{"id":522,"date":"2012-09-07T18:48:00","date_gmt":"2012-09-07T18:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/07\/labor-day-continued-2\/"},"modified":"2012-09-07T18:48:00","modified_gmt":"2012-09-07T18:48:00","slug":"labor-day-continued-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/labor-day-continued-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Labor Day Continued"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\nTo continue our discussion on workers…<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nEvery modern nation undergoes an industrial revolution as it
\nenters into the competitive world of manufacture and trade.  One of the first industries to be
\ntransformed is the textile industry. 
\nFirst with  water power for
\nmills, then power looms, textile production goes from the home and small
\nworkshops to the first factory systems. When other crafts follow, the machine
\nage has begun. Now, when a country moves from an agri-economy to an industrial
\none, it is greeted as a sign of coming prosperity and modernization.  That was not always the case.  For example, in England there was great
\ncontroversy with opponents decrying the machines as the enemy of workers,
\ntaking their jobs and producing inferior goods.  (Sounds a bit like today) 
\nOne institution that has long praised the worker, whether the craftsman
\nin his workshop or the factory worker on the assembly line is the Victoria and
\nAlbert Museum in London. Their premise, which was and still is illustrated by
\nexamples of workmanship, has been that there can be good and poor quality in
\nmachine-made goods, just as there are good and poor examples of hand-crafted
\nproducts. While workers may be replaced by machines, new jobs are formed.  New workers are needed to manufacture the
\nmachines themselves and well as maintain them. 
\nMore production means more sorting, packaging, distribution and
\nadvertising. Change is not always easy, but inevitable.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWhere there are advantages, there are also abuses.  Dickens’ stories of Victorian life, so  depressing, 
\nwere, I think, an understatement. 
\nThousands of people descended upon the cities seeking employment.  In no way were these cities in a position to
\nsustain even the poorest quality of life for all.<\/div>\n
\nThe factory conditions were appalling and the treatment of
\nthe workers even worse.  Why?  EXPECTATIONS!  The cost to furnish, even a small workshop-factory with the new
\nmachinery was   enormous.  Investors EXPECTED a return on their monies,
\na big return, and they EXPECTED the managers and supervisors to produce. In
\nturn, the supervisors could only satisfy if they hired as many workers as
\npossible for the lowest of wages, kept long working hours and ignored concerns
\nof health and safety for the workers. 
\nThe question is why did the workers stay?  They were not slaves, nor serfs. 
\nThey were free to return to their rural life and raise turnips!  EXPECTATIONS!<\/div>\n
\nSome felt that if they worked diligently, they may, someday ,be promoted and earn more (right!). 
\nSome believed that if they, their wife and children all worked night and
\nday they could collectively save a few pennies and eventually have a better
\nlife (Some of us believe we will win Megabucks with a $1 ticket).<\/div>\n
\nThe majority were just stuck, downbeatened and barely
\nsurviving with no hope of anything better.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nBy uniting in trade and workers unions and cooperatives,
\nworkers had strength in numbers and demanded reforms.  This also was a double edged sword. The manufacturers violently
\nopposed this system, the unions, in turn, proposed strikes and slowdowns with
\nviolence toward non-union member workers. While management grudgingly accepted
\nthe unions’ role the power of the unions and their leaders was immense. Graft,
\npolitical influences, and criminal associations were not unheard of.  Reforms, for both union and non-union
\nworkers,  came with legislation.  Labor laws reduced the hours workers were
\nforced to perform and minimum wages demanded a more uniform pay scale.  There was legislation against child labor
\nand and compensation for workers injured on the job.  Agencies were set up to inspect factories and ensure safe working
\nconditions.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nBut today, there are still mining disasters, oil-rig
\nexplosions and worker injuries due to faulty and poorly maintained
\nequipment.  There remains the problems
\nof human trafficking and child labor issues. 
\nThink coffee, chocolate and high-priced sneakers.  <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nTo paraphrase an economic principle \u201c where there is demand,
\nthere will be someone to supply\u201d.  But
\nat what cost?<\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To continue our discussion on workers… Every modern nation undergoes an industrial revolution as it enters into the competitive world of manufacture and trade.  One of the first industries to be transformed is the textile industry.  First with  water power for mills, then power looms, textile production goes from the home and small workshops to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[95,94,96],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-labor-day-continued","category-labor-unions","category-textile-workers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}