Current Event #4: Labor Unions and Immigrant workers must support each other

"With only 12 percent of U.S workers in unions, we can't afford to limit our numbers. We need to draw our strength from unity with migrant workers." This article talks about how though in the past the U.S labor unions have tried to stay away from encouraging people to have mass immigration, fearing that people would accept wages that were lower than they deserved. Now, labor unions are telling mass immigrant workers to from large mass groups as it is one of the only ways that the people can get the wages that they truly deserve. This directly connects to the fact that many people back in the 1800's would make mass groups and settle for wages that were lower than the wages they deserved. Now though, people have a realization for what kind of wages they deserve and the mass organizations are one of the best ways to accomplish higher wages. By doing this i think that laborers have the greatest chance to receive the wages that are fair and that they deserve.

Current Event #3: Prevailing Wage law would deter development

In Pittsburgh, new measures are being taken as the government is near passing a new law which could give many architects and developers a reason to re-think building in Pittsburgh. The new law could give up to three dollars an hour more than the eight dollar wage, to workers that are working on developments while being built. This law is supposed to help workers who have families have an easier time supporting their families. This may also keep work away from these people though, as developers may not want to pay these new wages to workers. This is very similar to the labor wages problems in the 1800's as many people were trying to gain more money so that they can better support their families. This is only going to support the economy because the more money the workers make, the more they can spend in the economy and help us get out of this recession. This was a problem also back in the 1800's until the labor unions finally won and granted the workers who do the jobs most of us would never even dream of , the money they deserved for the hard labor they accomplished every day and the lard labor that kept our country going.

Current Event #2: Wages in New York

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg plans to demand that teachers take smaller raises in their upcoming contracts, or else he and the city will be forced to cut 2,500 jobs from the teaching force. This contradicts with wages in the 19th and 20th century because during those times people were fighting to give laborers more money as many of them feel they deserved more money. Now, due to the recession, people are asking for teachers to relinquish money so that they don't have cut jobs from hard working civilians. This is a very important issue because the mayor is asking teachers to give money back from their all ready underpaid salaries to help them keep other teachers in a job. This sacrifice for teachers may not be possible as the fact that many teachers salaries as so low that they have to live on meats end and cannot afford to give up any extra money they will be receiving. I feel bad for the teachers, but i feel that they must give up these extra raises to ensure it will not be them whose contract is terminated. This is directly opposite of what used to happen because in the 19th and 20th century with the economy on the rise, more jobs were available and people were only asking for the money they deserved so that they could feed their family, and now they may have to give back money that they use to feed their family. I hope that they can find another way to let the teachers keep the money and not have to cut jobs, especially in these hard times.

Current Event #1: Children in India are exploited

The article "children in India are exploited", directly correlates to my article on child labor because in India now, children are worked long hours and even beaten at times, which was prevalent during child labor in the 19th century. Child Labor though outlawed in India has grown to about 12.7 million child laborers and is supposedly increasing by about one million every decade. Child Labor back in the 19th century was increasing heavily as well until their were labor laws prohibiting child labor. In the article its showing a contradiction of that, as child labor has increased every decade even with laws against it. This shows how in different cultures, though the law has been set in stone, it takes longer and sometimes doesn't even work to get the law to be followed. The story told of 12 year old whose identity has been kept secret, to ensure his safety, shows the terrible conditions one goes through during child labor. This one child was sold to a banker and has been doing manual labor for him for the past 6 years. Anything from scrubbing pots to cleaning rooms this boy would work on his hands and knees for hours a day. This child labor shows the dangerous environment kids go through all over the world to produce child labor and how it has gotten worse all over the world.