A Brief History of Labor
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Transcript of A Brief History of Labor
T I M E L I N E
• Homo sapiens arrive about 200K years ago
• Basic human needs: shelter, food, clothing, tools, health, entertainment, spirit/soul, and transportation
• These are the primary industries still today
• Work week for Hunter Gatherers… 23 hours
• Agricultural revolution begins about 12,500 years ago
• Allows for specialization and stratification: warriors, bakers, tailors, famers, ranchers…
T I M E L I N E
• 8000 BC — the brick is invented… thus the “bricklayer” is invented
• Barter system
• 2000 BC — first “monumental” architecture in Mesopotamia and Egypt
• First standing army
• Salary — from salt, you “drew” your salt rations
• 1754 BC — first labor agreement: The Code of Hammurabi
• Loss of a foot - 10 shekels
• Loss of a foot in Colorado, 2016 - $162,869 (https://www.propublica.org/article/how-much-is-your-arm-worth-depends-where-you-work)
T I M E L I N E
• 2,000 — 800 BC — Ancient Greece, China, India
• Roughly the same social classes: wealthy and ruling class, knights/warriors, craftsmen, laborers, and slaves
• Notice the historic division between job and project
• Ancient Rome — First labor contracts, different from service contracts
T I M E L I N E
• 500 AD - 1400 AD
• First Guilds — Trade and religious, protect territory and tools, create craft and safety guidelines, and set wages
• Formal apprenticeships… apprenticeship, journeymen, master craftsman
• 300 guilds in Paris by 14th Century
T I M E L I N E
• 1600 AD — New World Labor— Indentured Servitude & Slaves
• 1664 — African slaves become slaves for life
• 1677 — First legal prosecution of strikers in New York City
• “Sons of Liberty” protest taxes — U.S. Revolution as a “labor strike”
• 1791 — First strike in building trades by Philadelphia carpenters for a 10-hour work day
• 1806 Commonwealth v. Pullis— The “Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers” strike for higher wages, leaders get indicted on conspiracy charges
T I M E L I N E
• Industrial Revolution 1760 - 1820
• Factory System
• Company Towns
• Economies of Scale
• Standardization
• Modern classroom is created with clocks, desks, and teacher (coursework in rote memorization and repetition
• French Revolution (1789-1799) to Karl Marx (1818-1883) intellectual/philosophical battle over labor and economics and set stage for communism
T I M E L I N E
• 1861 — Civil War begins, largest U.S. labor dispute ever
• 1865 — 13th Amendment to Constitution abolishes slavery
• Estimated 20-40 million slaves today
• 1866 — National Labor Union formed
• 1868 — Transcontinental railroad built by paid labor (mostly Chinese & Whites, Chinese used as bargaining chip… kept wages low)
• 1869 — Women right to vote in Wyoming
• 1882 — First Labor Day parade in New York City
• 1894 — Pullman Strike… 250K, 30 deaths
• 1914 — Ludlow Massacre… 20-25 deaths
T I M E L I N E
• World War I 1914 - 1918
• Wars are massive mobilizers of economics and people
• Maps of Europe and Middle East, and parts of Asia are redrawn
• Rise of the “Muckrakers”
• Upton Sinclair “The Jungle”
• Coal, Meatpacking, Oil and Gas, Child labor, wages, working conditions
• 1938 — Fair Labor Standards Act creates a minimum wage and a 40 hour work week
T I M E L I N E
• World War II 1939 - 1945
• Total CasualtiesRussia -- 20M to 30M China -- 10M to 20M Germany -- 7M to 9M Poland -- 5M to 6M Dutch East Indies -- 3M to 4M Japan -- 3M India -- 2M to 3MFrance -- 600KEngland -- 455K ---------------------------------------------World Total -- 60M to 84M US -- 418KNote -- The Battle of Stalingrad resulted in close to 2M total casualties alone. Note -- US suffered almost no damage to industrial infrastructure
T I M E L I N E
• 1950’s - 1980’s Pax Americana
• Rise of labor standards and wages for almost all Americans
• 1960’s Civil Rights Era — Civil Rights Act 1964 and other major legislation
• 1977 — World “Wakes Up” from WWII the Rise of Japan and Germany
T I M E L I N E
• The “Great Reversal” 1970’s - 2000’s
• The game went global… creating a downward pressure on wages
• Move “labor” to Third World nations and rise and fall of the maquiladora
• Illegal labor market in U.S
• Anti-organized labor movement
http://www.vox.com/2016/2/3/10905274/japan-history-video
Fun video that covers the progression…