Struggles of working people in America

Struggles of working people in America

            Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed, takes us back to the early 1990s in America where citizens, non-citizens and all workers in general struggled to earn their daily bread under harsh and unfavorable working conditions. In her book, Ehrenreich provides a brief set up of how America has transformed historically and on the basis of economy from the colonial times to the today America.  The successfulness of American economy particularly on labor and working relations dates back to the times of migrations and settlement. Primarily, Europeans interest in American was in industrializations sector and the influence of Irish potato fines growth in American fertile soils (Ehrenreich, 16). People could migrate in their quest to invest while peasants migrated purposely in search of jobs. There came diversities in salaries and working conditions as there were no other jobs other than securing jobs in European farms. The author’s experience on the labor relations is that rules and punishments were real with low payments. This has gradually changed with time until civilization where one needs to have rights behind his or her undertakings.

According to Ehrenreich, migration into America has impacted negatively on the labor and working conditions. United States of America was basically an agrarian nation before it transformed to the modern industrial nation. The labor set up composed of unskilled and skilled artisans, craftsmen and mechanics. Almost 40% of the total laborers lived in dismissal circumstances working in seamstresses in clothing factories and earning low wages (Ehrenreich, 17).  The labors took status quo until the time when factories were developed and now women, children and men got employed in the factories to work as machine operators. Ehrenreich points out that, as the time went by, many Americans left farms to work on factories which were characterized by a massive production. Again in factories, labor was characterized by low-wage payment, lack of skills and poor working conditions but this, case more improved than the former state of employment in firms.

Since then, employment has gradually changed with more people being employed in factories and even formation of unions. Jobs have shifted immensely from manufacturing and service sector has grown on a high rate (Ehrenreich, 23). Another notable change that has taken place in the American economy is that employers, companies and factory sectors are getting more skills as opposed to the unskilled laborers. In her Nickel and Dimed, Ehrenreich also points that many workers have shifted from blue collar factory jobs unskilled jobs to the white-collar skilled jobs characterized by a realistic wages. In addition, newer industries have diverged to include very highly skilled workers who can adopt to match with changes that are often caused by computers and technology. One significant change is that employers have embarked on the production of varied products according to the tests and preferences of customers. According to Ehrenreich (24), this has forced employers to emphasize less hierarchy but emphasize on self-directed and interdisciplinary team of workers.

Sectors of steel and heavy machinery in America have remained absolutely reluctant to these changes in job specifications. Notably, unions prospered in those years and manufacturing jobs have declined with time. Another great change is that the employers who were challenged with mountings of low payment are have devised new ways to deal with the problem. For instance, the employers are now emphasizing on more use of part time employees and declining the pay on benefit plans designed to place a long term relationship with employees (Ehrenreich, 19). Additionally, they have succeeded in fighting union organized strikes, demonstrations and boycotts against the legislation. Of late, the skilled workers term unions as the obstacles to their independence. They have been greatly banned under all costs.  Unions today are mainly applying in monopoly organizations such as schools and government. Despite the declines of unions, it is evident that skilled workers are benefiting from the current changes brought by technology. On the other hand, unskilled workers are still encountering difficulties. For instance, according to Ehrenreich (22), there has been a widespread disparity of wage proportions between the skilled and the unskilled workers.

In her Nickel and Dimed, Ehrenreich is very right and precise when describing the current conditions of workers. The author‘s experiences are similar to those of a low-wage laborer are similar to the ones of workers in the previous era. She points that the wages have continued to rise overtime with the more skilled workers being paid high wages as opposed to the less skilled workers.  Similarly, in the previous era, only the skilled workers could get a relatively high pay while the artisans and local mechanics working in manufacturing firms got low wages. Authors’ experiences are also similar to the previous era in such a way that, the amount of energy is indirectly proportional to the payment. In other words, the more difficult manual jobs go to the less skilled while the technical white-collar jobs are dedicated to the more skilled people.  In contrast, Ehrenreich experiences tend to slightly differ from the nature workers conditions in the previous era. For instance, imposition of tax affected low income earners greatly in the previous era as opposed to date where tax imposition is proportional to income for various jobs. In conclusion, it is evident that struggles of American labor relation on the basis of wage payment are gradually changing with time from the harsh to friendly working conditions.

Outline

1. American economy during migration

• European interest in America
• Labor and working conditions

2. American change from agrarian to industrial economy

• Factory oriented jobs
• Skilled and unskilled labor earning low pay

3. Demand for new employees

• Shifting from blue collar jobs to white collar jobs
• Emphasize on less hierarchy and interdisciplinary team of workers

4. Use of part time employees as opposed to pay on benefit plans
5. Comparisons between authors’ experiences and those of previous era

• Job proportion to payment
• Tax imposition technicality