Job Satisfaction: Traditional and modern study
In the classic block buster movie from 1956, the legendary actor Charlton Heston playing the role of Moses’ declared to Pharaoh “Let my people go” (Exodus 5:1, New International Version). This is a reenactment of the Old Testament account from the Book of Exodus, where Moses is referring the Jewish people that are being used as slave labor by the Egyptians to build the pyramids. Archeologists and historians estimate the story of Exodus originated between 1550 and 1000 BC. From a historic perspective, the story depicted from Exodus describes that of mass worker job dissatisfaction. Moses’ the leader of Jewish people may have been the first leaders in the worker rights movement.
As…show more content… Other worker grievances such as poor working conditions and long labor hours (10 to 12 hours per day), were the main concern of workers. Safe working conditions were a major concern of employees. It was a common practice of the time to lock down factories. This practice was to insure workers stayed at their work stations and to keep people from stealing. This practice landed in the front pages in 1911 as a result of a fire in New York City’s garment district at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory. Ross (2011) notes that, this was one of the most iconic yet tragic incidents in US history when 146 people lost their lives during the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. Ross (2011) further expresses the cruelty and abuse that employees were subject to during this time period as workers tried desperately to escape the inferno only to find that the doors were locked in an effort to prevent employee theft. There was no doubt that, New Yorkers who witnessed women jumping out the windows of the building and landing on the hard sidewalks below, caused life-long trauma to those who observed this horrific event. The tragedy at Triangle Shirtwaste and the public outcry for safe working conditions resulted in government enacting work place safety laws. The