9781422282724

CHAPTER ONE: EVOLUTION OF WORKERS’ RIGHTS

By the 1700s, the guilds began to be superseded by trade unions , which sought to represent not just highly skilled workers, but all employees within a particular economic sector. Unions emerged in reaction to the Industrial Revolution, which saw both a dramatic expansion of nonfarm workers and a deterioration in working conditions. Unions would emerge as the primary advocates for employment rights over the next century. Working Conditions of the Industrial Revolution New tools and agricultural techniques led to a dramatic increase in population in Europe from the 1600s to the 1900s. For example, in Great Britain, the population rose from 5.5 million in 1700, to more than 9 million a century later. This led to an excess of workers, many of whom traveled to urban areas in search of work. Since so many people were seeking employment, employers were able to pay them less and require longer working hours. Factory employees often worked 14–16 hours per day, six to six-and-a-half days per week. Women usually were paid half (or even less) of the wages earned by men, while children as young as six were commonly employed, earning about one-tenth what adults made. Workers often faced deductions for food, clothing, or tools supplied by the factory. The work was hard and often dangerous. Workers who were injured or sick for an extended period were often simply dismissed and replaced. The main tactic used to fight for higher wages and better working conditions was the strike . By withholding their labor, workers could stop the production of goods or the completion of services. This would cause business owners to lose profits and suffer other economic woes, ranging from lost customers to wasted supplies. The effectiveness of strikes led business owners and elites to support laws that prohibited labor shortages. For instance, Great Britain enacted the Combination Acts in 1799 and 1800, which banned labor strikes (these were repealed in 1824).

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