Precarious Or Atypical Labour Can Be Poorly Paid And Insecure ( Walton, 1990 )

When women started working in factories, they faced hardships in working conditions. There were dangerous fumes and explosive dangers. There was always the risk of accidental explosions. It was even harder for mothers because there were not any child care policies offered by many companies. Women soon began making unions, such as the National Women’s Trade Union League, where women met and found ways to help raise women wage and have better work

Seventy-five percent of the workforce was made up of women,9 and most of these women were Mexican. These Mexican women faced extremely harsh treatment while working. The three biggest problems these women had that they wanted to get rid of by unionizing were the “pet” system, when male employees and supervisors would favor women they liked or went out with,10 the piece-rate system, when workers get paid by their work accomplished, not by the hour, and the supervisors, who would constantly watch the women and make sure they were working hard.11 Women particularly hated these three systems, especially since they are discriminatory. Also, the piece-rate system would make it hard to get consistent pay. All of the strenuous work would of course make the workers sore, and soon their workload would slowly start to decrease. Furthermore, it is hard to design the piece-rate system in such a way that women would get about the same amount of money men who are paid by the hour. In addition to discrimination, the jobs were often dangerous, as Julia Luna Mount stated, “After work, my hands were red, swollen, and I was on fire!”12 These working conditions inevitably made the labor force create the United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing, and Allied Workers of America (UCAPAWA). Most of the members in this

al, 1996, p. 65). Minority women faced greater oppression, and were less likely to be hired. If they were lucky enough to find a job, it was usually low-ranking, part-time, and short-term, as employers eagerly replaced them with Caucasians, men or both (Frances et. al, 1996, pp. 69-70). Part-time work was very common, with 25% of female workers part-time in 1989 (Frances et. al, 1996, p. 66), displaying an employer’s reluctance to allow women employees. Even as more females entered the workforce despite resistance, they were still discriminated against due to the current powers in charge.

At a time when labour unions were gaining in memberships, organization, and bargaining power, women in the workforce made marginal gains during this period considering the booming economy. Sociologically, a healthy economy should in theory provide the framework for change. When citizens have low unemployment and more money in their pockets, time and attention is less directed at bread and butter issues like sustenance and poverty, and aimed at equality and social progress. For women unfortunately, this was not necessarily the case. Their battle with employers was still a struggle between classes than gender parity. Male union leadership would naturally further male worker interests first,8 and this shows a culture of sexism in the workplace that was clearly difficult for working women to overcome. Even union-dues paying women rarely openly questioned their subordination as a sex.9 They were most likely outnumbered and the consequences of being a whistle blower did not want to be entertained. In the mindset of women who worked however, was a developing identity as female wage earners and unionists.10

Ehrenreich does find that there are several problems for the unskilled working woman. Some of the issues she elaborates on are the age and tedious work expected from women that are older or have families. The demands of these low level jobs are so restrictive that a single mother may find it almost impossible to find a job that will cooperate with her schedule as an employee and a mother that she may not be able to fill these expectations. These jobs often entail repetitive physical labor and offer no benefits for the individual resulting in poor health conditions. Women often find themselves working at times they should be recovering or healing but are unable to because the employers make it abundantly clear that they can be replaced.

Throughout both in-class discussions, and David Shipler’s “The Working Poor: Invisible in America” we learned being poor in America is anything but easy. Even with all of our government assistance programs such as Medicaid and Welfare, many family generation after generation seem to fall below the poverty line and create a life of struggle and long way out for their families. When Shipler is explaining different families and their lac of self control in saving the little money they do earn, it makes you question if the have the know how to get out of poverty, or even in some cases even want to due to their different spending habits than successful people, falling into credit traps, and buying the un-necessary.

Women are more prone to live in low income circumstances than men, hence introducing the social problem of gender discrimination. Women have been discriminated in the workplace over time in that they are paid less than men in specific jobs and are not seen to be ‘suited’ to particular jobs, especially in the manufacturing and trade industries. Marxist feminist Margaret Benston believed that women were oppressed by capitalism in that they were treated almost as a back-up, or secondary option of cheap labour that enabled profits to be kept up. ‘In 1994, 6.41 million women were in low-paid jobs and on average women’s full-time gross weekly pay was 72 percent of that of men’(Kane, 2003:115).

Once a you become unemployed, however, you become powerless, desperate for any source of an income. Once in this position, an individual is likely to take a job which is below their capabilities and for less pay.  The difference in class and standing continues to increase. Those with money have the luxury of waiting for a job that strikes their interest, not just a job to make minimum wage.  They can wait until an appropriate job comes up or they can further their education to improve their position even more. Economically, the world is entering into a new phase in which fewer workers will be needed to produce the goods and services for the global population.  For most of the modern era, people's worth has been determined by the value of their labor and skills.

