Posts Tagged ‘workers’

What life was like for U.S. workers in 1915

Wednesday, February 24th, 2016

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To commemorate its centennial, editors at the Monthly Labor Review have produced an excellent and fascinating report on The life of American workers in 1915 and the progress we have seen in the workplace since then. We think it’s worth your time to check it out!

The context of the era is first established with a list of news events that were occurring at the time: a bill to give women the right to vote was rejected; labor leader Joe Hill was charged with murder, a charge that would lead to his execution; Alexander Graham Bell made his famous call to Thomas Watson in San Francisco, Typhoid Mary was arrested, Einstein formulated his theory of general relativity -these and several other key events shaped the era.

The report goes on to discuss the demographics of the day and paint a portrait of daily life with many interesting facts about daily life ranging from where and how people lived (mortgages typically ranged from 5 to 7 years, but required 40-50% down) to how they commuted to work each day (streetcar, by foot or by horse) , what they typically ate for breakfast (corn flakes and puffed wheat cereals), what they wore for work clothing, how many hours they worked, what an average worker was paid ($687 a year), how they spent their leisure time, and more. It’s a fascinating and well-researched historical document.

For our purposes, we were most interested in work conditions and safety. Here’s one excerpt:

Although working in mines was notoriously dangerous, mill work could also be quite hazardous. BLS reported about 23,000 industrial deaths in 1913 among a workforce of 38 million, equivalent to a rate of 61 deaths per 100,000 workers. In contrast, the most recent data on overall occupational fatalities show a rate of 3.3 deaths per 100,000 workers. Regarding on-the-job safety, Green notes, “There was virtually no regulation, no insurance, and no company fear of a lawsuit when someone was injured or killed.” Frances Perkins, who went on to become the first Secretary of Labor (1933–45), lobbied for better working conditions and hours in 1910 as head of the New York Consumers League. After witnessing the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, which caused the death of 146 mainly young, immigrant female garment workers in New York’s Greenwich Village, Perkins left her job to become the head of the Committee on Public Safety, where she became an even stronger advocate for workplace safety. From 1911 to 1913, the New York State legislature passed 60 new safety laws recommended by the committee. Workplaces have become safer, and technology has been used in place of workers for some especially dangerous tasks.

In addition to this excellent article, there are a few noteworthy accompanying reports and articles in the sidebar, as well. Occupational changes during the 20th century charts how farmers, craftsmen, laborers and private household workers gave way to professional, managerial and service workers over the course of the century. Labor law highlights, 1915–2015 runs through legislation and trends that improved the worker’s lot – ranging from legislation that regulated child labor to laws prohibiting discriminatory practices for women and minorities. Two key legal initiatives were the introduction and adoption of workers compensation laws and workplace safety initiatives being legislated in 1970 with the passage of the birth of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA).

 Theodore Roosevelt, arguing in favor of workers’ compensation (then known as workmen’s compensation) laws in 1913, offered the story of an injured worker that summed up the legal recourse available for workplace injuries at the time. A woman’s arm was ripped off by the uncovered gears of a grinding machine. She had complained earlier to her employer that state law required the gears be covered. Her employer responded that she could either do her job or leave. Under the prevailing common-law rules of negligence, because she continued working she had assumed the risk of the dangerous condition and was not entitled to compensation for her injury.

As the example illustrates, common-law negligence was not ideal for handling workplace injuries. Workers who noticed hazards could either “assume the risk” and continue working, or leave work; they were powerless to change the condition. Employers were at risk as well: they were vulnerable to negligence suits that could yield large, unanticipated awards for injured workers. Workers’ compensation, where employers insure against the cost of workplace injuries and workers have defined benefits in the case of injury, significantly reduced the risk for both parties.

Our brief excepts don’t do these report justice. Kudos to all the people who produced these great documents and congratulations on 100 years of reporting on the American workplace!

