In Dubious Battle it was the culmination of events such as the lowering of wages, unsafe equipment and unsanitary living conditions which finally motivated the workers to use their power to strike. Torgas valley was in the hands of the Growers Association, who by virtue of ownership of the orchards also held power. In our culture the suspicion that life can be unfair presents a cloud of injustice which gathers over the soul.
Initially the workers allowed the growers to have absolute power because they provided jobs. As the workers became a bigger part of the organization they began to see how they were treated unfairly. When the growers did not have absolute authority, force was utilized to support their power. The growers hired vigilantes to harass and kill the striking workers that refused to come back to work. Another way they implemented their power over the pickers was through substandard wages and over charging for food.
photo of United Mine Workers of America strikers d...
English: Strike leader (man on balcony) at Gary, I...
Two women strikers on picket line during the "Upri...This dehumanized the workers because it did not allow them to have any hope. Universally the pickers pretended to be content with the quality of their life in fear of losing the little they have. After they decided that they could know longer live under the horrid conditions that the owners put them under they executed their power to strike.
Since power is the ability of its holder to exact compliance or obedience of other individuals to his will on what so ever basis the strikers became a power. The owners no longer had absolute power over the strikers. The unification of the strikers increased their power, which commanded recognition from the growers. In recognition of sending a representative like Mr. Bolter into the camp to talk with London initialized the beginning of negations. However the power of the strikers was greater than...