Did the match strikes deliver the success that those involved in them had hoped for?
The match strikes at the Bryant and Factory of 1888 can be considered as a vastly significant event in Britain in relation to labour rights, and is reasoned to be a large victory for the working-class women of the East End. It cannot be denied that these strikes were instrumental in the amelioration of circumstances for those involved, both materially and figuratively. According to Sarah Boston, the strikes acted as ‘The match that lit the explosion of ‘new Unionism’’. This alone establishes the match strikes as an important moment in history, and did improve the lives for those involved. This essay will put forth the argument that these strikes were successful,
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The women were supervised by a factory foreman, who acted as an intermediary between the girls and management. The foreman was notorious for his poor handling of the workers. The women were told ‘never mind your fingers’ when operating the machinery. This on various occasions led to those who followed the foreman’s instructions losing a limb, and hereafter also without support. According to Annie Besant’s article, the foreman also was a man of ‘variable temper’, who delivered blows to the women when he was enraged. Poor conditions can be evidenced further from The Bitter Cry of Outcast London, which exposed children as young as twelve working for the factory; some being solely responsible for their own wellbeing. The women demanded that all future complaints should be taken straight to the management without having to involve the foremen who had prevented the management from knowing of previous disputes. A demand which Bryant and May reluctantly conceded to, stating that they had continually been ready to give their ‘most careful attention to any complaints’ that were brought to their attention. It is evidenced here that the match strikes were successful for the women involved, that Bryant and May submitted to their demands and officially took on theirs concerns shows us the positive effect of the match …show more content…
Workers were forced to come into close contact with white phosphorus without proper safeguards, thus allowing the vapours to damage their jaws. Many developed the disease ‘phossy jaw’, which was a form of bone cancer that could ultimately lead to death. Those suffering from this disease were given little compassion, as the journal Freedom notes that a woman displaying symptoms was commanded by the foreman ‘to have her teeth drawn on pain of dismissal.’ The likeliness of developing the affliction increased exponentially as girls were forced to eat at their workstations, thus contaminating their food. The women were provided with a breakfast room following the strike to reduce the risk of infection. Despite the dangers it posed, white phosphorus was continually used after 1888, therefore girls were still subjected to unsafe conditions, opposing the successes of the strikes. The Star revealed that in 1898 there had been six more cases of phosphorus necrosis, as well as five deaths since 1892. It was only in 1910, that the use of white phosphorus was finally banned in factories. Consequently with regards to health, the argument can be made that the match strikes did deliver the success the women hoped for, to the extent that precautions were put in place to lower the chances of developing cancer. However, this alone would not have been
On July 13, 1900 Joseph Aschs’ new building plans in New York City are approved and by January 5, 1901 the building is complete. In 1906, the eighth floor of the Asch building is bought by the Triangle Shirtwaist Company who opens a factory there. Three years later, a letter is sent to the management of the Triangle Shirtwaist building from a fire prevention expert. He suggests they that a discussion about evaluating and enhancing safety measures. Unfortunately, management does not take the letter seriously and “the letter is ignored.” (Linder, “Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Trial”) The inhumane work conditions in the factory led to the decision of twenty-five ILGWU workers to declare strike against th...
Many of us complain about the tough hours we work or the amount of chores we have to complete, but think about the truly harsh conditions that young girls and women had to work in the textile industry with very little pay and no accolades. Back in the 18th century, when the Industrial Revolution struck, it made it hard for female mill workers to enjoy being employed. Due to the terrible working conditions, the amount of hours worked, and the low wages were a few of the similarities that the female mill workers in England and Japan shared.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire most of all impacted all forms of industry, and changed the way workers worked. Along with the legislations that impacted women and children, laws also centered on the safety and well being of all workers. One of the main reforms and changes came through the formation of the New York Factory Investigating Commission, or the FIC: a legislative body that investigated the manufacturers for various infractions. They were based on protecting the workers: both their rights and their lives. The FIC investigated countless factories and “enacted eight laws covering fire safety, factory inspections and sanitation.” The FIC was highly focused on the health and safety of industrial workers, making reports and legislation that focused on “fire safety, building construction, machine guarding, heating, lighting, ventilation, and other topics” and on specific industries like “chemicals, lead trades, metal trades, printing shops, sweatshops and mercantile establishments.” Thirteen out of seventeen of the bills submitted by the FIC became laws, and “included measures requiring better fire safety efforts, more adequate factory ventilation, improved sanitation and machine guarding, safe operation of elevators” and other legislations focused for specific establishments.” Fire safety and new fire codes such as “mandate emergency exits, sprinkler systems, and maximum-occupancy laws,” such as the Fire Prevention Act of 1911, were put into place to limit the likelihood that another fire like the one at Triangle would occur, or be as drastic and deathly. Other organizations like the Joint Board of Sanitary Control “set and maintain standards of sanitation in the workplace,” as well as actually enforcing these stand...
