The Second Industrial Revolution: Labor Movement
November 23, 2011
Period 7
The Second Industrial Revolution
Labor Movement
During the late 1800s, the period when industrial growth was so dramatic was called the Second Industrial Revolution. New technologies expanded throughout this period such as the Bessemer process which was an inexpensive way to make steel from iron, oil, railroad expansion, and corporations. The Second Industrial Revolution created many jobs but it had many imbalanced conditions. The rich were getting tremendously rich, while the poor stayed very poor and unfortunate. Governments paid little attention to workers. Also, labor workers were in terrible conditions and rights were violated during the Industrial Revolution.
Workers were in dangerous conditions working
with large, heavy equipment in factories. Many workers were vulnerable to injury and death during the job. They had no vacations, no sick leave if they happened to get ill, and no assistance if they were injured during the task. Labor workers were paid very low wages while working about 19 long tiring hours a day. Child labor was also common during the Industrial Revolution. Children as young as five years old were paid only a fraction of what an adult would receive, and sometimes factory owners would get away with paying them nothing at all. The people who the children worked for would physically beat, verbally abuse them, and also take no consideration for their safety. A supervisor would tie weights to the child's neck and make him or her walk around for everyone to see which lasted up to an hour or so if the child had arrived tardy to work. This cruel punishment leads to serious neck and back injuries. Children were also whipped in order to make them work faster. Working conditions were so bad that workers began to join together forming labor unions in order to make their demands heard by the government.
The goals of the labor movement in the late 1800s were several of ideas the workers wanted to improve the working conditions. They demanded an eight hour workday, safe working condition, and reasonable hours of work with decent wages. The most important goal was to end cruel child labor. They also wanted to secure for both sexes equal pay for equal work. By forming labor unions, workers went on strike to protect worker’s rights violated by the government. In Document 2, strikes began occurring almost every hour. Railroad workers refused to work and blocked trains from moving by putting heavy loaded cars on the railroad tracks. Traffic was stopped for more than a week. The cigar makers in Document 5 were paid extremely low wages, worked in crammed tenements, paid outrages rent, and lived in small houses. They didn’t have the power to improve their working situation because if they rebelled, they would be given eviction with entire loss of employment or an alternative of submission. In Bangladesh, many young women work non-stop sewing clothes that are being shipped to America. They barely get to sleep and take a break from sewing. Also, to get the women to work faster, the supervisor would physically abuse them. Their wages are barely a dollar.
The barriers to achieving these goals were if the employees went on strike, employers blacklisted them or could possibly be fired. The blacklist is a list of workers thought to be troublemakers and they were shared between companies. Black listed workers were also not hired. Another barrier was that the government and the army intervened when labor workers went on strike. In addition, some men lost their jobs to men who had children small enough to work in the factories.
Labor leaders organized unions to try to improve the working conditions while industrial capitalists resisted their efforts, increasing the conflict among the laboring classes. Labor workers thought it was unfair and unjust to have low wages while working long hours a day. All what was wanted was logical amounts of pay, an eight hour work day, ban child labor, and have safe working conditions.
Period 7
The Second Industrial Revolution
Labor Movement
During the late 1800s, the period when industrial growth was so dramatic was called the Second Industrial Revolution. New technologies expanded throughout this period such as the Bessemer process which was an inexpensive way to make steel from iron, oil, railroad expansion, and corporations. The Second Industrial Revolution created many jobs but it had many imbalanced conditions. The rich were getting tremendously rich, while the poor stayed very poor and unfortunate. Governments paid little attention to workers. Also, labor workers were in terrible conditions and rights were violated during the Industrial Revolution.
Workers were in dangerous conditions working
with large, heavy equipment in factories. Many workers were vulnerable to injury and death during the job. They had no vacations, no sick leave if they happened to get ill, and no assistance if they were injured during the task. Labor workers were paid very low wages while working about 19 long tiring hours a day. Child labor was also common during the Industrial Revolution. Children as young as five years old were paid only a fraction of what an adult would receive, and sometimes factory owners would get away with paying them nothing at all. The people who the children worked for would physically beat, verbally abuse them, and also take no consideration for their safety. A supervisor would tie weights to the child's neck and make him or her walk around for everyone to see which lasted up to an hour or so if the child had arrived tardy to work. This cruel punishment leads to serious neck and back injuries. Children were also whipped in order to make them work faster. Working conditions were so bad that workers began to join together forming labor unions in order to make their demands heard by the government.
The goals of the labor movement in the late 1800s were several of ideas the workers wanted to improve the working conditions. They demanded an eight hour workday, safe working condition, and reasonable hours of work with decent wages. The most important goal was to end cruel child labor. They also wanted to secure for both sexes equal pay for equal work. By forming labor unions, workers went on strike to protect worker’s rights violated by the government. In Document 2, strikes began occurring almost every hour. Railroad workers refused to work and blocked trains from moving by putting heavy loaded cars on the railroad tracks. Traffic was stopped for more than a week. The cigar makers in Document 5 were paid extremely low wages, worked in crammed tenements, paid outrages rent, and lived in small houses. They didn’t have the power to improve their working situation because if they rebelled, they would be given eviction with entire loss of employment or an alternative of submission. In Bangladesh, many young women work non-stop sewing clothes that are being shipped to America. They barely get to sleep and take a break from sewing. Also, to get the women to work faster, the supervisor would physically abuse them. Their wages are barely a dollar.
The barriers to achieving these goals were if the employees went on strike, employers blacklisted them or could possibly be fired. The blacklist is a list of workers thought to be troublemakers and they were shared between companies. Black listed workers were also not hired. Another barrier was that the government and the army intervened when labor workers went on strike. In addition, some men lost their jobs to men who had children small enough to work in the factories.
Labor leaders organized unions to try to improve the working conditions while industrial capitalists resisted their efforts, increasing the conflict among the laboring classes. Labor workers thought it was unfair and unjust to have low wages while working long hours a day. All what was wanted was logical amounts of pay, an eight hour work day, ban child labor, and have safe working conditions.