Rebecca Ristau
Shell Games I. Part One 1. Child labor laws under the Fair Labor Standards Act A. “You’ve seen the children working in our factory. In others, kids as young as six and seven work forty-hour weeks. Many of them are there to pay off debts owed by their parents to the owners. They can never pay these debts back completely, so this is nothing more than slavery. Nothing more.” (pg. 134). “If you bend down, you’ll be able to see the buckets underneath that catch them as they fall. When the buckets are full, those youngsters over there crawl underneath and drag them to the next station. He pointed to a small group of ragamuffins, each somewhere between ten to twelve-years-old. … I asked why they were dragging buckets and not at home helping with chores or in school, and Mr. Blanton just shrugged his shoulders.” (pg. 90-91). B. This act prohibits most employment of minors. Children under the age of eighteen cannot do certain dangerous jobs, and children under the age of sixteen cannot work during school hours. The first quote violates this act because children under a certain age cannot be employed to start with. Also children that can be hired can only work a specific number of hours a week. The second quote violates this act because children under the age of eighteen are not to work certain dangerous jobs, and working around machinery that can cut off fingers constitutes dangerous. Also children are not to work any hours that are during the school day. 2. Americans with Disabilities Act A. “The most experienced and the oldest was Mrs. McHugh, who was seventy if she was a day. Her fingers were gnarled and crooked, but she had learned to compensate for her lack of dexterity by growing her fingernails quite long, which made it easy for her to scoop up the address labels and attach them to the boxes.” (pg. 104). B. This law prohibits discrimination based on disabilities. This is to give protection to disabled workers. Disabilities are based on a case-by-case basis. The quote violates this act because an employee should not have to compensate for his/her disability. The company should offer her a different job that would not bother her hands and make her work day a little easier. 3. Occupational Safety and Health Act A. “Most factories don’t even have basic safety precautions for the acid bath rooms. There have been countless, needless cases of facial burns and blindings because of the acid process—and they could have been prevented with just a few dollars’ worth of safety equipment on hand.” (pg. 135). B. This law was passed to prevent employees from being injured or contracting diseases during the course of their employment. This quote violates this act because the employers did not have the proper safety protection that was required for this job. Because of this, employees were being injured and permanently disabled because the company was being careless and selfish. 4. Sexual Harassment under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 A. “Every morning early—and I mean early—Viola and the others go down to a little shack by the train station. By sunup, a man called Muscatine Shorty, or just Shorts, has a list of the day’s fill-in work, and he assigns the jobs as he sees fit. I wish I could say something good about him, but I don’t think anyone can. He’s been known to require special favors of people, especially women, before he’ll give them a job—if you know what I mean.” (pg. 42-43). B. This law prohibits the act of harassing co-workers in a sexual manner. This offense is how the other person takes it. Also this act prevents making a work environment hostile. This violates this act because women should not have to do special “sexual” favors in order to work. This may not be exactly like something you would encounter today; however, Shorts was using his position to gain things for himself. This would make the environment hostile to majority of the workers. 5. Family and Medical Leave Act A. “She continued, her voice rising, Rule number four: Don’t get hurt! If you get injured and miss work, this is what will happen. The company won’t pay your medical bills; you’ll have to cover that yourself, and you won’t be able to afford it. Then, if you miss work, you won’t get paid, and somebody else will be in your place when you try to come back. That’s just the way it is. If you do get hurt, try to hide it if you can.” (pg. 56). B. Employers are required to provide employees job-protected and leave for qualified medical and family related reasons. These include personal or family illness, pregnancy or adoption, and family military leave. This violates the act because employers are required to pay for medical bills that are the result of an on the job injury. Also employers have to hold a person’s job while they are recovering from the injury. Also people who are injured on the job can be given workman’s comp to help alleviate the financial burden of being out of work because of an injury that is work related. 