What were the working conditions and wages during the industrial revolution?

[Celena]

[Michael Keen]

Peasants flocked into the fast-expanding cities to become workers and were kept in the slums that most factory workers were content to provide. The prevailing attitude was that giving the lower classes work was a social duty and only a few factory owners, such as Robert Owen, a Welshman working in New Lanark, and Titus Salt in Bradford, felt it right to give workers good living and working conditions in return for their labour.

Slowly these and other reformers managed to drag a series of Acts through Parliament to improve the lot of the working classes. Successive Factory Acts throughout the 1800's limited the hours that children could work, then women, and then all workers, with the result that, by 1874, a 56-and-a-half-hour working week was the legal maximum for all workers, and no woman or child could work before 6am or after 6pm.

At the same time as these reforms were being driven from the top down by upper class social reformers pressure was also coming up from below. A key event was the formation in 1832 of the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers in Tolpuddle, Dorset. Although formed as a Friendly Society, the rules and regulations were those that we would recognise as those of a trade union.

The Guilds Drop Away
Guilds were still very much active at this time but were largely restricted to craftsmen in towns or cities and there was no representative body for agricultural workers. The guilds power was waning in any case as they were seen as opponents of free trade and free markets and were an obstacle to the technological advances and associated business growth of the day. The technical advance also made their jealously guarded trade secrets either obsolete or easy to reproduce and communicate outside the guilds.
Britain became the world's industrial leader between 1750 and 1870 due to the resulting large increase in the producion of goods. Technology and new machinery were relatively inexpensive, and the economy was prosperous enough to support investments in them. The British had complete control in the market on their products and reaped great profits allowing them to finance further growth and development. There was a variety of products to chose from. It was also cheaper to buy the mass-produced goods. The mass production was done in factories which made Britain transform from a rural to an urban civilization. Factories formerly drew farmers together to one spot for the making of production (a.k.a. Urbanization). A person was no longer responsible for their own resources as a farmer, but they had only one specific task as a worker in a factory and that's it. Industrial Production brought the British people together as they had traditionally isolated, it brought more awareness and activity among the masses. Cotton was one of Britain's greatest industry, and merchants all over the world purchased British cotton cloth. Also, inventions like the steam engine pushed the coal industry. Soon England was the world's greatest iron and coal manufacturer. Human labour became an important and valued resource, and this led to the work reforms made.
The Tolpuddle Martyrs, as they were to become known, used the power of their solidarity to set a minimum wage, below which they would not work. The poverty of the time had led to a resurgence in rioting in 1829 and 1830 after bad winters and poor harvests had increased the hardship of agricultural labourers.

After two years a local landowner complained to the Prime Minister and the Martyrs were tried, found guilty of breaking an old law, which outlawed secret oaths, and transported to Australia. But within three years the groundswell of public support had become so great that all six of the Martyrs were repatriated.

[spiffer1]

Working conditions were terrible. Adults were deemed too large and too expensive for many jobs. Children were forced to work for low wages and were often abused, injured or even killed in the work place. They were forced to stoop in low shafts of cold, dark, dangerous coal mines. They were forced to maintain and change pieces on textile machines in factories - while the machines were operating.
Industrialists conspired to keep wages low (no correlation to the cost of the raw material and added value thanks to labour) so workers would be so addicted to the income they had no choice but to return to work.
Work weeks were often 60 to 80 hours with only Sundays off.