SWOC MONUMENT IN HOMESTEAD (1942)

Erected on the eve of the formal transformation of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee to the United Steelworkers of America by the Homestead local union, this elegant granite slab expresses the independent spirit and pride in the struggle for union rights represented by the Homestead Strike. The image harkens back to the muscular iron puddler as a symbol of skill and strength. The optimism of the union movement that was being recognized and mobilized into the mammoth production effort of World War II is symbolized by the bright sun overhead. It recalls the sacrifice of those workers who were “killed while striking against Carnegie Steel in defense of their American rights.”

The movement to publicly memorialize the Homestead struggle began at a commemoration on July 5, 1936. At a rally held at the 7th Street playground addressed by Judge Michael Musmanno and Lieutenant Governor, Thomas Kennedy, a former mineworker union officer, a Steel Worker Declaration of Independence was endorsed. “Through their control over the hours we work, the wages we receive, and the conditions of labor, and through their denial of our right to organize freely and bargain collectively, the Lords of steel try to rule us as did the royalists against whom our forefathers rebelled.” By the time the memorial was erected, free speech and union rights had finally come to Homestead.

SWOC Monument-Homestead, south end of Homestead Grays Bridge (named for African American baseball team, formerly Homestead High Level Bridge), Homestead