Employees upset with piece rates, working conditions, and lay-offs walked out of the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing plant in East Pittsburgh on June 5, 1914. Organized by the Allegheny Congenial Industrial Union (ACIU), they soon organized marches through East Pittsburgh and Turtle Creek in an effort to persuade workers at other Westinghouse plants to join the walkout. These marches made their way to Swissvale as the ACIU Local No. 2, Union Switch & Signal (US&S) plant, voted to strike. On Friday, June 12th, US&S officially joined the walkout when over 1,000 workers left the plant at lunchtime to be greeted by an additional 2,000 parading strikers from the East Pittsburgh plants. Women played a vital role in the marches and their participation in these events is well represented in the album. It was a festive event on a gorgeous late spring day. Marching bands headed the parade, American flags flew, and sympathetic shop owners provided refreshments and food to the sun-soaked demonstrators. Several hundred US&S strikers joined the parade while the rest formed pickets surrounding the plant on Edgewood and Braddock Avenues. Picketing continued in this fashion outside of Union Switch & Signal for the duration of the strike. Employees voted to return to work on June 27th, claiming victory based on the concessions made by the company. The Union Switch & Signal plant remained an open shop until 1937 when it was organized on an industrial union basis by the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America, as UE Local 610.
From the description of Union Switch and Signal Company strike photograph collection, June 1914. (University of Pittsburgh). WorldCat record id: 31312455