This clearly meant that the 1920’s were the time period when the series of events were taking place. Jacquelyn Hall opens by discussing the women led protest within Elizabethton which fought against low wages, amongst other unequal treatment of women in the very industry that women were currently dominating in. Hall also speaks on the domino effect that this protest had on the entire country. Elizabethton ultimately sparked a subtle revolution of other protests involving labor all throughout other areas. At this time in history, women were ultimately the central component of the entirety of the textile industry. The fact that twenty percent of women aged fourteen and above were currently taking part in paid professions, shows that the role many women played in households was slowly beginning to change. Hall describes the situation as one where the women were obviously refusing to work, while simultaneously willing and ready to negotiate. Just as in about any other worker led protest where equal rights are
The men in the factories looked at the women coming in as just an extra pair of hands. They were mostly indifferent. Even so, the women could not date the men. This rule was more of a control effort and a bit of the women not being seeing as respectable women. Yet, the bosses were at a lost because they were not used to women working. The bosses tried to enforce rules; when they were broken, the bosses did not know how to punish the women because they were women. The women had to wear hats, even if their hair was longer than the men. The women did not like this because they felt as though they were being discriminated against. They would wear slacks and carry tools because the men had to, but the men did not wear head coverings. Also, everyone that worked in the factories, besides the factory women, viewed them as girls because a true woman would be at home taking care of the house. They had to trade in their smooth soft hands for rough hands filled with
“Industrial unions dominated the landscape of the late nineteen century U.S. labor movement.” They gathered all level workers together without discrimination of gender, race, or nationality. They declared the eight-hour workday for the first time when normal work time should be 12. Low wage of workers caused the “Great Strike of 1877”, which began with railroad workers in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. After the “Great Strike”, industrial union started to
Young girls were not allowed to open the windows and had to breathe in the dust, deal with the nerve-racking noises of the machines all day, and were expected to continue work even if they 're suffering from a violent headache or toothache (Doc 2). The author of this report is in favor of employing young women since he claimed they seemed happy and they loved their machines so they polished them and tied ribbons on them, but he didn 't consider that they were implemented to make their awful situations more bearable. A woman who worked in both factory and field also stated she preferred working in the field rather than the factory because it was hard work but it never hurt her health (Doc 1), showing how dangerous it was to work in a factory with poor living conditions. Poor living conditions were common for nearly all workers, and similar to what the journalist saw, may have been overlooked due to everyone seeming
The Pullman Strike of 1894 was the first national strike in American history and it came about during a period of unrest with labor unions and controversy regarding the role of government in business.5 The strike officially started when employees organized and went to their supervisors to ask for a lowered rent and were refused.5 The strike had many different causes. For example, workers wanted higher wages and fewer working hours, but the companies would not give it to them; and the workers wanted better, more affordable living quarters, but the companies would not offer that to them either. These different causes created an interesting and controversial end to the Pullman strike. Because of this, questions were raised about the strike that are still important today. Was striking a proper means of getting what the workers wanted? Were there better means of petitioning their grievances? Was government intervention constitutional? All these questions were raised by the Pullman Strike.