Labor Day Roundup: Here’s to the Workers

Tuesday, September 4th, 2012

As a belated tribute to Labor Day, we offer a smorgasbord of items about work, worker safety, and some of our favorite tributes to workers.
Celebrating the American Worker
America at Work – Alan Taylor compiles superlative photo essays for The Atlantic’s In Focus series. This collection of images from the recent Recession and its years of uncertainty — of men and women both at work and out of work in the United States.
Earl Dotter, Photojournalist – A remarkable portfolio of work documenting American workers. In the author’s words:
“For more than thirty five years the camera had enabled me to do meaningful work. Starting with Appalachian coal miners, and continuing through the years over a broad array of occupations in all regions of the country, I have observed and documented the working lives of Americans. Standing behind the lens, I have celebrated their accomplishments. I seek out those who are taking steps to improve their lives and their effectiveness at work, and use the camera to engage them by giving testimony to their achievements. The images that result tell of the satisfactions their work brings as well as its everyday challenges.”
Lost Labor – For more than 20 years, visual artist Raymon Elozua has been assembling a vast collection of company histories, pamphlets, and technical brochures that document America’s industrial history. This site features 155 photos from that collection – images of factories, machinery, and laborers hard at work. Many of the jobs depicted have faded into history. The artist grew up in the South Side of Chicago in the shadow of the giant steel mills and factories. His dad worked at U.S. Steel and his first job was at U.S. Steel, triggering a life long interest in everything about these industrial behemoths, from the architecture to the people who worked the jobs within. His interest in documenting this bygone era of American working life was sparked by the demise of the South Works industries.
Worker Safety
Hard Labor – The Center for Public Integrity says: “Each year, some 4,500 American workers die on the job and 50,000 perish from occupational diseases. Millions more are hurt and sickened at workplaces, and many others are cheated of wages and abused. In the coming months the Center for Public Integrity will publish, under the banner Hard Labor, stories exploring threats to workers — and the corporate and regulatory factors that endanger them.”
In particular, we point you to two recent stories:
Fishing deaths mount, but government slow to cast safety net for deadliest industry
Kentucky death case: Another black eye for state workplace safety enforcement
The Best Reporting on Worker Safety – ProPublica compiled “12 pieces of great reporting on workplace safety: from slaughterhouse diseases to lax regulatory oversight and deadly vats of chocolate.”
Workers in Popular Culture

From our archives

Friday sing-along: Songs for the Working Man & Woman

Friday, September 9th, 2011

For Labor Day Weekend, Peter Rotheberg took “a stab at the impossible task of naming the best songs ever written about working people.” He compiled a noteworthy list of the Top Ten Labor Day Songs – a great list with more than a passing nod to some of the labor classics. (Thanks to Jeffrey Hirsch
at the Workplace Prof Blog for pointing us to the enjoyable post).
Here’s a few more workings songs we like:

The heroes of Fukushima; insurance issues related to Japan’s catastrophe

Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011

We are now a week and a half into the Japanese disaster, which encompassed a terrible trio of catastrophic events: an earthquake, a tsunami, and a near-nuclear meltdown that looked to be vying for a top spot in the record books. The death toll tops 9,000, with another 13,000 still missing. And today at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant, although a large scale meltdown looks to have been narrowly averted, the extent of the radiation leaks and the related damage are still yet to be fully assessed.
The heroes of the past week, those credited with keeping events at the nuclear plant from spiraling irretrievably out of control, are being hailed as “the Fukushima 50.” In actual numbers, they are more like 200 courageous souls, taking turns in 50-person shifts while the world watched from outside the 20 kilometer evacuation zone.
When the full extent of the crisis at the Fukushima plant became apparent in the wee hours of March 15, TEPCO wanted to remove all staff. Prime Minister Kan summoned TEPCO President Masataka Shimizu to his Office and told him that leaving was was not an option. “This is not a matter of TEPCO going under; it’s about what will become of Japan,” he said.
ABC news sheds a bit more light on the team who struggled to restore order to the crippled plant. The crews are though to be hands-on workers, technicians, rather than managers.

“The crews are not necessarily made up of strong young men. Emergency nuclear scenarios suggest asking older retirees to volunteer, not because they’re more expendable, or even because they’re more skilled, but because even if they’re exposed to massive amounts of radiation, history has shown they would die of old age before they die of radiation induced cancers, which can take decades to develop.”

And what’s the extent of the health risks they are facing? The Power company reports that at least 25 workers and 5 members of Japan’s Self Defense Force had were exposed to unsafe levels of radiation. There are other injuries and two workers remain missing. As for “the fifty,” ABC says that not all experts believe that the radiation levels the workers are exposed to will be fatal.

“While radiation-induced cancers are a serious worry for those exposed to high doses of radiation, they usually take at least a few years to set in.
“You may see an incidence of cancer 30 years down the road. Cataracts can set in in 30 to 40 years,” said Jenkins. “Leukemia showed up within a few years in the atomic bomb survivors, but solid cancers did not appear until 10 years and continue [to show up] to this day,” said Hall.”

Wikipedia’s page on the Fukushima 50 offers more detail about the radiation exposure these workers faced in comparison to that of other nuclear workers.

