The Changing Workplace

1
The Changing Workplace

• Ch 8 Sect 4
• Page 259

2
Rural Manufacturing

• Cottage Industry system in which manufactures
  provided the materials for goods to be produced
  at home.
• Women did most of this work
• Power looms replaced the cottage industry
• Mechanizing the process tools under one roof
  slashed production time cost.

3
Early Factories

• Textile led the way w/ manufacture factories.
• Master most experienced artisans
• Journeyman skilled worker employed by a master
• Apprentice young worker learning a craft
• Spread of factory production revolutionized
  industry.
• Cost of goods decreased
• Unskilled artisans shift from farm work to
  industry.

4
Factory Workers

• Work force consisted of mostly unmarried women.
• mill girls lived under strict rules
• Behavior church attendance closely monitored.
• 9 out of 10 women were under 30 yrs old

5
Lowell Mill

• Mill owners hired girls b/c could pay less
• Textile work offered better wages than the
  alternatives.
• Most female workers stayed at Lowell only a few
  years.

6
Conditions at Lowell

• Day
• Begin 5am Lunch 1230pm Return 100pm Leave
  700pm
• Heat, darkness, poor ventilation caused illness
• Managers forced workers to increase production
  despite conditions.
• Strikes a work stoppage in order to force an
  employer to respond to demands
• Mill girls began to strike.

7
Strikes at Lowell

• Union is Power
• Strikers declared that they would not return to
  work unless wages continued.
• Mill threatened to replace the workers.
• Strikers returned to work strike leaders were
  fired.
• Mill girls took their concerns to the political
  arena.

8
Immigration Increases

• 1830-1860 immigration increased
• Majority of immigrants were from Germany
  Ireland.
• Immigrants avoided the south b/c slavery limited
  their economic opportunities.
• Southerners were hostile towards immigrants.

9
Second Immigration Wave

• Irish immigrants settled in the east.
• Immigration soared after the Potato Famine
• 1 million died 1 million immigrated to U.S.
• Faced bitter prejudice b/c they were Catholic
  poor.

10
National Trades Union

• Journeymen created unions specific to a trade.
• Trade unions from different areas joined
  together.
• Workers sought to standardize wages conditions
  in a particular industry.
• National Trade Union largest union
• Face fierce opposition from bankers owners
• Hampered by court decisions declaring strikes
  illegal

11
Court Backs Strikers

• Supported workers right to strike in the case of
  Commonwealth v. Hunt
• Declared that Bostons journeymen bookmakers
  could act in such a manner as best to subserve
  their own interests
• Religious social reforms went hand in hand w/
  economic changes.
• Put in place the foundation for the modern
  American economy.

12
The Changing Workplace
Name things that contributed to the changing
workplace in the first half of the 19th century.
Which of these are still part of the workplace
today?
13
Answer the following

1. How would you characterize the nations
   manufacturing system before the early 1800s?
2. How did mechanization change the nature of
   manufacturing in the U.S.?
3. Why did factory owners tend to hire young women
   rather than men?
4. What were working conditions like at Lowell Mill?
5. How did strikes for higher wages at the Lowell
   Mills end?
6. For what reasons did many Irish immigrate to the
   U.S. in the mid-1800s? How were they treated in
   America?
7. What was the National Trades Union and what
   progress did it make on behalf of the nations
   workers?