Preparing Lunch for Workers at the Switch

June 1914

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Preparing Lunch for Workers at the Switch

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Title
Preparing Lunch for Workers at the Switch
Contributor
University of Pittsburgh (depositor)
Date
June 1914
Identifier
913.47.SW
Description
Workers eager to eat pose for a photograph alongside men and women who prepared lunches for them. Each meal given to the workers included a cigar. Crates of Tweed's Mustard and Campbell's Tomato Soup are to the right. While there is no documentation in the album to supply proof, it seems likely that images of meals being served and eaten are of non-striking regulars and replacement workers in the plant being fed by the company during the walkout. This practice was also done in other Westinghouse plants including the Trafford foundry where the ACIU was unsuccessful in getting workers to join the larger 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
Women
Employees
Strikes and lockouts
Industrial buildings
Union Switch and Signal Company
Geographic Subjects
Swissvale (Pa.)
Source
Union Switch & Signal Strike Photograph Collection, June 1914
Collection
Union Switch & Signal Strike Photographs
Contributor
University of Pittsburgh
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.
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