“The international limit for radiation exposure for nuclear workers is 20 millisievert (20 mSv) per year, averaged over five years, with a limit of 50 mSv in any one year, however for workers performing emergency services EPA guidance on dose limits is 100 mSv when “protecting valuable property” and 250 mSv when the activity is “life saving or protection of large populations.”
Prior to the accident, the maximum permissible dose for Japanese nuclear workers was 100 mSv in any one year, but on 15 March 2011, the Japanese Health and Labor Ministry enforced the permitted 250 mSv limit, in light of the situation at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant.”

For additional perspective on the numbers, see this excellent radiation dose chart.

Revisiting Chernobyl
As we approach the 25 year anniversary of the world’s worst nuclear disaster, the inevtiable comparisons have been made. But Japan’s a markedly different scenario than the one faced by the workers at Chernobyl, where 29 firefighters, rescuers and nuclear plant workers died in the two months following the nuclear disaster. At least 19 other workers have died since 1987, and others have reportedly died from leukemia and other illnesses. You can read the gruesome story of deceased Fireman Vasily Ignatenko, as told by his wife Lyudmilla Ignatenko.

Subsequent clean-up teams were called The Liquidators of Chernobyl. These were folks tasked with the cleanup. Of this cleanup. Wikipedia says:

Between 1986 and 1992, it is thought between 600,000 and one million people participated in works around Chernobyl and their health was endangered due to radiation. Because of the dissolution of the USSR in the 1990s, evaluations about liquidators’ health are difficult, since they come from various countries (mostly Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, but also other former Soviet republics). Furthermore, the government of Russia has never been keen on giving the true figures for the disaster, or even on making serious estimates. However, according to a study by Belarusian physicians, rate of cancers among this population is about four times greater than the rest of the population. (Wikipedia notes that “All the figures quoted by various agencies are controversial.”)

Insurance issues related to Japan’s disaster
According to the Insurance Information Institute, Japan’s earthquake could cost $15 billion to $35 billion, one of the costliest ever. This would be a tough enough kick in the shins for the insurance industry, but III notes that, “… four of the five costliest earthquakes and tsunamis in the past 30 years have occurred within the past 13 months.”
See more from III at their excellent resource page on the Japan earthquake and Pacific Tsunamis
Here are some other insurance-related articles that shed light on one or another aspect of this mammoth event.
We aren’t up our international compensation law, but our Googling turned up this overview of Workers Accident Compensation in Japan.
Joanne Wojcik tackled the nuclear topic in Business Insurance in her article Coverage restrictions expected to limit nuclear claims (subscription required). We offer this excerpt:

Under Japan’s 1961 Law on Compensation for Nuclear Damage, which was amended in 2010,
power plant operators’ liability for accidents such as those after the earthquake and tsunami is limited to 120 billion yen (about $1.5 billion), with the Japanese government assuming responsibility for any third-party damage or bodily injury claims beyond that amount.
To meet the requirements of the law, Japanese nuclear power plant operators buy property and liability insurance from the Japan Atomic Energy Insurance Pool. JAEIP provides nuclear property, nuclear liability, general liability and terrorism coverage to nuclear power plant operators. However, JAEIP does not sell the utilities coverage for earthquake damage, tsunami damage or business interruption, leaving the Japanese government responsible for those costs.
If a nuclear incident similar to that occurring in Japan were to happen in the United States, the U.S. Price-Anderson Act limits liability for nuclear power plant operators to $12.6 billion.

At Risk Management Monitor, Emily Holbrooke looks at the issue of business interruption and its effects on global corporations. Many think the real story is one of good engineering saving thousands of lives – Jared Wade discusses this in his posting about how Japan’s bulding codes prevented casualties.
Also in Business Insurance, Judy Greenwwald looks at the complicated claims process ahead:

Corporate policyholders that do business with companies in Japan face a complicated process when they attempt to tap their contingent business interruption coverage because of the intertwining nature of the disasters that have struck the nation, observers say.
“This is going to be one of the most complicated catastrophes that I’ve seen,” said William Okelson, Chicago-based director of property claims for Lockton Cos. L.L.C. There are “so many variables,” including the original quake, the tsunami, resulting fires, nuclear power plant dangers and the government rationing of electricity.

At LexisNexis, Julius Young examines a “what if ” scenario: What If? Workers’ Comp and Earthquakes. Jon Gelman puts the events in some historical context relative to other large-scale disasters and nuclear events: A Nuclear Workers’ Compensation Disaster.

