New Jersey Labor History

The coronavirus has affected our daily life routines. It has changed our perception of many things. The pandemic introduced the new world order: washing hands or sanitizing, wearing masks, and social distancing. All these orders aimed to flatten the curve; moreover, these regulations brought severe changes to our normal life. Restricting social gathering meant that people were not to meet for social purposes. The lockdown measures also kept at risk the country's economic state; these effects left employers feeling vulnerable since they had to stretch a little more to cater to the expenses of running a company that probably wasn't making sales. The current state in New Jersey is pure history repeating itself. The economic recession was fought in the year 1879; likewise, in 2020, an economic recession is being fought by workers. The paper provides an in-depth analysis of how the current workers are fighting the crisis concerning how the olden day workers fought their crisis. 

Effect of Pandemic on New Jersey Workers  

According to Oster et al. (2020), New Jersey is one of the coronavirus hot spots with spiking cases and deaths. The health workers in New Jersey are understaffed; hence, they have to work for extra hours to help the community. The few workers in the health facilities compared to the drastic growth of coronavirus cases mean that there will be patients who will be unattended. Therefore, a call for emergency training of physicians and nurses to treat patients in the designated units. The abrupt training that was engineered by the need of health workers to save lives meant that the state had not budgeted for the expenses; hence, these health workers lacked enough personal protective equipment. 

New Jersey health workers recorded their complaints to the local NO.5186 of the Health Professional and Allied Employees union. To report an OSHA complaint of poor working conditions. Brenda Flanagan, 2020 stated that the nurses complained of the hazardous work environment because they were not provided with PPEs. They were given counterfeit masks that could not protect them from the infection. They were not given quality training on how to wear and remove their protective gear to avoid contaminations. They also complained of the unclear records of the health workers who had contracted the disease, and there was also no follow up on their health conditions. 

Additionally, the New Jersey health workers came up with a warm line to support each other if they felt inadequate or felt stressed. They could get someone to talk to and feel better (Cavalho, 2020). There are leave days for the workers who feel sick and need a change of environment. These sick days are paid. The economic recession resulting from the new restrictions has caused the workers, especially the health worker, to delay their salaries; hence, the state resolved to give them a gift card to shop in the stores instead of giving them salaries. Although the current working conditions are unfavorable, the workers still trail and push forth for a better tomorrow. The health workers have fought their best just as the olden time workers in jersey did.

 History Workers Worked to Protect their Lives  

New Jersey is among the first states to industrialize after the World War, as Gutman (1976) stated. Industrialization could only happen due to the committed nation that had one plan of seeing tomorrow better. At the onset of World War, New Jersey trained soldiers who were to fight the war; over 560000 soldiers were trained (Gutman, 1976). During the war, New Jersey industrialization took up, although this was a good milestone in production. It, in turn, kept New Jersey vulnerable to sabotage. These attacks played a big role in shaping the workforce in the New Jersey state. New Jersey supplied the war materials and food for the soldiers. 

The New Jersey workers were underpaid and had poor working conditions. They were to work for long hours with little pay. The little salaries discouraged the workers since they needed that little income for sustainability. The workers were sometimes flogged if one failed to deliver as instructed. The workforce was more of a slavery institution as opposed to mutual agreement consent. The workers went on several strikes but were compelled to go back to work because of their needs. According to Gutman (2020), the strike was not a long-term solution to their unattended grievances. The workers decided to form unions that could forward their problems more professionally. 

Since the New Jersey workers believed that collective power is better than one voice, they decided to form a federation of trade and labor unions. In 1879, the union's initial effort was to improve the operational safety of workers. The effort was to capture some of the safety measures in a workplace, for example, the fire exit doors and better ventilation in the working environment. The trade union was also to address issues on the overworked and underpaid employees. According to Goldoft (1993), trade unions also plaid a major role in the formulation of the compensation plan. The act was passed after a build collapsed and a lot of workers were injured, and some died in the accident. 

Similarities between the History and Current workers in the Face of Crisis 

The methods workers used in history and the current time have no much difference. The current working styles are a repetition of what was already done in the past years. These similarities are in both the working conditions. The workers resolved to use labor unions in bringing out their dissatisfaction. Additionally, the trade union played a big role in unifying the many workers wants to one; hence, a better method of communicating to the state. Unions are also referred to the individual since they tend to be more professional in their dealings. 

In both ages, New Jersey workers were forced to go through emergency training to face the crisis. In the new age, the nurses and physicians are trained to be doctors due to a need. In history, the New Jersey citizens were to be intensively trained to be incorporated into the army camps because of the need for armies for the world war. 

In both ages, the workers faced unhandled problems, and they had to go to the extent of striking for their concerns to be heard and implemented. In the olden days, the workers had to strike due to the small salaries and more work. Likewise, in the present age, the workers are faced with problems such as delayed or unpaid salaries and are forced to go on peaceful strikes for their problems to be heard.  

In conclusion, as with any other crisis, the coronavirus pandemic will require strategies for handling it head-on. As workers, it is important to learn these work strategies from history; as above, the workers fighting strategies did not change; hence, history repeats for New Jersey. The repetition was evident from the repeated means of fight that workers took up for their survival in the onset of the two different crises, the world war, and the coronavirus pandemic. 

References

Carvalho, P. M., Moreira, M. M., de Oliveira, M. N. A., Landim, J. M. M., & Neto, M. L. R. (2020). The psychiatric impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak. Psychiatry Research, 286, 112902. 

Goldoft, M. (1993). Fatal occupational injuries in the New Jersey construction industry, 1983 to 1989. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 35(9), 916-921de Medeiros 

Gutman, H. G. (1976). Work, culture, and society in industrializing America: Essays in American working-class and social history. New York: KSorock, G. S., 

Smith, E. O. H., Oster, A. M., Kang, G. J., Cha, A. E., Beresovsky, V., Rose, C. E., Rainisch, G., ... & Norris, T. (2020). Trends in number and distribution of COVID-19 hotspot counties—United States, March 8–July 15, 2020. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 69(33), 1127.