In 1912, women still didn’t have the right to vote (this would come four years later). This was merely one of the inequalities women had in society at this time. Another inequality between genders was their wages. Even in 2015, men, on average, earn around 9.4% more than women. This is nothing however compared to the gap in 1912. The reason Mr Birling’s factories didn’t have any men working their, just “girls”, was because it was a huge amount cheaper to employ women. Women worked at rates so low, they could barely feed themselves let alone a family. Eva was one of these “girls” and because she needed more money, she decided to ask for more. Mr Birling “refused, of course”. This shows to the audience that in 1912 British society, there wasn’t just a class gap in equality, but a gender gap as
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire is a turning point in history because, unions gained powerful alliances and people who wanted to fight for their safety. Which now in the U.S there is a set of guidelines that need to be follow to ensure the safety of the employees. He writes: “The Triangle fire of March 25, 1911, was for ninety years the deadliest workplace disaster in New York history—and the most important (Von Drehle 3).” Von Drehle emphasizes how important this event is in history and he draw comparisons to the to
With the gradual advancements of society in the 1800’s came new conflicts to face. England, the leading country of technology at the time, seemed to be in good economic standing as it profited from such products the industrial revolution brought. This meant the need for workers increased which produced jobs but often resulted in the mistreatment of its laborers. Unfortunately the victims targeted were kids that were deprived of a happy childhood. A testimony by a sub-commissioner of mines in 1842 titled Women Miners in the English Coal Pits and The Sadler Report (1832), an interview of various kids, shows the deplorable conditions these kids were forced to face.
...e strikers. As opposed to picking a neighbor they had known all their lives, under vigilant parental eyes, ladies were a tease on the picket lines or the shop floor.
Beginning in the late 1700’s and growing rapidly even today, labor unions form the backbone for the American workforce and continue to fight for the common interests of workers around the country. As we look at the history of these unions, we see powerful individuals such as Terrence Powderly, Samuel Gompers, and Eugene Debs rise up as leaders in a newfound movement that protected the rights of the common worker and ensured better wages, more reasonable hours, and safer working conditions for those people (History). The rise of these labor unions also warranted new legislation that would protect against child labor in factories and give health benefits to workers who were either retired or injured, but everyone was not on board with the idea of foundations working to protect the interests of the common worker. Conflict with their industries lead to many strikes across the country in the coal, steel, and railroad industries, and several of these would ultimately end up leading to bloodshed. However, the existence of labor unions in the United States and their influence on their respective industries still resonates today, and many of our modern ideals that we have today carry over from what these labor unions fought for during through the Industrial Revolution.
As the strike progresses, the French management decides to "starve out" the striking workers by cutting off local access to water and applying pressure on local merchants to prevent those shop owners from selling food on credit to the striking families. The men who once acted as providers for their family, now rely on their wives to scrape together enough food in order to feed the families. The new, more obvious reliance on women as providers begins to embolden the women. Since the women now suffer along with their striking husbands, the wives soon see themselves as active strikers as The strategy of the French managers, or toubabs as the African workers call them, of using lack of food and water to pressure the strikers back to work, instead crystallizes for wor...
Pat Barker’s Union Street is one of the first feminine books. The term feminism is considered to be a representation of the images of women declared by literature. The scope of this movement was to examine the authorship as well as the consistency of women. (Barry116) It was particularly written in an era when people had to face Margaret Thatcher’s England. She was the first and only female Prime Minister of Great Britain and she had also been constantly referred as the “iron lady”. Considering Margaret Thatcher’s gender, the reader ends up supporting that her sex had nothing to do with her politics. It was in other words, a secondary issue. (n.p) Margaret Thatcher’s authority as well as her power ended up being abused. “Mrs. Thatcher's unique mark was also felt in the two confrontations that ultimately undid her. The first was the poll tax, which was disastrous, unjust and was her policy alone.” (n.p) In order to be more specific based on her ideologies and strategies, British people had to leave under cruel conditions. The power and the influence of the made unions was reduced as well as a huge amount of jobs have been lost. Additionally, Pat Barker’s novel is considered to be a reflection towards the conflicts of maintaining a community and its identity in a working class culture. The reader seems to be aware of how the loss of thousand jobs can be regarded as a serious, negative affection towards the relationship between the two genders. Pat Barker’s “Union Street” also addresses the issue based on gender relations and how the loss of economic secure can destroy the unity of a family as well as the relation between the two distinctive sexes. The term Union can be regarded as a nostalgic imagination of working class life as wel...