The Average Worker’s Fight For Labor Rights

A timeline of 500 years in labor, working conditions, and unionization.

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Introduction

The following timeline provides an overview of labor, working condition, and unionization from 1500 to modern day, describing were the average working person worked and how unions and labor movements came about. 

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1500

A map of Europe in the 1500s. (1)

Europe begins mass producing cannons and gunpowder in factories for military use, allowing europe to expand trade and territory. This allowed for the expansion of markets across Europe and extending to Asia, over which Europe held the monopoly. These markets helped to bolster European economy, with finances going mostly to increased exploration, but also going to mechanics and factories. This time also saw the beginning of the “cottage industry.” (2)

Agricultural workers would work at night to spin or weave cloth, then sold to travelling merchants who sold the cloth in turn. The cottage industry led to the creation of textile factories. (3) 

Woodcutting of in the inside of a textile factory. (4)

(1) “Europe in Year 1500,” Euratlas Periodis Web - Map of Europe in Year 1500, accessed May 13, 2020, https://www.euratlas.net/history/europe/1500/index.html)

(2) “Cottage Industry,” History Home, accessed May 13, 2020, http://www.historyhome.co.uk/peel/factmine/cottind.htm)

(3) “Pre-Industrial Society,” Modern World History, accessed May 13, 2020, http://webs.bcp.org/sites/vcleary/ModernWorldHistoryTextbook/IndustrialRevolution/PreIndus.html)

(4) “The First American Factories,” ushistory.org (Independence Hall Association), accessed May 13, 2020, https://www.ushistory.org/us/25d.asp)

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1538-1553

Industry in Europe transitioned from mills and tanneries to mostly ironworking. Metal was used in factories and production, demanding changes to how factories were built for the sake of efficiency.

“Economic and Social History: Industry and Trade, 1500-1880,” British History Online, accessed May 13, 2020, https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/warks/vol7/pp81-139#h3-0002)

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1600

In the 1600s, indentured servants were brought to the United States from England to work in agriculture, many of them being promised passage to the colonies in exchange for labor. Many of these indentured servants were replaced with slaves. (1) 

A document describing the indentured servitude of John Aish to Nicholas Tabb. (2)

(1) “Timeline of Ag Labor,” NFWM, accessed May 13, 2020, http://nfwm.org/resources/timeline-of-ag-labor/)

(2) Boston (Mass.). Overseers of the Poor. "Document of indenture: Servant: Aish, John. Master: Tabb [Tab], Nicholas.Town of Master: Boston." Manuscript. May 4, 1774. Digital Commonwealth, https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/1c18dp57b (accessed May 13, 2020).

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1650

The practice of apprenticeships becomes popular in England, meaning that in many trades, “masters” could hire apprentices to learn the craft without pay, meaning that much of the work produced in tanning, milling, ironwork, and carpentry was the result of unpaid labor.

“Economic and Social History: Industry and Trade, 1500-1880,” British History Online, accessed May 13, 2020, https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/warks/vol7/pp81-139#h3-0002)

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1676

Bacon’s Rebellion took place in Jamestown, Virginia, led by settler Nathaniel Bacon against Governor Berkeley. The Rebellion was in anger for restricting fur trading between colonists and Native Americans. Many of the settlers who joined the Rebellion were indentured servants.

Ronald L. Filippelli, “Labor Conflict in the United States: an Encyclopedia,” in Labor Conflict in the United States: an Encyclopedia(New York: Garland, 1990))

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1700

An estimated 25% of 5.3 million people in Europe lived in poverty, with approximately 80% of that population working in construction, factories, agriculture, and domestic services. By the early 1700s, the textile industry had been pushed into factories and mechanical inventions created faster production that was dangerous to operate. Without laws to regulate these new industries. There were no waste regulations, exposing workers to dangerous chemicals and substances, many factories employed children as young as seven, and the workers were not given any political say. (1) 

Document describing the food provisions allowed to to British peasants. (2)

(1) “Industrial Revolution,” Modern World History, accessed May 13, 2020, http://webs.bcp.org/sites/vcleary/ModernWorldHistoryTextbook/IndustrialRevolution/PreIndus.html)

(2) “Poverty,” The British Library (The British Library), accessed May 13, 2020, http://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item106500.html)

