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 12:30pm – Return 1:00pm – Leave 7:00pm • 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 Boston’s 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 • How would you characterize the nation’s manufacturing system before the early 1800s? • How did mechanization change the nature of manufacturing in the U.S.? • Why did factory owners tend to hire young women rather than men? • What were working conditions like at Lowell Mill? • How did strikes for higher wages at the Lowell Mills end? • For what reasons did many Irish immigrate to the U.S. in the mid-1800s? How were they treated in America? • What was the National Trades’ Union and what progress did it make on behalf of the nation’s workers?