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THE AMALGAMATED ASSOCIATION OF IRON, 

 STEEL AND TIN WORKERS 



CHAPTER I 



History --" 



The Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin^ 

 Workers is a trade union which had its genesis in a combi- 

 nation of various organized labor forces of the iron and 

 steel mills of this country about forty years ago. The tin 

 workers were incorporated into the organization in the.year 

 i88i, when their importance as a distinct class of workmen 

 justified membership. For fifteen years after its forma- 

 tion, the Association increased in strength, membership and 

 influence. It consisted, in June, 1892, of two hundred and 

 ninety-two lodges in good standing, and about twenty-four 

 thousand taxable members, exclusive of those holding trav- 

 eling cards. The great labor contest of 1892, unparalleled 

 in the history of the organization and of great importance 

 in the development of the American labor movement, ended 

 disastrously for the union. This struggle, part strike and 

 part lockout, took place at Homestead, Pennsylvania, be- 

 tween the Amalgamated Association and the Carnegie Steel 

 Company, Limited, of Pittsburgh, owners of the Homestead 

 Steel Works. The contest was hard fought, but the union 

 was crushed. Gradually it was driven from one mill after 

 another, until its complete overthrow in the East was con- 

 summated in the year 1901, Today its chief stronghold 

 lies in the iron mills in the western section of the country. 



' The word " Tin " was inserted in the name of the union in the 

 late nineties. The president, in his 1^97 report, addressed the con- 

 vention as, "Tile Amalf>ainateil Associalitm of Iron, Tin and Steel 

 Workers." 



