it had permeated almost all groups of workers including the factory operatives and the day laborers. This growing awareness on the part of the wage earners that their interests as a class were separate and distinct from the other classes in society found expression in the numerous labor organizations which sprang up throughout the State and in the increasing strife, and charge and counter-charge which marred the relations between the workers and their employers."

The most pervasive industry in Western Pennsylvania was the steel industry. Pittsburgh in particular produced a large amount of steel and thus employed a great many steelworkers. Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the steel industry used tactics of intimidation to prevent workers from forming unions, and some workers even lost their lives as a result (Early History). The unions nonetheless gained some credence with the 1889 strike at the Carnegie Company Mill in Homestead, Pennsylvania, which produced a contract outlining the conditions under which employees would work. However, the union responsible for that contract — the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers — was eventually disbanded (Early History).

The next major attempt to create a steel union came in 1919 with the support of the American Federation of Labor. That year, over 360,000 steel workers went on strike. The industry responded by bringing in strikebreakers, and martial law was imposed in some states. Twenty people died during the strike, and the steel industry still refused to recognize unions (Early History).

The leverage that steel companies held over employees came to a halt with the Great Depression. Brody (1965) asserts that the Depression fundamentally undermined the paternalistic approach to labor relations known as welfare capitalism — the belief that all-powerful steel companies would always protect deserving employees in exchange for loyalty. The economic collapse disproved this assumption: "The giant firm could not prevent unemployment, nor even relieve the hardships of its men. The steel corporation … was 'at the mercy of business just like any other corporation'" (Brody 1965).

The first steel union to be fully recognized by the industry was the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC), formed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on June 7, 1936. This union was distinguished by its stable foundation and the superb leadership of Philip Murray (Early History). SWOC and the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers together mounted an organizing drive that attracted 125,000 workers in 1936 (Early History).

Although the organization of steelworkers helped bring about new labor legislation, significant violence persisted across the country over conditions in the steel industry, including conflicts in Chicago, Youngstown, Ohio, and throughout Pennsylvania (Early History). Eventually some steel companies acknowledged the union's power and agreed to negotiate. In 1942, SWOC and the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers were dissolved and replaced by the United Steelworkers of America (USWA). The USWA became instrumental in securing the rights of steelworkers, negotiating pensions, and organizing strikes for benefits including paid holidays (Early History).