Factories and the Work Force ► Between 1860 – 1900 numbers of industrial workers increased from 885,000 to 3.2 million (trend toward large scale production).

From Workshop to Factory ► Shoemakers in 1840’s worked in family atmosphere ► 1880’s – shoe factories became larger and more mechanized (less personal)

The Hardships of Industrial Labor ► 1880’s expansion of factory system caused high demand for unskilled labor ► Contract system – to avoid problems of hiring, managing, and firing their own workers large co. negotiated agreements with a subcontractor who supervised the services of unskilled laborers.  Construction trades  Machine and tool industries  Garment making

The Hardships of Industrial Labor ► Unskilled and skilled workers  Worked 12 hour shifts  Faced grave hazards to their health and safety ► Children typically entered the mill at age 8 or 9.  Faced same dangers as adults, but injured more often, because of pranks and play  Supervision was lax

The Hardships of Industrial Labor ► Children and adults fell subject to black lung in the coal mills and brown lung in the textile mills. ► 1889 – 1 st year that the ICC compiled reliable records  Almost 2,000 rail workers were killed on the job  More than 20,000 were injured  Receiving minimal financial aid from the employer, if any.  For medical benefits, workers joined fraternal organizations and ethnic clubs paying dues

Immigrant Labor ► Factory owners turned to immigrant workers  Muscle jobs in factories, mills, railroads, and heavy construction  Most often new immigrants took lowest level jobs replacing prior immigrants places ► Ex. Philadelphia Amer. & Germans worked in metal working trades. Irish worked unskilled horse carting until new immigrants from Southern Europe took their place.

Immigrant Labor ► West Coast – Chinese immigrants took dirtiest jobs  Mining, canning, and RR construction ► “Wherever the heat is most insupportable, the flames most scorching, the smoke and soot most choking, there we are certain to find compatriots bent and wasted in toil,” ► Immigrants could save $15 a month – far more than they could have earned in their homeland

Immigrant Labor ► Cultural changes were hard for immigrant  Work schedules were hard ► Employers used a temperance societies and Sunday schools to teach punctuality and sobriety to immigrant worker who resisted the tempo of factory work.

Immigrant Labor ► “Whiteness” in the U.S. bestowed a sense of privilege and the automatic extension of the rights of citizenship  Irish, Greek, Italian, Jewish, and others were Caucasian by race but by skin color considered non-white receiving harsh treatment

Women and Work in Industrial America ► Women’s work experiences, like men’s, were shaped by marital status, social class, and race ► White married women accepted – “separate spheres” – remained at home, raise children, took care of the household ► Well to do had maids to ease the load

Women and Work in Industrial America ► Working class did not have maids and even worked at home to earn extra money ► Cigar manufacturers would by a tenement and require the families that lived there to work there. ► Clothing industries would hire out finishing tasks to lower class married women and their children.

Women and Work in Industrial America ► Young working class single women often viewed factory work as an opportunity. ► 1870, 13% of all women worked outside the home, the majority as cooks, maids, cleaning ladies, and laundresses. ► Disliked low pay, long hours, and being “servant”.

Women and Work in Industrial America ► Women went to work in textile, food- processing, and garment industries. ► Discrimination barred black women from these jobs ► – # of all women (all races) in the work force tripled by ► 17% of the work total force was women

Women and Work in Industrial America ► Factory owners treated women as temporary help, (feared they would leave to marry) therefore wages were kept low. ► Not making enough money to live on their own, working enmeshed young women more deeply into the family instead of making them more independent.

Women and Work in Industrial America ► Typewriter and telephone offered new opportunities in 1890’s. ► High school educated women moved to clerical work. ► 1890, 10% of the Nation’s families owned 73% of the wealth. ► Less than half of industrial laborers earned more than the five-hundred dollar poverty line annually.