1. The Workers’ Plight Lesson 3 Angela Brown
The Workers’ Plight
a.      
Lesson 3
Angela Brown

2. Brainstorm a list of positive words associated with the idea of work.
Bellringer 3
Brainstorm a list of positive words associated with the idea of work.

3. I. Problems
With the growth of industry, the number of factory workers rose from about 900,000 in 1860 to more than 3.2 million in 1890.
Conditions for workers grew increasingly worse. They worked long hours for little pay. During the 1890s, most workers earned between $400 and $500 a year--- several hundred dollars less than the annual income needed to maintain a decent standard of living.

4. The Growing Work Force
Around 14 million people immigrated to the United States between 1860 and 1900.
The federal government encouraged immigration by passing what has been called the Contract Labor Act in 1864.
It allowed employers to enter into contracts with immigrants . They would pay their cost of passage, and the immigrants had to work for a certain amount of time up to a year.
Some 8 or 9 million Americans moved to cities during the late 1800s.
Plentiful work in the factories lured the former farmers, as did the faster-paced life of the city.

5. Unhealthy and Dangerous
Factory work was also unhealthful and dangerous. Miners breathed coal dust all day, while heavy machines in mills caused numerous injuries among workers.
Children were regularly employed as factory workers --- in part because families needed the extra income.
Workers also faced the constant threat of pay cuts and layoffs. When the business cycle brought slack periods, employers cut their costs by laying off workers.

6. Working Families Every family member worked in some way.
In the 1800s needy families were largely on their own.
Americans did not believe that the government should provide public assistance.
Most believed that poverty resulted from personal weakness.
Many thought offering relief to the unemployed would encourage idleness.
Families in need relied on private charities.

7. Increasing Efficiency
In 1881 Frederick Winslow Taylor set out to improve worker efficiency in the steel plant where he was chief engineer.
Workers feared that increased efficiency would result in layoffs or a lower rate of pay for each piece of work.
In 1911, his book The Principles of Scientific Management outlined strategies for efficiency.

8. A Strict Work Environment
Factory workers were ruled by the clock.
Factory workers performed only one small task, over and over, and rarely even saw the finished product.
This division of labor into separate tasks proved to be efficient, but it took much of the joy out of the work.
Owners seldom visited the factory floor.

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10. The workers were viewed as interchangeable parts in a vast and impersonal machine.
Workplaces were not always safe.
Factory Work offered higher pay and more opportunities than most people hoped to find elsewhere.

12. Working Women and Children
Employers in industry excluded women from the most –skilled and highest –paying jobs.
Factory owners usually assigned women to the operation of simple machines.
Women had almost no chance to advance in factory work.
In the 1880s, children made up more than 5 percent of the industrial labor force.

14. Due to the unhealthful conditions, many children became stunted in both body and mind.
In 1892 social reformer Jacob Riis tried to explain the impact of factory work on children in a book titled Children of the Poor.
The practice of child labor came under broad attack in the 1890s and early 1900s when states began curbing this practice through legislation.

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16. II. The Revival of Labor Unions
a.       During this period, in which workers faced numerous abuses, labor unions struggled to gain power.
b.       Labor Unions, however, faced several difficulties in organizing:

17. 1.  Difficulties in language, religion, and customs among workers made it hard to unite them into an effective union.
2.  Different labor leaders had different goals, which kept them from working together.
3. Employers, who opposed unions, took steps to keep workers from unionizing.

18. a. Labor Unions also had to fight public opinion
a.       Labor Unions also had to fight public opinion. Many Americans during this period viewed fixing wages and hours by collective bargaining—negotiation between an employer and a labor union – as violating the right of an individual to deal personally with an employer. The public also viewed labor unions as violent and disruptive.
b.       Furthermore, law enforcement agencies often sided with employers. When disputes between management and labor unions grew tense or even violent, the police usually came to the aid of employers.

19. III. The Railroad Strike of 1877
a.       The 1870s brought particular hardships to workers. Following a depression in 1873, 5,000 businesses closed, causing widespread unemployment and homelessness.
b.       The hard times of the 1870s reached a climax in the railroad strike of 1877, which shook the nation as no labor conflict had done before.
c.       The nation’s railroad companies, hit hard by economic woes, cut wages and lengthened workdays.

20. a. In 1877, several railroads cut wages even further
a.       In 1877, several railroads cut wages even further. In July, workers responded by walking off the job and taking over a nearby town. Federal troops were called in to regain control of the town.
b.       Soon, however, train workers and troops clashed in numerous towns around the country. The federal troops eventually subdued the workers.

21. c.       By the time the strike and violence ended, more than 100 persons were dead, 1,000 had been jailed, and 100,000 workers had gone out on strike.
d.       Union leaders learned from the strike that they were not united or strong enough to defeat the powerful combination of business and government.