Produced by Odessa Paige Turner, Barbara Kosker and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) THE GREAT STEEL STRIKE AND ITS LESSONS by WILLIAM Z. FOSTER THE GREAT STEEL STRIKE AND ITS LESSONS [Illustration: PENNSYLVANIA LAW AND ORDER State Police driving peaceful citizens out of business places, Clairton, Pa. _Photo by International_] THE GREAT STEEL STRIKE AND ITS LESSONS BY WILLIAM Z. FOSTER INTRODUCTION BY JOHN A. FITCH NEW YORK B. W. HUEBSCH, INC. MCMXX COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY B. W. HUEBSCH, INC. PRINTED IN U. S. A. INTRODUCTION Half a million men are employed in the steel industry of the United States. At a period in which eight hours is rapidly coming to be accepted as the standard length of the working day, the principal mills in this industry are operating on a 12-hour work schedule, and many of their workmen are employed seven days in every week. These half million men have, for the most part, no opportunity to discuss with their employers the conditions of their work. Not only are they denied the right of bargaining collectively over the terms of the labor contract, but if grievances arise in the course of their employment they have no right in any effective manner to take up the matter with their employer and secure an equitable adjustment.[1] The right even of petition has been at times denied and, because of the organized strength of the steel companies and the disorganized weakness of the employees, could be denied at any time. The right of workers in this country to organize and to bargain collectively is unquestioned. On every hand the workers are exercising this right in order to protect and advance their interests. In the steel mills not only is the right generally denied but the attempt to exercise it is punished by expulsion from the industry. Through a system of espionage that is thoroughgoing and effective the steel companies know which of their employees are attending union meetings, which of them are talking with organizers. It is their practice to discharge such men and thus they nip in the bud any ordinary movement toward organization.