Steel Strike Of 1919

in the United States, a strike that lasted from Sept. 22,1919, to Jan. 8,1920. It began after the steel companies refused to negotiate with the workers, who were demanding, among other things, an eight-hour workday in place of the current 12-hour day, higher wages, and the reinstatement of workers fired for participating in the labor union movement.

More than 370,000 people took part in the strike, which involved 95 percent of the country’s steelworks. The workers’ struggle was headed by the Committee for Organizing the Steel Industry, established in August 1918; the committee’s secretary was W. Foster. The authorities sent in police and troops to suppress the strike. Several workers were killed and hundreds were injured; several thousand people, including Foster, were arrested. The struggle was hampered in that there were no links with workers in other industries; it also suffered from sabotage by right-wing labor union leaders. The strike was an important stage in the development of the labor movement in the United States, and it forced company owners to increase wages by a slight amount and improve working conditions.