affects the price level of the real wage. “The real wage can be regarded as the price that equates the supply of and demand for labor”, (Foley and Michl 70). Owners and mangers of capital seek a flexible labor force, which is counter for the worker’s desire for stability and security in their employment and conditions of life. At this point in history, the affluent society of the United States was generating immense wealth by capitalizing on the poorer worker’s needs for minimal financial requirements. The wealthy invested their capital into factory production devises, which drove out smaller competing business from the market place. This profit seeking strategy worked because it economically forced resource deficient workers into the cities. The supply for labor increased, which coerced many employees to work for the affluent owners at a corresponding cut-rate real wage rate. These events began to illustrate a scenario that would set the scene for modifications in worker’s rights. The laborers had to develop a strategy to counteract the poverty-stricken working conditions imposed upon them by the owners of the factories. The Labor Market The labor market surplus further developed the worker’s dependency upon the self-motivated employer. Trade unions were formed to advocate alleviation of some dependency and support the worker’s efforts by gaining a quantifiable measure of power over their economic standing. Initially, the trade unions had limited success until they exercised the real true power worker’s have over employers: The strike. The strike in labor relations is a completely organized halt of work and production carried out by a large group of employees. The purpose of the strike is either enforcing worker’s demands that relate to unfair labor practices and or to employment conditions created by the self-motivated owner. The response to labor unions by business owners was the...
