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Labour unions, history of. In Lowell, Massachusetts, the construction of
a big cotton mill started in 1821. It was the first of many ...
History of US Labour Relations. ... Craftsmen, not labourers. No need for unions. ... Labour
is easier to control, so cheap labour, sweat shops began being used. ...
... conditions were 12 - 14 hours, without breaks, child labour was employed ... Unions mobilize
the full industrial strength of workers and as history has shown ...
Labour Unions and General Motors. ... Therefore, the formation and development of unions
encompasses both pros and ... General Motors has a long history of business and ...
the history of nafta. The ... day. Recently in Canada, labour unions have removed
their objections to the agreement from their platforms. ...
Submitted by oppapers on May 22, 2002
Category: American History
Words: 3176 | Pages: 13
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In Lowell, Massachusetts, the construction of a big cotton mill started in 1821. It was the first of many that would be built there in the next 10 years. The machinery to spin and weave the cotton into cloth would be driven by waterpower. All that the factory owners needed was a cheap source of labor to run the machines. Most jobs in cotton factories did not require strength or special skills, the owners believed women could do the work as well as or better than men. The New England region was home to many young, single farm girls, but would New England farmers allow their daughters to work in factories? Many of them would not. They believed that eventually factory workers would be taken advantage of and would eventually wind up in poverty. Though the owners did succeed in attracting many of them by building decent houses in which the girls could live. These houses were supervised by older women who made sure that the girls lived by strict moral standards. The girls were encouraged to go to church, and taught to read and to write.
The factory workers did not earn very much; the usual pay was around $3.50 a week. The hours worked in the factories were long. Often, the girls worked 11 to 13 hours a day, six days a week. Workers and businessmen would both profit from the wealth created by mass production. For a while, the factory system at Lowell worked very well. The population of the town grew from 200 to around 30,000 in just 25 years. But eventually surroundings in Lowell’s factories had started to change. Faced with bigger competition, factory owners started to lower wages in order to lower costs. They increased the number of machines that each girl had to operate and began to overcrowd the houses in which the girls lived, sometimes packing eight girls to one room. Factory conditions degraded, and unsafe working conditions were everywhere.
In 1836, 1,500 factory girls went on strike to protest wage cuts. (The girls called...
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