Download Chapter 21.2

Chapter 21.2
FACTORIES AND WORKERS
Production before Factories
 Work in the Home
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Cottage workings sold their finished products directly to merchants
Merchant would deliver the raw material, cottage work would make
the textile and the merchant would pick up the product
Working at home you were your own boss, set your own hours,
produced more textiles if you needed more money, or worked less if
family obligations arose.
Cottage working for textiles was a family run business
The workers could focus on the quality of the product rather an
quantity
 Problems for Cottage Industries
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A fire or flood could destroy a whole business
Needed very skilled workers
Adults only had the physical strength to complete the work
Factories help make up for this disadvantages
Factories and Factory Towns
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Factory work was divided into several steps, each worker had
one job
Children could then do these jobs
Children as young as six worked, factory owners preferred
children working because they could pay them less
Injuries were very common in factories, machine did not have
safety mechanisms
Work days were 12 hours, there was a lot of noise, lack of
ventilation, poor sanitation, and inadequate food.
It wasn’t until the 1830’s that the public called for a change in
factory work
Factories and Factory Towns
 Life in Factory Towns
 Whole towns grew around factories
 Many companies provided homes for workers, but they were
packed and not in good conditions
 Coal towns were very dirty and bad for health
 Northern England produced iron- emitted so much pollution it
became known as black country
 Manchester was the textile industry in England- the sanitation
was so poor only 6 out of 10 children made it to the age of 5
The Factory System and Workers
 Workers in a New Economy
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IR changed the nature or labor and the economy
The Factory system required a large amount of capital and this made
three main participants in the system
Wealthy business people to invest in and own factories
 They expected to make a great deal of profit and did not share their
wealth with employees
 Mid-level employees to run the factories and supervise the day to day
operations
 No one worker was responsible for the quality of the product
 Low-level employees to run the machines
 Workers were plentiful, so they were not paid a lot.
 Women and Children were mainly hired because they were paid
less
 Factory work was “Women’s Work”
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The Factory System and Workers
 Cottage Workers’ Unrest
 After industry took off many cottage workers still tried to make
a living in the cottage textiles
 Their products were more expensive
 1811 masked worked attacked a textile factory in Nottingham
England
 This began the Luddite movement, they opposed machines bc
they were hurtful to the worker
 Luddite movement and violence spread to many other cities
 Luddites if found were tried and hung
The Factory System and Workers
 Changing Labor Conditions
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GB government did not want to do anything about the factory
industry
They did not want to regulate business
Many ppl thought that if the government helped workers they would
lose their incentive to work
Workers began to organize in labor unions- which are organizations
representing workers interests
Unions would organize their members to go on strike to demand for
higher pay and better working conditions
GB outlawed strikes and unions
From pressure and the Sadler report parliament passed laws limiting
work hours and child labor and legalized labor unions
US workers also organized in unions
The Factory System and Workers
 A New Class of Workers
 Result of the IR was the middle class- middle income workers the mid level
workers
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Managers, accounts, engineers, mechanics, transporters, sales
 Effects of the Factory System
 Before the Factory System
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Goods were produced in the home
Work required a wide range of skills
Children did chores at home with the family
Families worked directly with merchants
Few people were members of the middle class
After the Factory System
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Goods were produced in factories
Work required a few easily learned skills
Children were employed in large numbers in factories
Workers dealt with managers and sometimes factory owners
More people joined the middle class
Factories and Mass Production
 Processes of Mass Productions
 Mass Production developed in the US.
 Mass Production- the system of manufacturing large numbers
of identical items
Interchangeable parts- identical machine made parts to make up a
product
 Before items (ie; clocks or guns) were hand made and a little
different than one another
 Made repairing and creating items easier
 The Assembly Line- the product moved from worker to worker and
each worker performed one step in the processes
 This division of labor allowed for items to be made faster
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Factories of Mass Production
 Effects of Mass Productions
 Advantage- increase in production, less expensive product,
more people could afford items, producer made more money
 Disadvantage- jobs were very monotonous, workers refused to
work quickly but it back the way of industry and changed the
work force.