6. Fair pay and overtime under Fair Labor Standards Act A. “There are about twenty-five hundred workers in button factories all across Muscatine. The average worker puts in sixty to seventy-two hours a week to earn five dollars a week if a woman, and seven to eight dollars a week if a man. Out of this pitiful wage, they have to buy their own work tools and other equipment, and those aren’t cheap. After paying for rent and food, they might be able, if they’re lucky, to keep starvation and disease just outside their door.” (pg. 134). B. This law establishes a minimum wage and overtime pay for all American workers. This quote violates this act because employee should be given a minimum wage and should make an hourly rate not a weekly rate. Also employees should be able to be paid over time for anything over 40 hours a week. II. Part 2 1. Workers were starting to get tired of how the companies were not giving it a second thought on the lack of safety for the workers. “Because of that --and you have to promise to keep this to yourself – they started getting involved with people who are interested in stopping accidents like this from happening again,” “You mean Unionists,” (pg. 81). Workers would gather and listen to people who had ideas on getting together and trying to make a change. “Pay attention. You might learn something. That’s Howard Zey. He’s a unionist. Half the town loves him, and the other half would like to see him lynched. You may find what he says interesting. Listen,” (pg. 114-115). The workers would also set up secret places to meet and secret code words that had certain meanings. They also made it a point to not give up too much information if they were caught. “Tell her the furniture store on Cedar Street needs to be closed. Then tell her there were no singers. No choir,” (pg. 132). This was code saying that there location is no longer safe and that no one said a word. The unionists were also setting up people in the work places to get insider information. They called these people a patsy. “Becoming quiet to the point of whispering, she leaned close and said, “Viola’s a patsy. Do you know what that means?” I nodded that I did—as I shivered and felt myself blush at the same time,” (pg. 136). The unionists also had a way to get messages out so people knew what was going on and when. “Word had to be gotten out quickly to the members who would be going there for their usual Sunday night meeting. It was growing late in the day, and Mattie said she needed to rush off to deliver a message to some friends. I knew what she meant,” (pg. 140). The workers retaliated when the owners tried to put a stop to the formation of a union. “It didn’t take long for some of the displaced to get more creative in expressing their anger. They got their hands on hydrochloric acid and used it to make bombs which they threw into the homes of scab workers. They were no reports of anyone being injured in this manner, but the knowledge that his might happen kept lamps low and curtains drawn tightly shut at night. The factories were also vandalized. Trash piles outside the buildings were set ablaze, and rocks and bricks were heaved through windows. Some even managed to cut off the water supply to the buildings, which shut down whole factories. No water – no production,” (pg. 267). When the owners brought in the “sluggers” the workers also retaliated, “This message is for the Slugger’s, he shouted. We want you gone from this town, and we mean now. If you don’t, we’re going to burn you out,” (pg. 272). The unionists were very determined to have a voice in the workplace. Just as much as they wanted a voice, the owners were just as determined to shut them down. The owners had a group that went around gaining information on the formation of unions anyway they saw fit. “Pinks was an abbreviation for the Pinkerton Detective Agency and its deputies. According to Mattie, the Pinks had been hired by the factory owners in Muscatine, as they had been in manufacturing communities all over the country, to help quell the establishment of unions, (pg. 108-109). The owners made sure that any public gatherings for unionists were quickly broken up. These were usually violent to get the message across that they would not be tolerated. “In an instant, cheers were replaced by screams that spread quickly throughout the crowd. Fighting broke out from the left and spread like wildfire toward the center of the group…..Suddenly, arms all around me were swinging wildly, some of them in self-defense and others on attack. Many fell to the ground and were trampled by others as people started running in all directions. A young man next to me fell at my feet, blood gushing from his nose,” (pg. 118). The owners seem to also turn a blind eye to how unionists where being handled. They didn’t seem to care as long as the message was received. “This might be why she was beaten. Could be. Or, she really could have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. If the inion busters know about her, then we’ve got to get her the heck out of here. And we have to go, too, (pg. 136). The Pinks that were hired would do anything for information and I think that makes the owners worse than the unionists, even though both sides became violent in the end. The unionists did it as self-preservation while the owners had it done