Celebrating American workers

Tuesday, May 8th, 2007

U.S. Steel - female workersThe website for National Archives is a national treasure. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the Government agency that preserves and maintains important historical materials and makes them available for research or public access. Many records have been digitized and the site has an extensive array of exhibits that range from the educational to the entertaining.
One that we chanced on recently that may be of some interest to readers of this blog is The Way We Worked. This is an extensive exhibit, primarily photographic, that offers a glimpse of American workplaces spanning the mid 19th to the late 20th centuries. The exhibit graphically depicts how the nature of the work that we do has changed and offers this commentary:

… In 1870 only a handful of factories employed over 500 workers. By 1900, 1,063 factories employed between 500 and 1,000 people. During the first half of the 20th century, many African American women worked as domestics in private homes, but during World War II, they took advantage of new opportunities at shipyards and factories.
By the end of the 20th century, a dramatic shift took place, sending individuals who had worked in factories, plants, and mills into jobs in offices, stores, and restaurants.

The site has exhibits on what people wore to work and what tools they used. Also, in a section about “conflict at work” there are photos focusing on labor issues. The section that attracted our attention is a compilation of photos on dangerous or unhealthful work. Each of the photos are captioned and offer interesting commentary. The photo of the women that we’ve used in this post depicts workers at U.S. Steel’s Gary, Indiana Works, taken sometime between 1941 and 1945. The caption refers to the workers as “top women” and states that, “Their job is to clean up at regular intervals around the tops of twelve blast furnaces. As a safety precaution, the girls wear oxygen masks while they are doing the clean-up job.”
The photos are also available for purchase in book form and can be viewed at the following locations in a traveling exhibit:

  • Morrow, GA., March 10 – May 20, 2007
    –National Archives and Records Administration – Southeast Regional Archives

  • Kansas City, MO. , June 9 – August 19, 2007
    –Kansas City Public Library

  • Ocala, FL., September 8 – December 18, 2007
    –Central Florida Community College

Lost Labor: Images of Vanished American Workers 1900-1980

Tuesday, June 8th, 2004

For more than 20 years, visual artist Raymon Elozua has been assembling a vast collection of company histories, pamphlets, and technical brochures that document America’s industrial history. This site features 155 photos from that collection – images of factories, machinery, and laborers hard at work. Many of the jobs depicted have faded into history.

The artist grew up in the South Side of Chicago in the shadow of the giant steel mills and factories. His dad worked at U.S. Steel and his first job was at U.S. Steel, triggering a life long interest in everything about these industrial behemoths, from the architecture to the people who worked the jobs within. His interest in documenting this bygone era of American working life was sparked by the demise of the South Works industries.

“I began looking for pictures of men and woman at work, individuals who were living the American dream of creating a future for themselves, their family and their country, no matter the effort or hardship.”

This fascinating site is the result of Elozua’s 20-year quest. It’s a wonderful piece of history and a tribute to the labor of our parents’ and grandparents’ generations. It made me think of my own Dad who spent many years as a busdriver after a few grueling years working in a mill while we were kids. He’d be happy if he were around to see how much easier his kids have life today. Thanks, Dad!

Hazardous duty: Earl Dotter photographs America working

Monday, February 23rd, 2004

You must visit the extraordinary site of photojournalist Earl Dotter. He describes his work better than I ever could:

For 30 years, the camera has enabled me to do meaningful work. Starting in the Appalachian coal fields, and continuing through the years over a broad spectrum of industries and regions of the country, I have observed and documented the working lives of Americans. Standing behind the lens, I have celebrated the accomplishments, the pride and the skill of workers and community activists … When I walk through a mine, mill, or on board a fishing vessel, I find myself drawn to those individuals who emanate a sense of personal worth and belonging to the human family. When I experience tragedy in the workplace – death, disability, and exploitation – I use the camera to explore not only the person or event, but my own reaction to it. If I am successful, then the viewer will be better able to stand before the photograph and feel the intensity of the moment as I myself do.

I came upon the site because I used to live in Portland, Maine, and someone there was telling me about an exhibit they had seen last year, The Price of Fish – Our Nation’s Most Perilous Job Takes Life and Limb in New England. Interestingly, the exhibit was sponsored by Maine Employers’ Mutual Insurance Company (MEMIC) as part of their Safety Academy’s outreach, and if you take the time to view the photos you will see how appropriate the exhibit was for this purpose.

His book The Quiet Sickness first chronicled South Carolina textile workers with brown lung disease (or byssinosis) as a consequence of exposure to cotton dust while on the job at the local mill. Photos from several other chapters are available also, and they are very powerful and poignant images, often quite raw – I found the healthcare worker photos particularly troubling, perhaps because I have family full of nurses. Also, the agriculture and food production photos are disturbing – I hadn’t thought of quite how many risks are taken to keep my refrigerator full.

It’s easy for those of us who work in the industry to be caught up in the claims and the dollars every day and forget what is at the heart of this business. Earl Dotter brings that home.