The following narrative is John Steinbeck's account of the working class during the Great Depression, as relayed in The Grapes of Wrath. In the 1930s, the price of produce dropped, which left small farm owners with inadequate income to remain solvent. Owners of larger farms then purchased these smaller plots, which consolidated land under a relative few corporations. These corporations were able to remain profitable because they also controlled canneries in which the unneeded and unprofitable fruit could be canned, stored, and sold later when produce prices rose.
Migrant families from the eastern part of the United States, in the meantime, poured into California on hearing of plentiful work as farm hands. So numerous were these Okies, as they were derogatorily named, that they competed for the few jobs available on the corporate farms. Moreover, farm owners cut the wages of those who did find work, knowing that laborers would choose a job that offered something rather than starve. At the same time, these corporations felt threatened by the sheer numbers of migrants, and especially of the potential for these workers to unite against them. They therefore hired security to terrorize them, while local police did what they could to disband the "Hoovervilles" (migrant roadside camps), which included physical intimidation and the burning of the camps themselves.
Wages having fallen to insecure levels, families began to starve, leading to malnutrition with diseases like pellagra. At the same time, the price of produce had not risen, leading farm owners to restrict the supply of that produce artificially to raise prices. This led to the sad circumstance of a working class on the brink of starvation while farms slaughtered and buried pigs, dumped potatoes in rivers and kept guards near to prevent people from fetching them, and poured kerosene on piles of oranges to destroy them.
Violent strikebreaking occurred when workers did form unions, with police and security breaking up camps and targeting union leaders who helped organize them.
With a minimum wage in place, the working class is secured against wages below a viable living standard, and with the ability to form unions, workers can create a front strong enough to challenge unjust wages and treatment. Given the state and federal minimum wage and safety laws we have in place protecting employees, we certainly do not need unions as much as we once did. Whether we need them at all is a topic still debated today. In California, the teacher's association is a powerful group that pushed back against a proposition (32) that would have barred unions from automatically deducting wages from a member's paycheck. Had it passed, many union members would have opted not to pay their fees, largely reducing the unions' incomes and, as a result, their political power.
Migrant families from the eastern part of the United States, in the meantime, poured into California on hearing of plentiful work as farm hands. So numerous were these Okies, as they were derogatorily named, that they competed for the few jobs available on the corporate farms. Moreover, farm owners cut the wages of those who did find work, knowing that laborers would choose a job that offered something rather than starve. At the same time, these corporations felt threatened by the sheer numbers of migrants, and especially of the potential for these workers to unite against them. They therefore hired security to terrorize them, while local police did what they could to disband the "Hoovervilles" (migrant roadside camps), which included physical intimidation and the burning of the camps themselves.
Wages having fallen to insecure levels, families began to starve, leading to malnutrition with diseases like pellagra. At the same time, the price of produce had not risen, leading farm owners to restrict the supply of that produce artificially to raise prices. This led to the sad circumstance of a working class on the brink of starvation while farms slaughtered and buried pigs, dumped potatoes in rivers and kept guards near to prevent people from fetching them, and poured kerosene on piles of oranges to destroy them.
Violent strikebreaking occurred when workers did form unions, with police and security breaking up camps and targeting union leaders who helped organize them.
With a minimum wage in place, the working class is secured against wages below a viable living standard, and with the ability to form unions, workers can create a front strong enough to challenge unjust wages and treatment. Given the state and federal minimum wage and safety laws we have in place protecting employees, we certainly do not need unions as much as we once did. Whether we need them at all is a topic still debated today. In California, the teacher's association is a powerful group that pushed back against a proposition (32) that would have barred unions from automatically deducting wages from a member's paycheck. Had it passed, many union members would have opted not to pay their fees, largely reducing the unions' incomes and, as a result, their political power.
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