preview

The Song Of The Shirt Essay

Decent Essays
Open Document

WITH fingers weary and worn, With eyelids heavy and red, A woman sat, in unwomanly rags, Plying her needle and thread-- Stitch! stitch! stitch! In poverty, hunger, and dirt, And still with a voice of dolorous pitch She sang the "Song of the Shirt." "Work--work--work! My labour never flags; And what are its wages? A bed of straw, A crust of bread--and rags. That shatter'd roof--and this naked floor-- A table--a broken chair-- And a wall so blank, my shadow I thank For sometimes falling there! These are few lines from the long forgotten poem “The Song of the Shirt” of Thomas Wood that resonates forcibly with “Putting-Out” form of labor prevalent in late 19th century. The song is about a women working under the wretched conditions of “Putting out system”; a system widely used in English and American textile industry …show more content…

It determines whether companies such as Uber is a tech-enabled service giant valued at billions of dollars or just another huge transportation company. Money street is hoping that a middle ground will be reached with alternatives suggested to move to a co-op model or to even define a third category of employee in the labor law. There is precedence, where in 2012, host of strippers managed to win a similar class action lawsuit against the clubs stating that “ if the exotic dancers have no control of the work place and if the business wouldn’t exist without the exotic dancers then they must be treated as employees and not independent contractors” [3]. In effect it will determine whether the gig economic model will reverse the time and take us back to the 19th century sweatshop work model, when “when workers had no power and no legal rights, took all the risks, and worked all hours for almost nothing.” [5]. It will determine if there ever will be a “The Song of the

Get Access