Better Work Conditions For Factory Workers In The 19th Century

In society, many make a living by working for others to get the necessities they need. Workers face many struggles such as wage cuts, horrendous work conditions, an increase in hours, due to these conditions they are labeled ‘wage slaves.’ These individuals have no choice but to work in these conditions. The growth of industry in the United States made corruption easier and made employers richer while the poor stayed poor. The employers justify their actions by arguing that the employees have a choice to go and work for someone else. However, workers do not have the choice to work for others since most employers were using the same method to make a profit. Workers are treated unfairly, but they use many effective techniques such as strikes

During the late 1800s, many Americans worked at jobs that required little or no real skill. These jobs were tedious and boring because they did the same task every day for however long they worked. Their work day included long hours and was often six to seven days each week. These workers were not only working for low wages and long hours, they were working at jobs that involved extremely unsafe working conditions. Workers were becoming angry at their employers and the competition for the available jobs was increasing with the consistent growth of the areas surrounding the factories and the steady stream of immigrants made filling these unskilled jobs, at ridiculously low wages, and in extremely unsafe conditions relatively simple for the rising

Workers conditions in the late 19th century were unacceptable. There is an endless list as to why this is. Whether it is how they did not get payed much as they should have, or whether it is how they worked in dangerous factories/businesses. Workers were always men, while women stayed home. They would work in dangerous factories where they had very little knowledge of what they were working with which made it even more dangerous. They were paid little to no money while working over 14 hours a day. Any money that they did get went towards rent, food, water, etc. The families had poor living conditions. If they lived in the city, they would live in small houses or tenements(apartments). The streets were crowded, there was more than one family

Being an industrial worker in the late 19th-century in America was not a simple life. Even at the best times the pay was small and the time spent at work was long in dangerous conditions. Most of the money derived in America went to the actual workforce. Women and children suffered the most however, making up the majority of the workers and only receiving a small percentage of what a man could make. Different periods of economic crises tokk the nation by storm, also breaking down the amount of wages from industrial work and increasing the total population of the unemployed.

Before long, groups of men had come together to build the transcontinental railroad. A railroad company in the East worked from their side, and a company in the West laid tracks beginning in that territory. Each company raced to see who could lay the most tracks because the more tracks were placed, the more money the company would make (Hakim, p. 59). With the railroad being built, immigration begins to happen. Men, woman, and children emigrated from Ireland, China, Scandinavia, England, and Greece. With so people coming to the United States, there was not enough food, clothing, shelter, and many other things to go around. This situation created the need for more jobs and

The years following the Civil War and Reconstruction era was a time period that was somewhat gilded. The Second Industrial Revolution came bearing new inventions, and revolutionized how factories and jobs were worked. In this time period, factory workers were faced with unpleasant working conditions, abuse, pay cuts and the reality of having little to no power. The mass immigration also did them no favor as they were found easy to replace. In order to fight against these unjust acts, laborers would join labor unions in order to protest; however during the time of 1875 and 1900, the labor unions were not that effective. Although they had their efforts, many did utilize the advantages in which were available to them. There were many reasons for the movements initial downfall; they suffered failed strikes resulting from rash violence, unbalanced power between employers and employees, and the absence of government.

The factory workers at Lowell were mostly young women from New England farm families. During that time, employers hired women instead of men due to the shortage of labor and willingness of a woman to work for lower wages. As a result, for the first time in the U.S. history, the existence of women as wage earners became prevalent. By 1840, there were about 8,000 women working in the textile mills in Lowell, which was about 75% of the total workforce in those factories. Most of those women were from farms and came to mills for various reasons such as helping their brother to pay for college, helping with the home mortgages, to earn a supplementary income for themselves or for educational opportunities offered in Lowell. In some houses, the mill girls were the sole source of income. However, the work environment in the mills where these women worked was extremely poor.

