Industrialization and Workers

Activating Prior Knowledge Look at the following pictures and write three sentences of what you think each picture represent.

A

B "They say a day has 24 hours. That's a bluff. A day has 12 coats.... I have still two coats to make of the 12 that I got yesterday. So it's still Monday, with me. My Tuesday won't begin before about two o'clock this afternoon." - From A Sweatshop Romance by Abraham Cahan, 1898

C

A In many cities, recent immigrants converted small apartments into contract shops that doubled as living quarters. Fierce competition among contractors for work and immigrants' desperate need for employment kept wages down and hours up. As miserable as this work was, however, it provided many new arrivals a transition into American society and a more prosperous future for themselves and their families. Some immigrants began working in small shops, eventually owning large clothing firms.

B WORKING CONDITIONS

C As industrialization moved workers from farms and home workshops into urban areas and factory work, children were often preferred, because factory owners viewed them as more manageable, cheaper, and less likely to strike. Breaker Boys – Worker in the United States whose job was to separate impurities from coal by hand in a coal breaker – Primarily children, elderly coal miners who could no longer work in the mines because of age, disease, or accident were also sometimes employed as breaker boys. – Although public disapproval of the employment of children as breaker boys existed by the mid-1880s, the practice did not end until the 1920s.

Factors Contributed to the Nations Industrial Expansion – Abundant natural resources – Inventive minds – Risk taking entrepreneurs Industrialization led to a growing workforce and new work environment.

Growing Workforce – Around 14 million people immigrated to the U.S. Contract Labor Act 1864 – During Civil War – Labor scarce – Encouraged immigration with this Act – Allowed employers to enter into contracts with immigrants – Pay cost of passage for work up to a certain amount of time

Factory Work Many industries employees paid workers not by time worked but by production. – Piecework-those who worked the fastest and produced the most pieces earned the most money. – Sweatshop- where employees worked long hours at low wages and poor conditions.

Fredrick Taylor (Improve worker Efficiency) Studied workers to see how much time it took them to do jobs. – Broke into steps – Time and motion study – Increase worker productivity thus increasing profit – Used his studies as the foundation of an entire system for the scientific management of workers. The Principles of Scientific Management

Division of Labor Ways of producing in which different tasks are preformed by different people. Small businesses – Workers and owners day to day interaction Large – Opposite, no day to day interaction Environment – Ruled by clock – Strict operation – Not always safe – Children made up of more then 5 % of industrial workforce in 1880’s

Work Environment Laboring in all factories or mines and performing dangerous work was unhealthy for all workers. – Threatened children workers Stunted in body and mind

Jacob Riia Social reformer Explained the impact of factory work on children – Book Children of the Poor Practice of child labor came under broad attack in the 1890s and 1900s, prompting states to curb this practice through legislation.

Working Families By the end of the 1800s one in 5 children between the ages of 10 and 16 was employed. Ended up leaving school Families relied on private charities

THINK ABOUT AND WRITE DOWN TWO “HARD QUESTIONS” ABOUT THIS SECTION. – YOU WILL HAVE 15 MINUTES