HOMESTEAD, Pa., and DULUTH, Minn.—Labor unrest has flared almost simultaneously in two cities. In Homestead last week, after thousands of disgruntled workers shut down the immense steel plant owned by Carnegie, Phipps & Co., management requisitioned replacement workers and hired a security force of 100 Pinkertons to enforce order. In the copper and iron port of Duluth, several hundred striking sewer workers stormed through the streets on Saturday, attacking the strikebreakers who had replaced them; by day’s end, the police had killed or mortally wounded four strikers.

Both outbreaks of violence appear to have been sparked by management proposals to cut wages. In Duluth, companies requested that the mayor safeguard their right to pay $1.50 per day to workers who had been accustomed to earning between $1.75 and $2 per day. In Homestead, the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers struck on July 1, after negotiations to renew the union contract broke down. Mr. Carnegie had demanded a 25% wage cut and individual employment contracts with each worker, which would effectively prevent the union from collective bargaining.

The violence in Duluth, according to eyewitnesses, verged on chaos. Saturday afternoon, the strikers routed the workers who had replaced them. Then, outnumbering the police by roughly 20 to one, the strikers drove the security forces into an open sewer, pelting them with bricks, stones and pistol fire. A whistle blast from the construction site alerted a militia squadron, which marched double-time to the scene and dispersed the strikers with bayonets.

The situation in Homestead remains tense. Experts in labor relations say that when the replacement workers and private police arrive later this week, the strikers are likely to resist. A person familiar with the matter says that Mr. Carnegie is averse to pursuing a confrontation that could escalate into violence and is trying to keep the possibility of negotiations open.

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