Working Conditions during the Second Industrial Revolution

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Working Conditions during the Second Industrial
Revolution
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• Long hours12-16 hrs.
• Low wages
• Women and children worked same hrs. as men for as
  little as half the pay.
• Unsafe working conditions.
• Company towns meant no paper money - only scrip
  that could be used at co. store!

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• in 1890 Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust
  Act, which made it illegal to form trusts that
  interfered with free trade, though they only
  enforced the law with a few companies.

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• Factory workers were mostly European immigrants,
  children, and rural Americans who came to the
  city for work.

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Furman Owens, 12 years old. Can't read. Doesn't
know his A,B,C's. Said, "Yes I want to learn but
can't when I work all the time." Been in the
mills 4 years, 3 years in the Olympia Mill.
Columbia, S.C
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11 years old been working 1 year
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One of the spinners in Whitnel Cotton Mill. She
was 51 inches high. Has been in the mill one
year. Sometimes works at night. Runs 4 sides - 48
cents a day. When asked how old she was, she
hesitated, then said, "I don't remember," then
added confidentially, "I'm not old enough to
work, but do just the same." Out of 50 employees,
there were ten children about her size. Whitnel,
N.C.
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Michael McNelis, age 8, a newsboy with
photographer Hine. This boy has just recovered
from his second attack of pneumonia. Was found
selling papers in a big rain storm. Philadelphia,
Pa.
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Francis Lance, 5 years old, 41 inches high. He
jumps on and off moving trolley cars at the risk
of his life. St. Louis, Mo.
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View of the Ewen Breaker of the Pa. Coal Co. The
dust was so dense at times as to obscure the
view. This dust penetrated the utmost recesses of
the boys' lungs. A kind of slave-driver sometimes
stands over the boys, prodding or kicking them
into obedience. S. Pittston, Pa.
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Some of the young knitters in London Hosiery
Mills. London, Tenn
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Oyster shuckers working in a canning factory. All
but the very smallest babies work. Began work at
330 a.m. and expected to work until 5 p.m. The
little girl in the center was working. Her mother
said she is "a real help to me." Dunbar, La.
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Manuel the young shrimp picker, age 5, and a
mountain of child labor oyster shells behind him.
He worked last year. Understands not a word of
English. Biloxi, Miss.
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Norris Luvitt. Been picking 3 years in berry
fields near Baltimore.
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Joseph Severio, peanut vender, age 11 seen with
photographer Hine. Been pushing a cart 2 years.
Out after midnight on May 21, 1910. Ordinarily
works 6 hours per day. Works of his own volution.
All earnings go to his father. Wilmington, Del.
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Strikes and Setbacks for Workers

• workers began to organize
• first effective group was the Knights of Labor

• At first, the union preferred boycotts to
  strikes, but strikes soon became a common tactic.
• Some famous strikes include
• The Great Railroad Strike was the first major
  rail strike, which stopped freight trains for
  almost a week, caused violence, and was put down
  by the army.
• The Haymarket Riot in Chicago was a result of a
  protest against police actions toward strikers.
  It killed 11 people and injured over 100.

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• Employers struck back by forcing employees to
  sign documents saying they wouldnt join unions
  and blacklisting troublemakers.

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• More jobs available! Many filled by immigrants,
  African Americans, women, and children.
• By 1890 20 of children between ages of 10-15
  worked.
• Child Labor was a HUGE problem! Every penny
  needed to EXIST therefore every family member
  must work!
• Children were especially useful in coal mines and
  in textile mills.

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• A cycle came about
• Industrialization in the cities brought in new
  jobs.
• New jobs bring in new immigrants.
• New immigrants move to the cities to be close to
  jobs which led to. . .urbanization which
• led to . . .
• Overcrowding in the cities. This leads to
  further problems (which we will talk about in the
  next chapter).

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• Before industrialization Cities Compact,
  Buildings compact, and people lived less than 45
  min. from center of town.
• After industrialization Skyscrapers and
  elevators led to huge buildings and mass transit
  allowed cities to grow and led to creation of
  suburbs.

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City Growth Spurs Transportation Advances

• Streetcars
• By 1900 most cities had electric streetcars, or
  trolleys.
• Subways
• As cities grew, traffic became a serious problem,
  The city of Boston opened the first U.S. subway
  line in 1897.
• Automobiles
• Airplanes
• 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright flew their tiny
  airplane

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Inventors Revolutionize Communication

• Telegraph
• Samuel F. B. Morse

Telephone
Alexander Graham Bell
Typewriter

• Businesses began to hire woman as typists.

