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Human Rights Watch attacks Wal-Mart for their unfair treatment of their workers. While supressing unions, illegaly firing employees, and evesdropping on conversations, causing employees to be at a severe disadvantage, the corporation faces few legal consequences.

This article reports on the thwarting of a unionized Wal-Mart in Quebec. As the first unionized North American Wal-Mart, the leaders went out on a limb to gain support for their cause (although the percent of unionized workers in Canada is greater than that of the US,) and were inevitably shut down for reasons relating to poor value, although few believed this to be true.

Casino maids tried to organize but were suprised to find out that their desired union did not accept applications from casino's due to their instability- thus letting the workers of the industry go largely unprotected.

This article by PBS chronicles the evolution of the workers in the meat packing industry. The article tells of the meat packing industry revealed by Sinclair to present conditions. The average hourly wage for meat packing workers has fallen since the 1970's. The article also tells of the poor working conditions "Fast Food Nation" describes and how meat packing is one of the most dangerous jobs in America.

Schlosser says in his book how he feels that little has changed since the times of the chicago meat packing trusts, and this pbs article speaks in support of that claim. It gives examples of how conditions in 2005 are "that the working conditions in America's meat packing plants were so bad they violated basic human and worker rights"

Meatpacking industry through the years. This article highlights the way that the meatpacking industry and its ethics/conditions have changed (or not) throughout the years. It argues that things are pretty much as bad as the times of The Jungle.

This article describes FFN as a modern day Jungle, but continues by saying that it is more that just 'muckraking.' Rather, Schlosser exposes the motives behind large businesses and how they effect unionization and social equality.

This article portrays not only the similarity between modern day working conditions of workers to those in the early 1900s, but it also illustrates the "declining power of labor unions" which illustrates the power of companies strengthening and unfairly taking advantage of these workers.

Fast Food Nation was acclaimed a modern day version of The Jungle when first published. However, this article shows that it was more than your average muckracking novel. It explains that the power of unions fell as the "Fast Food Nation" rose. Also, Schlosser's piece explained the widening social gap of Americans, as the rich got richer and the poor got poorer.

Discusses class conflict in the 1930s and, the New Deal's support of unionization. This article presents the views on the financial turmoil of the time from both the rich and poor, breaking down the reasons they dislike eachother

This page is interesting because it talks about the tactics that employers used to combat unions and strikes. They used a combination of black listing, espionage, strikebreaking, and company unions. Unions were the only threat to the industrial machine, and had to be dealt with. Profits were the only goal for employers, so even mistreatment of the laborers and their unions was common.

I found this article very interesting, it seems ridiculous by our standard what some of these companies. To these workers though it is just a part of life. It seems that they would do nothing short of poisoning or killing their employees if it resulted in them turning a profit!

About alleged attempts by Boeing to break their employees' union by building a new plant in South Carolina, a state whose laws are not particularly friendly to organized labor.

This article shows the extent to which unethical practices are used by the fast food companies. Apparently, Burger King employees had been spying on two labor unions and writing things against them on Youtube. They also had private investigators pose as high school students and try to find out info on the unions.

Reports are out: modern day meatpacking is still considered to be one imposing extreme hazard to the worker. This is only one of the many modern instances of ethical injustice as employers continue to intimidate their workers from creating unions, as described with Fast Food Nation and McDonald's. It is a marriage of Sinclair's eye-opening description of the meatpacking industry and Schlosser's depiction of contemporary business ethics. 

This is a great source and annotation showing how the horrors of the meatpacking industry first brought up in the Jungle, and later in Fast Food Nation are still going on today. The terrible ethics of these big businesses are still a problem to this day.

You guys bring up valid points. Honestly it gets frustrating hearing the same topic being incessantly repeated, but it still is a good source about these novels and the poor treatment of the workers. I like how your second quote even relates it to modern times, just like FFN

Gives a brief summary of all of Schlosser's complaints in FFN, while whining about the meat industries and their expansion, development, tactics, and industrialization. 

"In an attempt to defend their right to earning living wages, migrant workers tried to organize labor unions. Naturally, this was strongly discouraged by the growers, who had the support of the police force, who often used brute force. In Kern County in 1938, for example, a mob led by a local sheriff burned down an Okie camp that had become a center for union activity."

The quote you addressed, out of context, would easily assimilate with the points made in FFN, N&D, and The Jungle as well.

Oooh. Ellen, calling her out on context! Nice ;) I still think Sarah makes a decent point though. GOW and small parts of the Jungle are the only books where actual and real brutality and force are used to oppress workers. While the other books simply mention corruption or unethical practices, maybe even some law-breaking here and there, her quote addresses physical abuse and literal violence towards the workers, almost like slave-era times.

"Frankenstein is a novel that is deeply interested in a particular kind of social union, namely, the political community. Written in 1818 and in the moment between revolution and reform, Shelley's novel invokes contemporary discussions and theorizations of political community"

This source goes into the role the community plays in the novel. As the romantic value of human connection comes up, so does the community in a changing role. This is another one of Shelly's criticisms of her society.

Good site describing migrant struggles

The site gives the general background of migrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The rise of the railroad led to a massive migration from an agrarian based society to an industrial one centered in the city, which was also fed by a myriad of immigrants. Migrants from the midwestern states also experienced a large movement during the early 20th century. Tenant farmers were pushed off their land, and tried to find success in the fertile fields of Calfornia. The source also gives information pertaining to the rise of trade unions in the nation, like the American Federation of Labor.

The is a good history of worker unrest, not just pertaining to late 19th century America. The Industrial Revolution was by no means the first instance of attempted unionization and worker discomfort.

Although Sparknotes is a very stereotypcial website on novels, it's still a very effective source of information. It makes blatantly clear the fact that the rich, aristocratic upper class is mainly responsible for the poverty and economic devastation in the country. The rich get richer at the cost of the destruction of the lower class. The workers are treated poorly in an effort to keep them desperate, which in turn keeps the rich people rich. Selfishness and greed, key themes in practically every novel read so far, is clarified and pointed out. The condition of the migrants is no accident, it's an intentional, deliberate plot to oppress them. Their only hope is through unity.

Really attests to the title of the book, and talks about how cons and other deceitful tactics were used to screw the Rudkuses over. The second and third pages of it are interesting because they describe the book in both socialist AND capitalist points of view, giving a fairer view of Sinclair's words and accusations against capitalism.

Connects The Jungle, and the Eastern European immigrant labor force used by the Chicago meatpacking industry to the present day use of Mexican immigrant labor in today's industries. Provides concrete details on the legality of the workforce used by modern corporations, as well as the questionable conditions in which they work. Bridges The Jungle and FFN without actually mentioning FFN

Another excellent site commentating on Fast Food Nation. Honestly, I fail to see the point of searching for most of these commentaries. Nearly none of these sites about the novels say anything explicitly new or interesting which the novels did not. They're just encapsulations of the same thing. After the class puts this together, we will have hundreds of summaries of the same dumb novels.

About the McDonald's Corporation's union-busting record, and the few successes organizers and workers' rights advocated have had with the company. Note: this was taken off of a left-leaning website.