George Mueller’s arrest caused eight thousand steel and electrical workers in the Pittsburgh district to strike in protest. Mueller wanted them to return to work, but the union members had a meeting and voted to not consider a company offer about their wages until the court lifted its antistrike injunction. Due to the strike many stores closed, and the trolley service was reduced to 50 per cent of what it was before. The charges against Mueller were eventually dropped, which led to negotiations about wages. Trolley service was completely cut by a sympathy strike a short time after the negotiations began.
With the majority of the men gone that usually worked the factories and welding plants the United States needed to keep producing arms, ammunition, and other various equipment for the troops to continue they efforts. Thus women were encouraged by posters such as these showing that they too could help the country in this time of need. Needless to say, a great deal of women stepped up, were trained, and filled jobs that had, until this time, only been filled by men. Rosie the Riveter has made a mark on the American people and most of all the way in which the American woman is seen. Women were once only seen in homes cleaning and cooking and the era of Rosie was the first step in women’s rights.
The government decided to start a propaganda campaign to get women working to help with the war. They promoted “Rosie the Riveter” as the ideal woman worker: loyal, efficient, patriotic, and pretty. (Sorensen 3) The campaign was a success because the women stepped in to take the factory jobs that the men left behind when they went off to war. The women took jobs such as making ammunition, uniforms, and air planes. They were also doing jobs such as welding, riveting and engine repair.
Dear Mr. Moore, As per your request I have reviewed the case in the details and all the facts found throughout my investigation point out that your company is liable for the conduct of your employees and sexual harassment accusations brought by Virginia Pollard. Virginia Pollard was the only woman working in the warehouse, and she has become a victim of pranks perpetrated by her six male colleagues. They made her work environment very uncomfortable and stressful.” Her co-workers taped her drawers shut, locked her out of the guard shack she sat in to watch the inventory, filled the guard shack with trash, and backed a forklift up to the door and made it backfire in her ear.” She was constantly exposed to inappropriate language and behavior
However as good as all of that sounds, once again do not judge a book by its’ cover. A housekeeper working for UPMC and making $12.07 an hour claims some workers could not even afford college or to add money to the plans. The union’s campaign is to be seen as making incredible strides in helping their workers break the cycle of poverty and join the middle class. S.E.I.U. is backed by Pittsburgh’s mayor Bill Peduto, and the people of Pittsburgh.
New industries, naval, and army bases were being built during the home front. Women played a huge role in this because if they didn’t stay home and take over for the men, they wouldn’t have the money to raise their families. “Only one in nine of the 45,000 women who signed up were selected for duty overseas” (Suite101) so a large percentage of women stayed back home. The National Selective Service controlled the women and men. They would only make the decisions for them “who could join up and who could not, where they could work, and when they could change jobs.” (Thecanadianencyclopedia) It was a tough life, but it was the only way to support their husbands when their off to war.
According to Sarah Killngsworth, “The war started and jobs kinda opened up for women that men had. I took a job at a shoe-repair store on Wilshire Boulevard. Cleanin’ shoes and dyin’ shoes, the same thing that men did.” Rosie the Riveter is widely known as the symbol of feminism and women’s economic power. “The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter” by Connie Field, although the documentary was only an hour long, went into great detail to explain the “new place in society” that white and black women had during the time of World War II. Field chose five women to interview and talk about their experiences during the war, stressing the working conditions that the high volume of war production built for black and white women.
Also, inhaling fine wood dust can create respiratory illnesses. Employees have complained over the years about the dust, but the employer still has not created a method to frequently clean the factory. One day Karen, a co-worker, tells you that while she was operating her machine she noticed three quick sparks in the air near her work station. Karen informed her Section Manager about this incident, but the response was that she shouldn’t worry about it. She is now scared that the factory may explode at any moment.
Along the way however, the way in which the characters lived changed as well. During Kracha’s time, money struggles dominated his life. During his efforts to obtain stability, he worked on the railroad, then moved to the steel mills, where years later, proceeded to open and own a butcher shop, then finally ended up back at the mills. His interests were not in updating and owning a home; rather, they lied in drinking, cheating on his dying wife and leaving three children on the backburner. Mike, however, was committed to his family and did not like the idea of keeping boarders to obtain more money for he didn’t want his wife, Mary, to overexert herself.
In a Strike, the Union Members refused to come to work. As a group they would make signs, and march around the front of the Business to get the public and owners attention. The workers do this in hopes that it would change the owners mind to come to an agreement with the Union Members. Now once the Homestead Strike started to become violent, the company decided to bring in Armed Guards to protect the mill, and the new workers that were replacing the workers on strike. Not too much longer after the strike started, a gun battle began, which ended in people killed or injured including guards and workers.