HIST 353 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Wage Labour, Living Wage, Public Health
22 Apr 2019
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HIST 353: Lecture
Jean-Philippe’s lecture
02/19/18
Artisan v. worker
• Artisan: means of production = tools that they own
o Gets money from a task
o can control their work schedule
o Not a life-sentence, their goal is to become a master
o Accumulates wealth along the way
o Has pride from their own creations
• Worker: doesn’t own the tools theyre working with
o Gets money by the hour
o Workers robbed of pride and status from accomplishments
• 19th century: wage labor becomes the norm
o Lead to formation of working class in Montreal
Pre-industrial workers
• Pentland: before 1840’s, Canada had a personal labor market
o Labor is a commodity that can be bought and sold
▪ Seasonal labor, long-term contracts between employer and employee
• System collapses upon influx of immigration- not a shortage of
labor supply so less long-term contracts made
• Cohabitation of small workshops and industrialization in 19th century
o Emerging industrial areas → working class slums
▪ Densely constructed
▪ City of tenants: most own their own house
▪ Issue of overcrowding
• Gendered workforce: women outnumbered men in mtl population-wise, also joined
workforce
o Sectors that are women-dominated: clothing, tobacco, textiles, leather (“feminine
sectors”)
▪ Women paid half as men
• Womens wages are intended to supplement fathers or husbands
wages
• The problem of the living wage
o Created first poverty line
▪ 100% of mtl’s working class → considered below poverty line
• Most families had 3 or 4 wage earners
• Wages were only part of survival
o Had people renting out their spaces to earn extra income
