The most intriguing aspect of the meat packing industry in Chicago was the fact that the companies were able to give minimal salaries and still have a surplus workers to choose from. They did this without having to deal with labor unions for many years. This was possible because of the strategy they used to have employees be fully dependent on them. In an interview a man asked a manager

of one of the leading meat packing companies, “How comes it you are only employing Swedes?”. The man responded, “Last week we employed Slovaks. We change among different nationalities and languages. It prevents them from getting together. We have the thing systemized.” This way by the time a nationality had figured out that they were being taken advantage of, the companies had already recruited from a different country. Due to the fact that such a large amount of people emigrated from the country they recruited from, there were many more people than there were jobs. In return, the nationality that currently held jobs were unable to strike in fear of losing their jobs to the new arrivals just coming into town looking for jobs. Since they were able to prevent labor unions they could control the wages, making them as close to nothing as possible.

The scheme worked so well because it was flawless. No matter what, their pool of workers will just grow bigger and bigger. Whenever someone lost their job, they would search through Packingtown for a new one. While he is searching, he is spending money without an income. By the time he has given up on the job hunting he has no money. A man would then turn back to their home country, only to realize he doesn’t have enough money to return him or his family. Jurgis didn’t even have enough money to pay for a doctor to deliver his wife’s baby, “I-I haven’t much money, I’ve been in-in trouble-and my money is gone. But I’ll pay you-every cent-just as soon as I can; I can work? (Sinclair, 178)”.

In addition to the low wages, the lack of true gov

Some topics in this essay:
Sinclair’s Jungle, Native Americans, Packingtown Packingtown, , United America, sociological makeup, meat packing, meat packing companies, labor unions, surplus workers, packing companies,