Workers’ organizations became more durable. Small local unions merged into national ones for the same trade, like iron molders, and into city-wide assemblies of members from many unions called the Knights.
The biracial unions of New Orleans docks defeated the Board of Trade with a sudden strike, resulting in one of labor’s greatest victories. Food prices steadily fell, freeing a growing share of wages for clothes and other necessities.
Abolitionists
For a time the abolitionist movement and trade unions seemed to be at odds. Abolitionists pursued higher goals, like equality and a cooperative commonwealth, while trade unions focused on the day-to-day needs of workers.
Despite this division, the two movements shared many of the same ideals. Both based their ideas on the Ricardian labor theory of value and republican ideals that promoted independence and virtuous citizenship.
In the 1800s, abolitionists obtained a series of victories for working-class people. They convinced government authorities to ban child labor, establish minimum wages and regulations on hours worked and workplace safety.
Abolitionists also believed that one person owning another was morally wrong and published newspapers like the Liberator to convince others that blacks (as they were called) were just as capable of learning as whites. The abolitionist movement would help catalyze other reform movements in the 1800s, including temperance and women’s suffrage. However, the divisiveness and enmity that plagued this era contributed to its eventual demise and led to the Civil War.
Debtors
In the colonies, the demand for labor grew rapidly. Builders needed workers to erect homes and towns, cultivate the land, exploit the natural resources of the North Atlantic coast and the continent, and sail the seas. In many places, wages and prices were set by town or county quarter sessions courts. These quasi-official popular groups would at times punish violators with whippings, fines, and even expulsion from Patriot lines or public offices.
But the founders of the labor movement envisioned more than a wage-setting monopoly, and early movements sought to foster a conception of a just society based on the Ricardian labor theory of value. These ideals reflected the republican ideals of the American Revolution, which encouraged social equality and celebrated independent, virtuous citizenship. This vision was increasingly at odds with the transforming economic changes of industrial capitalism. It was against this backdrop that debtors unions began to appear. They filled a gap that the labor movement (even the most innovative alt-labor initiatives) could not.
Juvenile Offenders
Juvenile offenders are individuals under the age of 18 years who have committed a criminal offence and whose case is heard in juvenile court. Their conviction can impact their economic mobility – they may be unable to gain employment, obtain loans or financial aid or even find housing if their history of offending is recorded.
Juveniles are classified as a distinct group within the justice system because of their unique needs, psychiatric and developmental issues and the differing social expectations. Many high-income countries worldwide have established forensic child and adolescent psychiatry to address the needs of these youths and to develop rehabilitation and treatment programs.
Reformers’ assumption was that children can change their behaviour and that they are capable of reform. However, this does not mean that reform will automatically reduce crime in a society. The Factory Act of 1833 did not stop the use of child labour, but it did raise public awareness and started a process of gradual change in perceptions.
Prison Labor
As the 1800s progressed, workers became increasingly discontent with their living and working conditions. They demanded government assistance for urban poor, improved sanitation, and safe work conditions. Some also demanded that criminals be subject to strict discipline in prisons.
The early labor movement based its ideals on a vision of society that was free of inequality, endorsed honest labor and a virtuous citizenry, and valued the sanctity of life. That dream ran into a headlong collision with the transforming economic changes of industrial capitalism.
Today, incarcerated workers are often exploited as slave-like cheap labor for the sake of profit (profit may be minor after expenses such as security). Private companies are even encouraged to utilize prison labor through tax credits. The exploitation of incarcerated people is not only cruel but it devalues human dignity. For this reason, many reformers compare prison labor to slavery. They believe that prisons should focus on rehabilitation rather than generating income from prisoners’ work.
