FACTORIES AND WORKERSChapter 21Section 2

Key Terms

Labor union Strike Mass production Interchangeable parts Assembly line

Work in the Home

• Workers produced finished goods and dealt with the merchants

• Merchants delivered materials to the weavers cottage

• Next the weavers family processed the wool

• When finished the merchant picked it up

Work in the Home

Home workers controlled their schedule

Work faster when they needed money

Work slow to make the highest quality cloth

Could make their own adjustments

Problems of Cottage Industries• Working at home

had disadvantages– Fires– Floods – Ruin a family in an

instant• Cloth making

required a lot of skills

• Only adults had the physical strength for the job

Problems with Cottage Industries Typical loom was

6 feet wide and needed strength to operate

Parents fell ill or dies children could not do it

Working in a Factory

• Divided work into several easy to learn tasks

• Each worker assigned one task

• Children could learn jobs

• Boys and girls as young as 6 worked

• Could pay children a lower wage

Working in a Factory

• Factory work was dangerous

• No safety protection from the machines

• Worked 12 hour days

• Noise, inadequate ventilation, inadequate food added to hardship

• Lasted the 1700’s into the 1800’a

Life in Factory Towns

• Whole towns grew up around factories

• Some companies provided housing

• Families in crowded shoddy, close packed dwelling

• Water power changed to steam factories near mines

Life in Factory Towns

• Thick soot from burning coal blanketed the town

• Smoke sent sulfur and other poisonous gases into the air.

• Smelting and refining factories sent smoky pollution into the air

• England emitted so much pollution it was called the black country

Life in Factory Towns

• American visitor called it black by day and red by night– Smelting fires

• Some neighborhoods in Manchester only had two toilets for every 250 people

• Disease spread rapidly

• Six in ten children died before age of 5

Workers in a New Economy

Three levels A wealthy

businessman to invest and own the factory

Midlevel employees to run the factory

Low level employees to run the machines

Workers in a New Economy

Employers who invested expected to make a profit

Shared little of their profits with employees

Factory workers had little incentive to improve performance

Workers were plentiful

Workers in a New Economy

Displaced by the enclosure movement

United States, immigrant were happy to find any kind of work

Preferred hiring women and children Men wanted more

money Do not take orders

easily

Workers in a New Economy

Saw unskilled jobs as inappropriate for men

Factory work was women’s work

Cottage Workers Unrest

Weavers and other cottage workers trying to make a living

Their items were more expensive

1811 masked workers attacked a mill

Luddite movement-named after Gerald Ned Ludd

Cottage Workers Unrest

Machines were hurtful to the economy

Put people out of work Luddites burned

factories Smashed machines 1812 movement

spread to other cities Several Luddites were

hanged

Changing Labor Conditions

British government did not want to get involved in factory problems

Regulating business not their job

Citizens thought the government should get involved

Changing Labor conditions

Labor unions- organizations that represent the workers interests

Strikes-work stoppages to raise wages or improve conditions

Parliament banned unions and strikes

Changing Labor Conditions

Pressure from public brought unions back

1832 Sadler Report-describe factory abuses

Britain passed laws Limit working hours

for women and children

Required children to be at least 9 years old

1871 legalized strikes

A New Class of Worker

Growth of the middle class

Between factory owners and poor factory workers

Several groups essential to a factory Accountants and

managers Engineers, mechanics Selling spread through

the whole economy Middle class increased

Process of Mass Production

Mass Production- the system of manufacturing large numbers of identical items

Interchangeable parts- identical machine parts Makes production

and repair more efficient

Process of Mass Production

One worker would make one entire item Gun, clock Gather all the

materials Assemble them Slow process all

parts were man made

Interchangeable parts One worker could

put together many identical parts

Process of Mass Production

Repairs easier Replacement parts did

not have to custom fit Early workshops

product stayed in one place

Workers moved around it

Assembly line-moved product from worker to worker

Effects of Mass Production

Big advantage was an increase in production

Businesses made many items quickly and could charge less

More people could afford to buy mass produced goods

Led to repetitious jobs Became the factory

norm