The Changing Workplace Chapter 8-4

 Women work in homes  Cottage industry: goods produced at home  finished goods brought to manufacturer  Replaced by power looms (decreased time and lowered costs) Early 19 th century work

 Artisans worked in shops attached to homes  Master: most experienced artisan  Journeyman: skilled worker – master’s assistant  Apprentice: young worker learning skills  Factories lowered costs & let unskilled workers make goods rather than trained artisans

 “mill girls” = unmarried farm girls who worked in textile factories  Lowell Mill:  Women were paid less than men – but working in a mill paid more than other careers for women  5am- 7:30pm work day  Factories badly ventilated = illness & discomfort Farm to Factory

 Strike: a work stoppage designed to force an employer to respond to workers’ demands  Lowell strikes: mainly because of wage cuts  1834: 800 mill girls  1836: 1,600+ mill girls  1845: Lowell Female Labor Reform Association founded Strikes

 Employers won most strikes in 1830s and 1840s – could easily replace unskilled workers  Strikebreakers: mostly immigrants who worked long hours for low wages

 Trades unions designed to standardize wages and conditions in each industry  National Trades’ Union: largest union formed by trade unions that united to form federations (lasted until 1837)  Fought for common goals  Hard to organize together because courts said strikes were illegal Unions

 : increase in European immigration  : 3 million immigrants came to US (mostly German & Irish)  : almost1 million Irish immigrants  Great Potato Famine : killed 1 million Irish and caused another million to come to US  Irish were hated (Catholic, poor, worked for extremely low wages and horrible conditions) Immigration Increases

 Supported workers’ rights to strike (upheld rights of labor)  20,000+ workers were involved in strikes for better working conditions and wages by 1860 Commonwealth v. Hunt 1842