Parade on Edgewood Avenue

June 1914

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Title
Parade on Edgewood Avenue
Contributor
University of Pittsburgh (depositor)
Date
June 1914
Identifier
913.9A.SW
Description
Marchers parade southward on Edgewood Avenue with the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks and "The Switch" to their right. Featured prominently in this shot are several women. Women played a vital role in the Westinghouse strike of 1914 and perhaps no role was more important than that which was played by Bridget Kenny. Kenny, dubbed the "Joan de Arc" of the strike by the Pittsburgh Leader, was integral in organizing marches and recruiting workers to the ACIU. Kenny was formally employed by Westinghouse but was let go on February 7, 1913 for selling union benefit tickets on company grounds. 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
Political activists
Men
Women
Strikes and lockouts
Demonstrations
Streets
Street-railroads
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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