Particularly vulnerable groups were the old, who had no means of acquiring money. The young, were dependant on their parents’ financial status and good will, if they were not orphans. Seasonal workers were vulnerable due to the cyclical nature of their employment. Anyone who suffered from illness either long or short term fell into poverty because there were no sickness benefits. Women were another vulnerable group because they were always paid at a lower rate than men.
The minimum wage was far lower than the livable wage, however, welfare reform was expecting people to become independent through these unlivable minimum wages. True independence with minimum wage was never a possibility and the lives of the impoverished only became more dire. Due to the low minimum wage, Ehrenreich was forced to find a second job, even with the advantage of starting with an ample sum of money. Also, like others she met that lacked welfare support, these jobs were in terrible settings. Descriptions of these settings, including no breaks, slippery floors, abundant second-hand smoke, and more, reminds one that the factories of the Industrial Revolution have returned.
The hardships that they had to face back then may seem to us now as unimaginable. These working people were forced to occupy a crowded shack making it unhealthy for the families inhabiting them making them more prone to disease. Having to live in these horrible conditions meant children had to grow up quick which meant they were made to see more than they needed to.” It is bad for the children. They get to know too much” (Hine) When these mothers and fathers were working if they had a baby even then they still had to work and work with the baby alongside them. “The baby had to be cared for in the shed where they worked because the company permitted no one to stay at home to care for it” (Hine) Workers had to be very careful of the way they acted with their bosses, not doing so could of jeopardized the workers transportation and free rent that they had, and would have put them in a situation where they could be inconvenienced.
Stop the Neglect By: Lexi Armbright Imagine sending your child to work and not knowing if they will be back or not. This is the reality for many families in different countries. There are many issues that are affecting this world little at a time. But one that is absolutely disturbing is the lack of child labor laws in so many countries. Child labor laws control the age and amount of work a child is doing.
There is no training program for them that state any reasons why the culture of the company relies on customer satisfaction. So in this case some employees may feel resentment for having to put so much effort into making their customer happy. For instance, some Nordstrom employees may feel that it is too difficult to meet the needs of some of their customers. Employees are expected to go out of their way, even to work long hours or beyond their hours to meet their customers’ needs, but they do not get compensated for any overtime. The environment for this employee could be very stressful and cause them to not want to put much effort into sales.
Industrial Revolution Workers who had to work in factories was very difficult for them. They would come across things that weren't so easy but now things have improved to help workers. The Industrial Revolution made the lives of workers harder because of child labor, working conditions and factory accidents. Labor for children was very cruel. In picture A, its showing children with lost limbs while at work.
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.
Our education system has not improved with the times. The world has caught up and the US has yet to realize that long-term investment in schools and teachers is the best pay off for a worker and the country. Now the jobs are left with are the upper class people who are "symbolic analysts" using "mathematical algorithms, legal arguments, financial gimmicks, scientific principals, psychological insights," and other tools that usually come with a college or graduate degree. Then we have our lower-class comprised of low-level service jobs like waitressing, house-cleaning, security guards etc. Decreased social mobility is hard on the lower class because without being able to move forward, they are stuck in a cycle of poverty.
But these immigrant children did not get any pay, this was child labor because the under aged immigrant worker was used and did not receive pay. It was more of a two for one deal for the factory owner because small bodies were needed to fit a certain job. “They are doing away with a great deal of mule-spinning there and putting in ring-spinning…for that reason it takes a good deal of small help…they get all the small help they can to run these ring-frames.” (65). These requirements cost many immigrants available work, leaving these immigrant men without pay unable to provide for their families. In an interview Thomas O’Donnell explains “…at Fall River if a man has not got a boy to act as “back-boy” it is very hard for him to get along…in many cases discharging men in that work and put in men who have boys…and that has brought my circumstances down very much…our children are very often sickly of not having sufficient clothes, shoes, food or something” (64, 65).
poverty Poverty in the United States is getting worse each day and not enough is getting done about it. The readings from “Babies and Benefits” by Sheila Holbrook-White, the article on poverty by Michael J. Paquette, and “Keeping Women And Children Last” by Ruth Sidel made me view the issues of poverty in a different way. I never realised what kind of people were living in poverty, and the true reasons why they are there. What amazes me the most is how much these people need help, and how little the government is doing to help them. The government should set up work programs for these people to help them get better jobs and make enough money to survive.