Organized labor did indeed try to succeed, few goals were achieved, but too many impediments stood in their way of significantly improving their positions. The public’s opinion was a major contributing factor in overruling labor unions. According to The New York Times, the public was sympathetic towards the strikers of Baltimore and Ohio Road (Doc B). However, during the year of that editorial, there was the Panic of 1877. Most people at that time were actually just starting to get suspicious of organized labor.
The Homestead Strike The Homestead Strike was held at Carnegie Steel Mill, and was famous for the struggles between the Labor Unions, and the Business owners around the late 1800s. Many of these struggles turned very violent, which caused many to get hurt. The Labor Unions (Organization of workers) were wanting higher pay, shorter work hours, and upgrade safety conditions for the members. Many Business owners think that Union is an act of trying to take charge of the business owners right to run their company as they please. The owners also don't like the fact that the Union Leaders can call a 'Strike' when the workers feel threatened with their job.
Labor Unions and working Conditions. Working conditions were part of the problems that Labor Unions took care of. At the beginning of the industrial Revolution there were not many laws made for working field, without laws or having being told how to have a company/factory kept, owners were too uncaring and paid a little attention to the cleanliness of the business but more to the profit that was being made. Also owners were not paying their employees enough money, and the factories were unsafe. The cause of the problem was that owners were selfish and very greedy.
Work conditions were horrible for the few people who happened to have jobs in the 1930’s. They worked long hours for very little pay and they were treated badly by their bosses. The Fair Labor Standards Act helped workers by establishing a minimum wage of 25 cents an hour and a standard work week of fourty four hours for businesses engaged in interstate commerce. The Fair Labor Standards Act placed regulations and limits on how long a person could work and also ensured that a person would be paid a certain amount of money. Even though work places now were under regulation, many workers still had little or no contribution to rules, or determining whats right or wrong.
The Industrial Revolution was a period in time that many people think changed the world only for the better. Even though the Industrial Revolution brought about many great inventions that have helped us become a great nation, no one recognizes how many lives it damaged in the process. Agricultural workers and especially factory workers had their health destroyed, and sometimes died, from the horrible working conditions that they were placed in. Many workers wrote about and testified in court about the terrible work environments they were put in, hoping to bring about some change and spread solutions to their problems. These people also managed to fit into the ideological and political frameworks of two of the greatest thinkers during this time period, Karl Marx and Alexis de Tocqueville.
Because of this, they endured more and more prejudice. Old traditional industries The traditional industries failed to respond to the new mass-production methods of the 1920s, unlike the Ford company that was making a good profit and could pay impressive wages. Also, following a reduction in the powers of Labor Unions (Trade Unions), the workers were not in a position to be able to claim better wages and working conditions in the old industries. * Coal - Coal prices fell and thousands had to be made redundant because the industry was producing too much coal and not enough people and countries wanted to buy it. * Ship building - Another major industry that had to make thousands redundant due to a reduction in the demand for new ships.
The reasons this occurs is due to numerous factors like the number of companies going out of business, lack of job growth, future plans for job growth does not meet the need, founding father’s not allowing large business to come to town, education level of community, sales tax is high, and average household income is low. Another reason for the high unemployment rates in Mohave County is that there are some very rural areas and job availability is low. Some people actually make more living off the unemployment benefits then they would get paid at a minimum wage job. “Unemployment benefits range from $60 to $240 per week depending on a person’s previous income” (Pelham, 2011). “The average job growth is 1.46% lower than the Nation’s average.
As the workers’ wages outpaced the prices of goods, the workers began to become rich and skilled in what they did. The only people who had servants to attend to them were the ones who could afford the terribly high salaries the servants demanded. Neighbors stole lead off of their dead neighbors’ roofs, stole pots and pans from their kitchens, and many times stole the clothes off their backs to sell to others. The need for money was extreme. Before the plague, Europe was beginning to struggle economically.
The Jungle Kendall Paris July 13, 2012 Life in industrial America, particularly for immigrants and working class people was a big struggle. There were so many hardships that they had to go through such as: working conditions, unjust businessmen/wages, and poverty/starvation. “So America was a place of which lovers and young people dreamed. If one could only manage to get the price of passage, he could count his troubles at an end.” (Pg. 27) Most of the immigrants are tricked into the beliefs that they can find steady work, high wages, and a comfortable life in America.
I live in New York City. Some days I get so frustrated with constantly seeing all these immigrants coming to take our jobs. It’s hard enough for us white Americans to find and maintain a decent home without having to share the search with the constant swarms of immigrants. I work in a dark, dirty, crowded, hot factory for such a degradingly low wage, but we take what we can get. It’s getting difficult to keep jobs now because the immigrants agree to work in such slums for less pay than we get.