• AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    They’d be overjoyed that their fight was won. The 40 hour work week is what they were fighting for, as are OSHA, overtime, benefits, and unemployment. They were working 16 hours per day, 6-7 days per week, in absolutely awful conditions, at the ripe old age of 12, just to live in a shack, eat bread, and own one pair of clothes. I highly suggest that anyone here who thinks things are worse now than they were 100 years ago should go read The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair. Read it right now! That doesn’t mean that we can’t keep improving, especially with productivity at all-time highs, along with rampant price gouging. The corporations are trying to get back to where we were 100 years ago, it’s up to us to keep pushing in the right direction.

    • dustycups
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      3 months ago

      No source to hand but I heard a rumour that:

      This is first generation since 100 years ago that is worse off (in terms of health outcomes & ability to save) than their parents. I’m not so sure about wealth inequality but that’s pretty high in many countries right now.

      Its interesting that it happens at times of fast technological change.

      Edit: I agree about things being better than 100 years ago.