The Front Line

June 1914

View this item

The Front Line
  • Title
  • The Front Line
  • Date
  • June 1914
  • Identifier
  • 913.15C.SW
  • Description
  • One man, possibly a company official, glances up at the camera while another stares towards the pickets on Edgewood Avenue. A Pennsylvania Railroad trolley car can also be seen on the street. General manager H.G. Prout claimed to be surprised at the strike's outset and was puzzled by the initial lack of demands, saying that "[the strikers'] action seemed to have been spontaneous, and came without intimation to us of their intentions. They simply quit without presenting any grievances whatever." The union would soon present a list of grievances to Prout which he would consider in the days leading up to the end of the strike. The 1914 strike at the Union Switch & Signal Plant began on June 12th when between 1,100 and 1,400 employees walked out at lunch time to picket and join some 2000 strikers from other Westinghouse plants marching on Edgewood and Braddock Avenues in Swissvale. Organized by the Allegheny Congenial Industrial Union, the strikers demanded an eight-hour day, reinstatement of discharged union men, permission for workmen to elect grievance committees, and higher overtime and holiday rates. The union claimed victory upon culmination of the walkout on June 27th, saying that the company had agreed to allow committees and consider the other grievances. Company general manager H.G. Prout dismissed these claims however, asserting that no promises were made to the employees.
  • Type
  • still image
  • Genre
  • photographs
  • Subject
  • Men
    Strikes and lockouts
    Demonstrations
    Railroad tracks
    Cable cars (Streetcars)
  • Geographic Subjects
  • Swissvale (Pa.)
  • Source
  • Union Switch & Signal Strike Photograph Collection, June 1914
  • Contributor
  • University of Pittsburgh
  • Collection
  • Union Switch & Signal Strike Photographs
  • Rights Information
  • Copyright Not Evaluated. The copyright and related rights status of this Item has not been evaluated. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use.
    http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/