CHAPTER 8 SECTION 4
THE CHANGING WORKPLACE
By Robbie Tanner
INDUSTRY CHANGES WORK
Rural Manufacturing
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Many Americans worked in a “cottage industry” system before the 1820’s in
which people would get raw materials from factories and produce a final
product at home in exchange for money and a new load of raw materials.
This was the first step in the production of clothes and other textile goods
until manufacturing and mass production came into play.
INDUSTRY CHANGES WORK
Early Factories
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Power looms replaced the cottage industry when entrepreneurs such as
Francis Cabot Lowell, Patrick Johnson and Nathan Appleton began opening
their weaving factories in Waltham, and later Lowell, MA.
Having the entire process almost completely mechanized and all under one
roof greatly reduced production time and cut prices of textile products
drastically.
By the 1830’s the Lowell and his partners owned eight factories across
Massachusetts with over 6,000 employees total.
INDUSTRY CHANGES WORK
Early Factories
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At first it was only textiles, but other industries began to shift to factory
production.
Jobs that before had required skilled artisans to perform, as families could
do for themselves, such as crafting furniture had shifted to mass
production in factories. Skilled masters of craft then could not compete with
the cheap prices of factory made goods, so were forced to move to urban
areas and work in factories. The new factory machines allowed unskilled
workers to perform tasks that used to require skilled masters to perform.
FARM WORKER TO FACTORY WORKER
The Lowell Mill
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The New England mill and factory workforce consisted almost entirely of
young unmarried farm girls. Women were preferred over men to work in
mills because factory owners would pay women less than men who
performed similar jobs.
By 1828 nine tenths of the New England factory workforce consisted of
women, four out of five of these women were below the age of thirty.
FARM WORKER TO FACTORY WORKER
Conditions at Lowell
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Mill workers often worked twelve or more hours a day in poor conditions.
Cotton dust made it difficult to breathe, and overseers sometimes nailed the
windows shut to trap in humidity which they believed prevented the threads
from snapping.
Conditions at the mills continued to get worse as supervisors demanded a
faster pace from their workers, between 1836 and 1850 Lowell owners
tripled the number of spindles and looms but hired only 50 percent more
workers to operate them.
FARM WORKER TO FACTORY WORKER
Strikes at Lowell
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In 1834 mill owners announced a 15% pay cut, in response over eight
hundred mill workers went on strike demanding that their pay return to
normal. Mill workers eventually prevailed and the workers returned to the
mills accepting their 15% cut.
In 1836 mill owners again announced a 12.5% pay cut, this time nearly
twice as many workers went on strike. Once again the mill owners prevailed
threatening to hire local women to replace the strikers.
WORKERS SEEK BETTER CONDITIONS
Immigration Increases
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European immigrations drastically rose in the 1830’s-1860’s. Over 3 million
immigrants flocked to the U.S. which at the time had a population of only 20
million. The majority of these immigrants were German and Irish.
Most of these immigrants strayed from the south as slavery limited their
economic opportunity.
WORKERS SEEK BETTER CONDITIONS
A Second Wave
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Irish immigration soared in 1845-1854 when The Great Potato Famine
wiped out their staple crop, and they were forced to relocate.
Irish immigrants faced severe prejudice because of their religion, and
because they were poor. Their willingness to work for any amount of money
made them easy prey for mill employers looking for cheap labor.
WORKERS SEEK BETTER CONDITIONS
The National Trade’s Union
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During the 1830’s specific trade unions began to come together to form
federations. In 1834, the largest of these unions, The National Trades
Union, formed but lasted only until 1837.
The movement of trades union faced challenges when bankers and mill
owners formed unions of their own, and took a severe blow when the
workers efforts to strike were ruled illegal.
WORKERS SEEK BETTER CONDITIONS
Court Backs Strikers
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In the case of Commonwealth v. Hunt, the court ruled the workers strikes
legal, in that Boston’s journeymen shoemakers would act "in such a manner
as best to sub serve their own interests.“
By 1860 although only 5,000 workers were participating in labor unions,
upwards of 20,000 workers had participated in strikes.