It was very nice today. The people at the State Fair should be pleased. I made ginger snaps again today. No more day camp kids, school is starting soon. I'm told Fall is quite boring with lack of visitors.
Today there was a brief discussion on women in the workplace in the 19th Century. Upper class of course were all housewives. Only poor women worked in factories, laudries, bakeries, seamstresses, hat makers called milliners, and prostitutes. Wives often worked with their husbands as farmers and bookkeepers. The other volunteer said a rich man's fun is a poor man work. Very true.
When I came home to watch TV, I saw phone company workers striking for acceptable contract. Mechanics of an airline are ready to strike, but set a deadline in the future for an acceptable contract. The companies naturally threaten to close down and rebuild in a foreign country where there are no unions lowering their profits. Yes, there are many countries to choose from where child labor is the rule, companies are not punished when workers are injuried or killed, and companies can pay workers next to nothing without any benefits whatsoever. The TV said unions got their start in the 1930's because of The Depression.
Actually, union organization was a long and violent process beginning in the Industrial Revolution after the American Civil War. Industries of iron and coal rapidly grew, railraods were booming, and new inventions like the sewing machine and rubber made life easier for all. Multiple riots all over the country erupted because companies refused to acknowldge any organizations formed by workers when they protested dangerous working conditions and pathetic wages. Workers who did organize were blacklisted so no one would hire them. Protests continued and strikes of workers went into the 20th Century. When governments made unions legal and forced company owners to deal with them occurred in the 1930's. Minimum wage laws, child labor laws, limited work hour week laws, and safety regulations passed by the government forced the companies to deal with the unions even more. States then issued right to work laws that say one does not have to belong to a union to work. Iowa would be one of those states because of all the farmers and lack of dangerous industries. Iowa also has laws that prohibit public employees, like postal workers or teachers, to strike. Many rich company owners deem unions as evil as the devil and some refuse to hire union workers simply because paying people well cuts into profits the company owners live off of. Of course they depend on employee loyalty to boost sagging profits, at least at a couple retail stores I worked at. Yeah, my loyalty to any company depends on how loyal the company is to me. Post later. Bye!
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