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Working Conditions During The Industrial Revolution Essay

1600 Words7 Pages

Working conditions in industries were not safe for the working people. Many industries required work for long hours of physical labor. In the workplaces it was often hot, steam engines contributing, and machinery was not always fenced off (Working Conditions in the Industrial Revolution). Workers had the potential to get caught in the machines because they were exposed. Children were employed to move between these dangerous machines as they were small enough to fit between tightly packed machinery (Working Conditions in the Industrial Revolution). It was not unusual that death rates went up for the working class, due to all the hazards. Labor unions thought that having hazardous working conditions was unfair, and for what? “Women filling the …show more content…

When people realized how terrible working conditions really were, unions began to form. Unionization is the act of people joining together for similar beliefs. During the late 1800s, unions gave people hope that things would get better. The labor unions presented forced government officials to notice problems in the system because they demanded attention. The whole point of the labor unions is to express the dissatisfaction of people to help sway public opinion and the minds of government officials. For one group called the Knights of Labor success lied ahead in the future. The faction was a secret organization formed to unite all workers, those with low or high work skills were recruited, and even African Americans joined (CITE 117). To assure the safety of everyone in the group, different names were distributed. A strike against Jay Gould’s Missouri Pacific railroad was organized by the Knights, in 1885. The company cut wages and fired anyone who belonged to unions. When the strike succeeded, membership expanded drastically, and the organization grew from 100,000 to 700,000 members (American Labor: 1865-1900). Some groups are known for their protests, but unions also tried to work together to create a stronger

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