Workers' Rights

The theme of this reading is workers' rights in the 19th century. This reading is a petition sent to the legislature House from workers. The petition expresses the concerns of the exhausted and often starved workers. The workers complain of too much taxes and ask that taxes be on property and not industry. The petetioners demand universal suffrage, the right to vote, and fair reresentation in parliament. They ask the House to allow every able man to vote, to direct elections with secret ballots, only allow people to be in parliament a year at a time, and do away with property qualifications on parliament members.

The textbook discusses much about workers' rights and struggles. In countries all over Europe and in the United States the second Industrial Revolution causes much social and economic hardship. There was more being produced than what could be consumed, and manufacturers kept costs down by requiring long hours and lowering wages. Also, people traveled to the cities for work, and made things even harder because there was just not enough to go around. These conditions caused workers to organize themselves and respond with strikes and oftentimes violence. Socialism appealed to many workers because socialism was all about helping workers acquire rights and establish welfare programs for the unwealthy.

The phrase that stands out to me is the phrase, " the laws that make food dear, and those which by making money scarce, make labor cheap, must be abolished". I think this gets the point across very well. Everything that makes money hard to get and makes labor cheap needs to get abolished, so everyone can have enough to eat. This basic statement of survival gets to the bottom of the issue, which is that most workers and barely surviving and are trying to provide for their families.

One modern parallel is the potential strike with at&t. Workers are organized in their unions and are demanding that their bosses improve conditions revolving around job security, healthcare costs, benefits, and work rules. Around 40,000 emplyees, or 15% of employees, may strike.

New thoughts that come to me are about the connection between large populations and poverty. When people flooded the cities for work, and the average number of children was around six, although it was gradually decreasing, the population in the cities was too much for the economy to handle. Also, the public water and health care systems were not prepared for this population boom. There were housing shortages and horrible living and working conditions, and it made a mess for everyone. Of course, once a population is large, and a mess is made, there is nothing you can do but work to fix it. However, the choice to limit the number of children in a family is one way to keep the population a little more manageable.

Sources:
Text book
http://news.yahoo.com/40-000-t-workers-may-strike-talks-fail-024101541.html