The main reason for the Homestead Strike of 1892 was the conflict over wages and union recognition. Specifically, the strike was triggered by the steel company's demand for wage cuts through the retention of the sliding scale wage system but lowered by about 15 percent. More fundamentally, the company, led by Henry Clay Frick with Andrew Carnegie's backing, sought to break the union (the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers) and refused to negotiate further, issuing a take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum to the union. This led to a lockout and eventually to the strike when workers resisted the wage cuts and the company's anti-union stance, including hiring strikebreakers and hiring the Pinkerton agents for protection.