Germinal: Strike Action and Workers

Meursault's character is the determining factor in his conviction and sentencing. His social rebellion is deemed immoral and abominable. The reader and the novel's characters both try to rationalize Meursault's actions in order to give his life meaning. But according to Meursault, life is meaningless and consequently needs no justification.

The Pullman Strike of 1894 was the first national strike in American history and it came about during a period of unrest with labor unions and controversy regarding the role of government in business.5 The strike officially started when employees organized and went to their supervisors to ask for a lowered rent and were refused.5 The strike had many different causes. For example, workers wanted higher wages and fewer working hours, but the companies would not give it to them; and the workers wanted better, more affordable living quarters, but the companies would not offer that to them either. These different causes created an interesting and controversial end to the Pullman strike. Because of this, questions were raised about the strike

In the late 1800s and the early 1900s, labor was anything but easy. Factory workers faced long hours, low pay, high unemployment fears, and poor working conditions during this time. Life today is much easier in comparison to the late 1800s. Americans have shorter days, bigger pay and easier working conditions. Not comparable to how life is today, many riots sparked, and citizens began to fight for equal treatment. Along with other important events, the Haymarket Riot, the Pullman Strike, and the Homestead strike all play a vital role in illustrating labor’s struggle to gain fair and equitable treatment during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The general strike of May 1926 was not a success for those attempting to force the government to act to prevent wage reductions and worsening conditions for coal miners. Had the TUC been more prepared to strike and followed through with what the miners wanted them to do, the government would have been faced with a much tougher challenge. Despite this, even if the conservative government were faced with a tougher challenge, the preparations and subsequence actions taken by them were more than enough and the main reason for the failure of the strike.

The Great Strike of 1877 coming after the heels of the Civil war and in the midst of a time of economic upheaval in American society, this is not argued, this is the fact of the time. We now have many primary source documents that we can use to ask questions and make judgements about this period in American history. Perhaps most importantly is the everlasting ability of using the media specifically newspapers during this time period, to sway public opinion. The question a historian finds himself asking is, if and how are the newspapers used to form and give the general public not the strikers or the business owners, a bad opinion of the strikes and a good opinion of the railroad strikers.

After the war, Canadian factories that manufactured war supplies were permanently closed. This produced a lot of unemployment and bankruptcy. The cost to live was increasing dramatically and many people (who were still employed) could not compete with the inflation.(CBC, N/A, 1). WW1 veterans who had returned home after the war found that the wages were far too low.(School Work Helpers, 2016, 1). Some people wished to be employed, while others wished for better working conditions.(CBC, N/A, 2). On May 15, 1919, metal and building workers and the trades and labor council declared a strike. In a few hours, 30,000 left their jobs to participate in the strike.(Reilly, 2006, 3). One Big Union (OBG) was designed to speak for the workers.(School Work Helpers, 2016, 1). The House Of Commons had modified the Immigration Act so that any individual who was not born in Canada would be deported.(School Work Helpers, 2016, 2). The government feared that this strike would create a revolution, so they interfered. Workers were told to either go back to work or be fired.(Reilly, 2006, 6). On June 21, 1919, otherwise known as Bloody Saturday many people engaged in a silent protest. 2 people were killed that day and many sustained injuries. Several of the union leaders were arrested.(School Work Helpers, 2016, 2). Strike leaders were afraid that more people would be killed so on June 25, they went back to work.(Reilly, 2006, 3).

The third account of crisis is found in Natalie Zemon-Davis’ story entitled “The Return of Martin Guerre”. As the title states, this work centers around Martin Guerre, though the primary players include his wife Bertrande and Arnaud du Tilh, Martins’ imposter. With the sudden disappearance of Martin,

The miners continued working diligently, even though they were paid with little money that would just be given back to the company when they bought their necessities at the local company store. The miners were left with nothing other than a sense of desperation. That is, until they begin trying to form a labor union to fight their oppressors. The novel continues by walking you through the fights the miners are subject to. However, their annoyance to the companies only brings more troublesome times. The companies were too strong and the miners were brought down. Many of them were killed and the companies’ greed for industrialization only grey. However, this was a historical novel, so we know that such occurrences were availing. Later in history, changes were made to better the lives of miners thanks to the ones that were like was we saw in Storming Heaven.

“Labor Party Series: William Sylvis: Advocate for a Labor Party and a Wokers’ Internationl” http://socialistorganizer.org/labor-party-serie-william-sylvis-advocate-for-a-labor-party-and-a-workers-international/ 3 September 2012

In 1968, a major change occurred in not only New York’s educational system, but also in the U.S. In the book The Strike That Changed New York, Jerald E. Podair aims to delve into the experiment known as Ocean Hill- Brownsville, that ultimately led to one of the largest teacher strikes in America’s history.

The Winnipeg General Strike The year of 1919 has been one of the most influential years of strikes

There were a lot of issues that prompted employees at the Frontier hotel to take striking as an action to be heard. When watching this documentary for the first time I didn’t realize how long these workers were on strike for. One word to describe the owners of these hotels is “savages”. They started to fire individuals for no apparent reason it seemed the owners wanted to cut back. There was one girl that worked in the culinary department for eight years and she was let go. The hotel also took away health insurance benefits, pension contributions for employees trying to retire and the most important cutting employee wages for the hotel to save money and for the owners to profit even more letting these employees work next to nothing. A lot of workers said they felt their pride was being taken away also trying to take care of their own family will be even more inflexible. The hotel took away everything so these employees had no chose but to strike.

1863. Etienne Lantier, who has been fired from a railway company for being involved in union activities, lands a miner's job in the North of France. He finds bed and lodging at the Maheus', all of whom being miners themselves and whose daughter Catherine proves susceptible to his charm.The work is hard, ill-paid and dangerous. When the miners hear their wages are going to be cut down they revolt, led by Lantier. The company decides to bring workers in replacement and the authorities repress the rebels ruthlessly. The strike ends in death and suffering but hope for a better future still prevails, in spite of

The Labor Movement was necessary to protect the common interest of workers. The state of working environments during the Industrial Revolution produced a mandate for this movement. The Industrial Revolution served as a turning point for all western nations because of the influx of businesses and factories. America generally benefited from the revolution; however, it was at the expense of the workers. Industries were only interested in profit so workers were generally underpaid, worked long hours, and in unsafe conditions. Working conditions during the revolution were generally dreadful. And since there were copious amounts of people willing to work for any compensation, employers could set wages as low as they wanted. Labor unions arose because there were many who disagreed with how big businesses ran. A prime objective of labor unions is to make sure its members are paid fairly. Labor activists believe that employees and the company share its successes and that they should be rewarded for its productivity. Labor unions want to improve working conditions for their members. They demand reasonable working days along with safe working environments. Also, labor unions provide more than just job security and safety services. These services include provision of education and training to inform union members of their employment rights and to improve their basic skills. Labor unions are a group of employees who organize to provide a balance in negotiations between management and the

Competition between these workers allow wages to fluctuate often, and working conditions worsen. To better these situations, the Proletariat form trade unions to keep up rate wages. He believes society can no longer live under the bourgeoisie and this existence is no longer compatible with society.