USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Frick did what plenty of 19th-century businessmen did when they were battling unions. He hired the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, which was notorious for such activities as infiltrating its agents into unions and breaking strikes-and which at its height had a larger work force than the entire U.S. Army.

Detailed explanation-2: -In 1892, the Carnegie Steel Company in Homestead, Pennsylvania discharged workers from the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers Union. A bloody confrontation ensued between the workers and the hired Pinkerton security guards, ultimately killing 16 people and causing many injuries.

Detailed explanation-3: -Impact of the Homestead strike Though the Homestead workers initially enjoyed widespread public support, this changed after their brutal treatment of the Pinkertons, as well as an attempt made on Frick’s life in late July by the anarchist Alexander Berkman, who had no connection with the union.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Hated Men in Blue The Pinkerton Detective Agency, on the other hand, staked its reputation on crushing labor actions. Between 1866 and 1892, Pinkertons participated in 70 labor disputes and opposed over 125, 000 strikers. Even before the Homestead strike, Carnegie and Frick had employed the Pinkertons.

Detailed explanation-5: -The AA organized the independently-owned Pittsburgh Bessemer Steel Works in Homestead in 1881. The AA engaged in a bitter strike at the Homestead works on January 1, 1882, in an effort to prevent management from including a non-union clause in the workers’ contracts, known as a “yellow-dog contract".