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Thomas Edison

• first phonograph

electric light bulb
motion picture camera and projector.
1,000 U.S. patents.
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• Do you think child labor is a problem today?
• (In US as well as other countries)

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Exhibit 2.1. Federal Limits on the Hours and the
Type of Work That 14- and 15-Year-Olds May
Perform1 Youths 14 and 15 years of age may be
employed outside school hours in a variety of
nonmanufacturing and nonhazardous jobs under
specified conditions. There are limits on both
the duties these youths may perform and the hours
they may work. Occupation restrictions Banned
from performing most work but may be employed in
retail, food service, and gasoline
service establishments. Banned from working in
manufacturing, processing, or mining, or in any
workroom or workplace in which goods are
manufactured, processed, or mined. Banned from
performing any work the Secretary has declared to
be hazardous for young workers by issuing
Hazardous Occupations Orders (HOs). Banned from
occupations involving transportation,
construction, warehousing, or communication,
or occupations involving the use of power-driven
machinery. May perform some cooking at snack bars
and in fast-food places in full sight of
customers, but banned from performing baking.
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Exhibit 2.1. Federal Limits on the Hours and the
Type of Work That 14- and 15-Year-Olds May
Perform1 Youths 14 and 15 years of age may be
employed outside school hours in a variety of
nonmanufacturing and nonhazardous jobs under
specified conditions. There are limits on both
the duties these youths may perform and the hours
they may work. Occupation restrictions Banned
from performing most work but may be employed in
retail, food service, and gasoline
service establishments. Banned from working in
manufacturing, processing, or mining, or in any
workroom or workplace in which goods are
manufactured, processed, or mined. Banned from
performing any work the Secretary has declared to
be hazardous for young workers by issuing
Hazardous Occupations Orders (HOs). Banned from
occupations involving transportation,
construction, warehousing, or communication,
or occupations involving the use of power-driven
machinery. May perform some cooking at snack bars
and in fast-food places in full sight of
customers, but banned from performing
baking. Hours restrictions The Regulations limit
the hours and times of day during which 14- and
15-year-olds may work to - outside school
hours - not more than 40 hours in any one week
when school is not in session - not more than 18
hours in any one week when school is in
session - not more than 8 hours in any day when
school is not in session - not more than 3 hours
in any day when school is in session and -
between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., except during the
summer (June 1 through Labor Day), when the
evening work - limit is 9 p.m. 1 Limited
exceptions to the hours and occupations standards
are permissible for students participating in
bona fide Work Experience and Career Exploration
Programs. See exhibit 2.2.
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Exhibit 2.3. The Hazardous Occupations
Orders Federal Ban on the Work Activities of 16-
and 17-Year-Olds in Nonagricultural
Employment Working with explosives and
radioactive materials Operating motor vehicles
or working as outside helpers on motor vehicles
(except in very limited circumstances) Mining
activities, including coal mining metal mining
and other mining, including sand and
gravel operations Operating most power-driven
woodworking, and certain metalworking,
machines Operating power-driven bakery, meat
processing, and paper products machinery,
including meat slicers and most paper balers and
compactors Operating various types of
power-driven saws and guillotine
shears Operating most power-driven hoisting
apparatus, such as nonautomatic elevators,
forklifts, and cranes Most jobs in slaughtering
and meatpacking establishments Most jobs in
excavation, logging, saw-milling, roofing,
wrecking, demolition, and ship-breaking and Most
jobs in the manufacturing of bricks, tiles, and
similar products.
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Child Labor accusations

• Nike and child labor in Pakistan (soccer balls)
• Wal-Mart fined in 2005 for violating child
  labor laws
• Chocolate children in W. Africa forced to work
  on cocoa farms under inhumane conditions and
  extreme abuse (many American companies BUY the
  chocolate that is exported although they do not
  own the cocoa farms themselves)
• Gap India (clothing)
• John and Kate Plus 8 Investigated by PA
  authorities for breaking child labor laws but
  found to be in compliance.

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Wal Mart and Kathie Lee

• The National Labor Committee reported in
  September 1999 that the Kathie Lee clothing label
  (made for Wal-Mart by Caribbean Apparel, Santa
  Ana, El Salvador) conducted sweatshop conditions
  of forced overtime. Workers hours were Monday to
  Friday from 650 a.m. to 610 p.m., and Saturday
  from 650 a.m. to 540 p.m. There are occasional
  shifts to 940 p.m. It is common for the cutting
  and packing departments to work 20-hour shifts
  from 650 a.m. to 300 a.m. Anyone unable or
  refusing to work the overtime hours will be
  suspended and fined, and upon repeat "offenses"
  they will be fired. This factory is in an
  American Free Trade Zone. (http//www.nlcnet.org/K
  ATHLEE/elsalvinfo.html)

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USA Today - 2005

• In the USA, an estimated 300,000 to 500,000
  youth, ages 12 to 17, work in agriculture. While
  some of these children work reasonable hours and
  are under relatively safe conditions, many are
  exposed to dangerous machinery and pesticides.
• Children in families that move from state to
  state to perform farm work often miss school,
  making it difficult for them to catch up.
• Some eventually drop out altogether.
• United Farm Workers union estimates that at
  least 800,000 children work in the fields of the
  U.S. And when the urban sweatshops of the garment
  and other industries are accounted for, the total
  number of child laborers in the U.S. runs even
  higher.

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• WHAT CAUSES CHILD LABOR TODAY?
• Poverty is widely considered the top reason why
  children work at inappropriate jobs for their
  ages. But there are other reasons as well -- not
  necessarily in this order
• family expectations and traditions
• abuse of the child
• lack of good schools and day care
• lack of other services, such as health care
• public opinion that downplays the risk of early
  work for children
• uncaring attitudes of employers
• limited choices for women

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• WHAT ARE SOME SOLUTIONS TO CHILD LABOR?
• Not necessarily in this order
• Increased family incomes
• Education that helps children learn skills that
  will help them earn a living
• Social services that help children and families
  survive crises, such as disease, or loss of home
  and shelter
• Family control of fertility so that families
  are not burdened by children

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What responsibility do we have?