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1773

Carpenters disguised as Mohawk Indians played the role of the host group at the Boston Tea Party. Around this time, guilds of carpenters, cordwainers, cabinet makers, and cobblers were present in colonial America. (1)

A historic reenactment of the Boston Tea Party. The video is over an hour long, but enacts the complete events to current knowledge. (2)

(1) “Unionization,” History of Labor Unions, accessed May 13, 2020, http://www.socialstudieshelp.com/Eco_Unionization.htm)

(2) Boston Tea Party Reenactment, YouTube(Camp Constitution, 2018), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He7D8Gk8WQ4 )

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1790

Samuel Slater leaves England and opens the first factory in the United States, the Slater Mill, dedicated to textile manufacturing.

“The First American Factories,” ushistory.org (Independence Hall Association), accessed May 13, 2020, https://www.ushistory.org/us/25d.asp)

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1794

Printers in New York strike for the “pursuit of happiness,” in shorter hours and higher pay.

“Unionization,” History of Labor Unions, accessed May 13, 2020, http://www.socialstudieshelp.com/Eco_Unionization.htm)

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1797

Carpenters strike in Philadelphia against unfair wages and working conditions. 

“Unionization,” History of Labor Unions, accessed May 13, 2020, http://www.socialstudieshelp.com/Eco_Unionization.htm)

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1798

⅔ of all factory workers are found to be children, as they were paid 1/10 of what a man were paid. Children were also able to perform tasks adults could not, particularly with small spaces. Children also did not unionize or go on strike. As a result, children that worked in factories or mills, usually no older than seven, were found to have stunted growth and be malnourished. (1)

An 8-year-old girl tends thread lines in a textile factory. (2)

(1) “Industrial Revolution Effect.” Modern World History. Accessed May 13, 2020. http://webs.bcp.org/sites/vcleary/ModernWorldHistoryTextbook/IndustrialRevolution/IREffects.html.

(2) “Child Labor in the Industrial Revolution,” History Crunch, accessed May 13, 2020, https://www.historycrunch.com/child-labor-in-the-industrial-revolution.html#/)

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1799

Cordwainers in the United States strike to protest unsafe working conditions and to earn higher pay. 

“Unionization,” History of Labor Unions, accessed May 13, 2020, http://www.socialstudieshelp.com/Eco_Unionization.htm)

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1800

British Parliament passes the Combination Act, making it illegal for workers to unionize or combine as a group to lobby for better working conditions.  (1)

A group of workers strikes to persuade Parliament to pass the Combination Act. (2)

(1) “Industrial Revolution Effect.” Modern World History. Accessed May 13, 2020. http://webs.bcp.org/sites/vcleary/ModernWorldHistoryTextbook/IndustrialRevolution/IREffects.html.

(2) “Social Classes Emerging,” The Industrial Revolution!, accessed May 13, 2020, https://studyguidetoindustrialrevolution.weebly.com/social-classes-emerging.html)

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1820

Unions working to reduce the working day from 12 hours to 10 begin to form federations to pursue their common objectives for working people. Union efforts at this time were often ineffective as unions struggled to organize, though working conditions showed their need. The invention of the steam engine and water-powered machinery were creating factory systems worldwide that left workers miserable.

“Unionization,” History of Labor Unions, accessed May 13, 2020, http://www.socialstudieshelp.com/Eco_Unionization.htm)

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There is barely sufficient work for the regular employment of half of our labourers, so that only 1,500,000 are fully and constantly employed, while 1,500,000 more are employed only half their time, and the remaining 1,500,000 wholly unemployed.

1823, Henry Mayhew

“Industrial Revolution Effect,” Modern World History, accessed May 13, 2020, http://webs.bcp.org/sites/vcleary/ModernWorldHistoryTextbook/IndustrialRevolution/IREffects.html)

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There are factories… in which serious are continually occurring, and in which, notwithstanding, dangerous parts of the machinery are allowed to remain unfenced.

1832, British House of Commons report. This report also noted that injured workers lose their jobs without financial compensation or healthcare.

“Industrial Revolution Effect,” Modern World History, accessed May 13, 2020, http://webs.bcp.org/sites/vcleary/ModernWorldHistoryTextbook/IndustrialRevolution/IREffects.html)