to save face. “Through the bag I could hear a man say, angrily, as he pressed in even harder at my temple, “Know what this is? It’s what’s going to happen to you if you don’t settle down. The rules are simple. If you scream, you die. If you get loose, you die,”….Turning back toward us, he continued, “girls, we’re going to have a little talk. It needn’t take very long. Why, you could be home having supper in just a few minutes,” (pg. 196, 201). What made this tactic very scary was that fact that they grabbed people who looked like they were unionists and didn’t seem to care or believe when they had the wrong people who knew no information because they were just button workers, not unionists. The owners also decided to close up shop and wait till the workers were starving to give up on being a unionist. They also reopened their factories but had others working in place of people who were in the unions. “All the factories are closed up. We got no more work. What are we going to do know?” “We talked about the possibility of this about a month ago. There were rumors the owners were considering a lockout to try to break the union. They might have done it,” (pg. 255). 2. Governor Carroll was the overseer of the meeting between the unionists and the factories. The union was represented by Oliver Wilson, Business Manager for the BWPU. Charles Hanley, Attorney for the BWPU. John Lennon, the National Treasurer for the American Federation of Labor. Pearl McGill, recording secretary. The owners were represented by Robert Sawchik, Black Hawk Button Works. J.S. McKee, McKee Button Company. Thomas Menker, U.S. Button Company. Joseph Hagermann, Hawkeye Button Company. Mr. Blanton, Blanton Button Company. Asa Baker, Muscatine Button Company. James Baker, Business Manager for the Muscatine Button Company. Edward Robison, Pioneer Button Company, (pg. 283-284). 3. The first discussion topic was, “that a joint committee of owners and workers should be established, for the mutual benefit of both parties, to negotiate disputes,” (pg. 285). This was discussed so that they would have a set of people that would continue to meet up and discuss any future topics. Both sides agreed after suggesting that the future representatives be changed if need be. The next discussion topic was, “That a joint committee of owners and workers should be established, for the mutual benefit of both parties, to examine safety issues in the factories,” (pg. 286). This was agreed upon very quickly. This will benefit the workers by making the factories a safer place to work. The next subject was, “Weekly work hours should be reduced for all workers, and the number of hours should be made standard across factories,” (pg. 287). This was not met without objections. This subject was taken off the table for now to be discussed at a different time. This would help the workers not be so tired and they would make better workers for the factories in the long run. The discussion of sanitation was quickly discussed and agreed upon, (pg. 290). This will help to ensure that employees will not get sick and miss work unnecessarily. Another subject brought up was, “All workers would be allowed to actively participate in the weighing, counting, and other means now and in the future used for determining wages,” (pg. 290). This will help to ensure fair and equal pay amongst the workers. However, this topic was taken off the table for further discussion at a later time. The topic, “issue of medical care pool was introduced,” (pg.291). This was met with resistance and even though it was one of the union’s throwaway topics, they fought for it before giving in so the owners felt like they were gaining ground. The next topic was, “…the way the daily “fill-in” workers were hired when need to replace those who could not report to work,” (pg. 292). Both sides agreed to find different ways to hire these people. This would make it safer for those looking for work and they won’t have to do “special” tasks to get said jobs. The next topic was, “That owners not discriminate in employment or pay on account of union membership,” (pg.293). This is important for workers so they will not fear being in a union. The other side did not argue this at all. The union wanted to ensure “That all workers currently affected by shutdown be reinstated as soon as possible,” (pg. 294). This will guarantee that the employees will get their jobs back. The final and most important topic was, “…the owners recognizing the union…,” (pg. 294). This was agreed upon and the end of the first union meeting between the unionists and the owners. III. Part Three Pros: Job security, improved wages, shorter work weeks, safer work place Cons: Union dues, safety of members If I was Pearl McGill I think I too would have joined the union. I believe in standing up for your-self and for others. Hence, the reason I joined the military. I do not believe that joining the union was worth the death and sorrow that many of the characters had to endure. I feel that this could have been handled in a better way. However, if no one would have gone through these experiences, then things would not have changed for the better.