The struggles of U.S. workers

From the Folks who Brought you the Weekend by Priscilla Murolo and A. B. Chitty (331.0973 MUR) gives a really good overview of how working conditions have changed over the years.

The book begins with the first European settlers in America using the Native Americans for forced labor, for example, the Spaniards used Aztec and Inca slaves to do the mining. Spaniards weren't the only group by any means to exploit Native Americans as the book details.

After the depletion of this indigenous population, entrepreneurs turned to indentured servitude. Some Europeans were willing to go into debt for getting transportation to the New World, which they had to work off once they arrived. Convicts, orphans, and kidnapped children were shipped from Europe to America, and forced to work in fields and factories. According to the authors, some of the convicts were forced to work for up to fourteen years. After fulfilling their time, if they survived, everyone except for convicts and debtors received "freedom dues" giving them a little money and a section of land. The statistics from 1607 to 1623 are rather depressing: 20% of these people went on to self-employment; about 50% died before they worked off their debt/punishment; the other 30% worked for others or returned to there native country.

Then came the extremely devastating black slave trade from Africa to fill the jobs. I won't go into any detail on this part of American history - the library has a lot of good books just on this specific topic.

Before the Industrial Revolution, much of the economy was agricultural, which required long hours of hard manual labor. (And to think that I used to complain about how hard it was to be a farmer's son. Of course, I had it easy; we had machinery, electricity, etc. to make farming much easier. My father, who worked as a farm-hand after leaving my grandparents' farm received free room and board and 50 cents a week.) After the Industrial Revolution, manufacturing companies were established requiring long hours in a dirty, noisy, dangerous environment. There was none of this 40 hour-a-week business that many have now. There were no federal regulations for safety, no maximum number of hours to work each week, nor minimum age for workers.

At the beginning, when workers started joining together to demand better working environments and other improvements, companies balked. Some really nasty fights, riots, broke out. This part of the book is really interesting, with all of the underhanded tactics that both sides (the workers and the companies) used for intimidation. There was a lot of bloodshed. Police were called in. This was the beginning of the formation of unions.

Throughout U.S. history companies have enticed (or forced) immigrants to come into this country to do the dirty work. Just to name another group of immigrants, Chinese immigrants started coming in larger numbers during the 1800s.

This book is a great way to get a better understanding of labor in the U.S. - and it might just give you another perspective on all of the controversy over Mexican immigrants and labor that the country is facing now. Of course, I do realize that the immigration debate is also concerned with legal and illegal immigration, but I do feel that readers will still learn something From the Folks who Brought you the Weekend.

c Waterloo Public Library 2008