Labor Exposed In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

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Last but not least, labor wages was another problem that we cannot ignore when reading The Jungle. In Packingtown, any mishap could bring ruin upon a family. For instance, Jurgis slipped and sprained his ankle while he worked. The doctor forced him to rest in bed for three months to recover fully wound. Even though the accident occurred at his working place, the factory had no liability or compensation for damage suffered by him, simply cuts off Jurgis’s pay while he recuperated. Not only that, workers did not receive pay for any fraction of an hour. “A man might work full fifty minutes, but if there was no work to fill out the hour, there was no pay for him.” (Sinclair, 73) The men in Packingtown worked hard no matter what the weather was like. They were always in a state of anxiety that they would be unemployed if the labor force too much. Because of the fearing of unemployment, they were willing to accept the cruel conditions of owners such as “requiring the same work in a shorter time, and paying the same wages; and…show more content…
Besides, the billions of gallons of water in the city were stolen also mentioned in the issue of corruption. The bosses of the factories, who have power in Packingtown, and even be the candidates of Political parties, have abetted additional actions not this good. Therefore, union or socialism as "the common ownership and democratic management of the means of producing the necessities of life", and "this is to be brought about is the class conscious political organization of the wage-earners" (Sinclair, 281). At that time, the American capitalist system where the big bosses manipulate power. Hence, socialism with the reasonable division of powers and works, as well as workers had certain rights and fairness in salary that was the only feasible

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