In fact, they were instructed to use a technique called lip-pointing when painting the watch faces: These women were under the impression that radium was perfectly safe for them to be handling in this way. Some would even paint radium on their teeth for a smile that would sparkle. The women made the most of this perk by wearing their best dresses to work so they would shine when they went out at night. By the time the dial painters finished their shifts their clothing would be covered with radium dust and the ladies would glow in dark. Radium’s luminosity was part of its appeal. The job paid well, provided financial and personal freedom, was pleasant and sociable, and came with a bonus perk: access to radium. Being a dial-painter was a desirable job among these young women. The United States Radium Corporation (USRC) and the Radiant Dial company employed hundreds of women in factories in New Jersey, Illinois, and Connecticut. Workers needed to coat the dials with radium paint, and the best and most efficient workers were women and girls, some as young as 14 or 15 years old. Radium appeared to have an infinite number of uses, including making the numbers on clocks and watches easier to see. Radium was widely heralded as a wondrous new substance after it was first discovered by Marie Curie. Sparkling, glowing, and beautiful, radium was also, according to the companies that employed these young women, completely harmless. One of the most sought-after jobs for young girls and women in America involved something exciting and brand new: radium. With war declared, working-class women all over the country entered the workforce. It is important to know the story of thes courageous young women who fought from their deathbeds to seek justice for workers everywhere. Unfortunately, these laws would only help workers moving forward. These glowing young women brought about the first case in which an employer was held responsible for the health of its employees.
The Radium Girls of the 1920s changed the course of occupational disease labor law. These events included the United States entering World War I and an exploding demand for luminous watch faces. In 1917, a combination of events occurred that would lead to the establishment of life-saving regulations, and ultimately, to the creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
However, throughout American history, women have fought on the front lines of labor reform movements by fighting for better wages, equal rights, and safer working conditions. Once upon a time, there was no expectation that employers needed to care about the well-being of their workers.
0 kommentar(er)
