| FACTORY CONDITIONS AND LABOR UNIONS Now problems lurked too in the shadows of wealth As wage-earners did struggle for their living and health. Paid a pittance or less if they lacked needed skills, -- Many toiled all day but could not meet their bills. Hence divisions of class, not those tied to one's birth, Grew steep on the slopes of financial worth, As the owners of means, folks not strangers to greed, Got to deal all the cards for those saddled with need. The millions of men, indeed, children and women, Who scrambled for jobs to eke out a living, Forced to offer their toil and get little of perks -- Lives that oft' seemed a mere cog in the works. While smoke from each furnace and the dark dusty coal Lay seige to their bodies and would soon take its toll On Nature's green splendors, our ecology, As pollution grew worse in both scope and degree. While new perils bit hard in the large factories, With limb-crunching machines, quite deaf to all pleas. Where kiddies worked too at still less for an hour And brought cries of protest this cruel slant of power. But rather than clash and compete with each other, Might not the blue-collars see each man as a brother? Indeed, workers tried hard to speak in one voice And to form labor unions to have a new choice. Skilled men lead the way, joining squarely together To seek aims in common and so did they tether Their lots to one boat -- and their boats to one harbor: The new American Federation of Labor. Who by 1904 had a million signed up And could strike for more pay and more drink in their cup. To be joined later on by more plain working hands, To bargain collectively and hence make their demands... |
| Worksheet # 84 |
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