In the late 19’th century, many new immigrants came to America with hopes to escape religious and political persecution, to find better employment opportunities, for more freedoms, and a chance to start over again. The immigrant work force grew fast as the demand for factory labor grew. These immigrants were important to industrialization in the United States. They were willing to work in unsanitary work conditions for little pay. Because of this, American industries were able to hire more of these types of workers. Although they were unskilled, the type of jobs they were required to do were jobs that didn’t demand much knowledge.

They modified the United States economically in the work force. The immigrants were rapidly growing in numbers and competed with the American born citizens for low end jobs. The Champion of American Labor acknowledged the immigrants growing power and warned American born citizens that if they failed to include the immigrants in their plans for better wages, then they will not receive their aid in the future (Doc C). The Irish immigrants were willing to do exhausting work for cheap, which made them desirable employees for many American companies ( Doc E). However, it caused the impoverished Native born citizens to panic over the growing amount of immigrants compared to the number of jobs available. They tended to settle in bigger cities, such as New York. Irish women immigrants received jobs helping in the households of American born middle-class. Both the Irish males and females did the backbreaking work in factories. Irish men performed the strenuous work of building America’s swiftly growing cities, especially New York. The Irish did not farm because it was too costly and was not tempting to those who had lived through the famine that caused them to immigrate to America in the first place. The German immigrants did not interact with Native born American citizens. They stuck to farming in rural areas (Wisconsin) and generated less wariness then the Irish. One

Many times these immigrants were living in poor areas, confined by their ethnicity at most times. “Most jobs were very dangerous and of an unskilled type of employment.” (Henkin, ed., Becoming America, 482) Also, there were many citizens known as skilled workers that made up their own class, many times also referred to as a middle class. Unfortunately, “skilled workers became less optimistic in the early 1870s as machinery and technological innovation rendered their skills obsolete.” (Henkin, ed., Becoming America, 483)

Employment wasn't offering an answer to the undesirable living conditions due to the Irish's lack of experience and skills. There was an abundant need for unskilled labor in America but because there were so many people looking for work, the wages remained ultimately low. Pay was often so low that Irish families would supplement their income by selling milk in the cities (242). Because the Irish portrayed an undesirable, under-standard, and unskilled image, job-seekers would commonly see a "NINA" (No Irish need apply) sign in the windows of what could have been prospective employers.

In the mid 19th century the majority of american work was still done on the farm. By the turn of the 20th century however the United States economy revolved into the industrial state with mainly everything and every type of labor revolving around the the factory. Most Americans living in this time period did anything they could to make money for their family, caring little about work hour, safety, or wages. Most people worked 10 hour shifts six days a week for wages barely enough for their family to survive off of. Even children as young as eight years old would work full time hours that kept them from being able to go to school. Men and women in this time period would work until their bodies could no longer take anymore, only then to be released

at the turn of the century, the industrial revolution was booming and in large cities such as New York, the economy was growing and so was the population. There was high demand for jobs in these large cities and immigrants were in the race to find employment. However, many of these immigrants were at a disadvantage in finding good paying, skilled jobs. Before they came to the United States, a great portion of the immigrant population had worked as rural farmers back in their native countries which didn't require much education or skill. This made the Immigrants unqualified to work higher paying, more advanced jobs, such as teachers, doctors or lawyers. "Being unskilled, uneducated and typically illiterate, they [immigrants] accepted the most menial jobs that other immigrant groups did not want." The Immigrants had to settle for work as laborers in places such as factories and industrial plants which were generally the lowest paying jobs in poor working conditions. Factory owners typically had low standards for their workforce as the work being done in these factories was fairly simple but many times unsafe. The huge population of immigrants was ideal to fill these positions who had little other choice in job opportunities. In desperation, they took what they could get for meager wages. This left them without the means to improve their living conditions and they were forced to live in the overcrowded slums. "The accommodations at the disposal of the

Working Condition In the late 19th-century the United States is probably famous and known for the vast expansion of its industrial plant and output. At the heart of these huge increases was the mass production of the goods by machines. All this process was first introduced and perfected by the British textile manufacturers.

The Factory Act, 1833 was an attempt to set up a normal working day in