After reading this chapter in Burke’s book and the need for people to believe in something that was false but was necessary is still evident today. In your examples of privacy and advantages of poor labor, I believe those are signs of changes in the times more than anything. Yes the government is invading our privacy that was at one point long ago considered a big deal. The times have changed however and if asked most people would prefer some form of things to be monitored but how to you just narrow that down to a few? People tend to get worked up when they feel personally offended or wronged but yet still purchase said cheap electronics or other items from countries using low wage labor. It is not until they or someone they know are affected

Sex-based wage discrimination is against the law, as is stated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The same Act prohibits pregnancy discrimination and states that employers cannot refuse to employ a woman because of pregnancy or terminate her, force her to go on leave at an arbitrary point during pregnancy or penalize her because of pregnancy in reinstatement rights credit for previous service, and accumulated seniority. Family responsibilities typically still fall more heavily on women, and neither society nor employers have found good ways to mesh those with job demands. Employers see parental leaves as a lack of commitment to the job and therefore more likely not to give promotions to the female workers (Kleiner & Kuta, 2001:45-47). Women can get equal treatment, but mostly when they behave like traditional men and leave the primary family responsibilities at home. Many women choose to take time off or to work part-time to be with their children rather than stay on the job and mainly because of lack of day care and flexible job options (Kleiner & Kuta, 2001:45-47). Some women drop out of work force for as long as two or three years,

We are entering a new phase in world history - one in which fewer and fewer and fewer workers will be needed to produce the goods and services for the global population...For the whole of the modern era, people's worth has been measured by the market value of their labour...now new ways of defining human worth and social relationships will need to be explored (Rifkin 1996). Life has changed, globalisation and feminism have had a huge impact on the work environment around the world. Technology has also made many jobs redundant. Unemployment has become an issue all

Since the mid 1970’s there has been economic and social transformation in the economy in terms of specific form of urban labor (Sassen, 246). A key shift is the change in occupational and industrial employment which has also seen a shift in balance. Sassen states that,”Such shifts directly affect the mix of job characteristics, including earnings levels and employment stability, and the types of careers available to local workers” (Sassen , 246). The new type of flexibility leads to an increase in flexible employment and precarious work. This means that there is an increase in part-time jobs that include no regular scheduling, no set hours and can be highly unstable for the employee. With this also comes the rise of jobs paying under the poverty level. This affects different cities because workers under the poverty level can not maintain a middle class level of living, thus shaping the decline of the middle. Instead of having more areas of middle class structure there is an increase in the separation between high and low. An example of this can be seen throughout cities with the decrease in middle retail, which means that there is large separation between the retail to high end and low end, but not much in the middle. Aside from retail, labor markets in cities are also structures around sets of jobs that are very particular (Sassen,

The generation now has made it easier to equalize men and women but there is still a substantial amount of places where gender inequality is still happening in the workplace and where females still face discrimination. Women are often discriminated in the workplace and are usually not promoted as quickly as men are and they also receive less pay. History shows that women have not always been defined as property and thought of as second class citizens. But in the 21st century many have seen a drastic change in the so called “traditional” family ways where women are suppose to stay home and take care of the household chores, food, and children and men are suppose to work to support their family and provide financial stability. Many assume that in the workplace women are more vulnerable and less competent than men because women 's instincts are to put their family before work or anything else. Whereas men are the ones who will usually stay the late hours to work. People on both sides of the political spectrum and everywhere in between seem to be fearful of what is to come and more fearful of others than they are often willing to admit.

The men who once acted as providers for their family, now rely on their wives to scrape together enough food in order to feed the families. The new, more obvious reliance on women as providers begins to embolden the women. Since the women now suffer along with their striking husbands, the wives soon see themselves as active strikers as well.

Across the world vast majorities of workers are undergoing a series of major employment cataclysms. The deindustrialisation of the major western economies over the past thirty years has stimulated the emergence of new economic powerhouses, the global influence of neo-liberalism, and the associated transformation of the capital-labour contract, of which have all radically altered and shaped employment across the industrial world (Saad-Filho, 2002). In the context of these pro-capitalist dynamics, work as a whole is undergoing further transformation as jobs are now veering away from traditional employment models in favour of neo-liberal organisational systems (Bellucci, 2015). Unfortunately, such significant changes in international industrial