ABSTRACT
As the Industrial Revolution dawned in England in the mid-eighteenth century, the employer’s authority was absolute and completely free from laws or government regulations. Employers unilaterally determined wages and the terms and conditions of employment for their workers. As a practical matter, all but the most skilled workers had to take jobs as they came, with little or no opportunity to influence compensation levels or the nature of work. Conditions in the factories were deplorable: poorly lighted and ventilated, noisy, dangerous, and dirty working spaces; 12- to 14-hour days, 7 days a week; and children as young as 6 years toiling on the factory floor. Early efforts to form trade unions were violently suppressed by laws forbidding organization as a criminal conspiracy that interfered with commerce.
