Westinghouse
Most people know the name Westinghouse as the name of an appliance, but where did the name come from? Many people may not know that George Westinghouse was not only an inventor, but a visionary. George Westinghouse's many inventions fed the Industrial Revolution that swept through America in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The Industrial Revolution brought many changes to the United States. Even though America was progressing, many ill effects were brought on by this expansion. Westinghouse was one of the Industrialist that actually cared about the many problems he saw in urban America. Westinghouse, at the age of forty-two, could no longer ignore "the evils of social upheaval created by too rapid industrial development"(Levine, 2). George Westinghouse wanted something done, but it looked as if he was the only one that would do it. George Westinghouse had influenced many areas of his era and ours. His many inventions, his good-willed policy toward his workers and his business practices have affected all of us; but nothing will compare to the influences that he left on our country's upper-class - the concept that they had a responsibility toward the society that had made them who they were.
From the start, Westinghouse was concerned with the welfare of his employees. His employees were his prime consideration in any business decision. Westinghouse's workers had a six day, fifty-five hour work week. This work week included five ten hour days, Monday through Friday, and a five hour day on Saturday. It seemed strange to other employers of the time to give employees a half-day on Saturday, but this was part of Westinghouse's philosophy. Another benefit of working for Westinghouse was the pension plan. One of the earliest known, Westinghouse provided a pension for each of his workers. The employees of Westinghouse's businesses also received medical coverage. If an employee fell sick or was injured, he and his family would receive money from the compensation fund to live, and the finest medical services available would be given to the worker. A Veteran Employees Association was formed. Any employee with twenty years or more of service could join. This evolved into the formation of a Grievance Committee made up of three shop men and three management personnel. The Grievance Committee would form to resolve such issues as the following: working conditions, working methods, and limits of the workers. Westinghouse's Grievance Committee set the path for labor reform in America. Westinghouse revolutionized the way the American employee worked; hence, Westinghouse was received as the best boss in Pittsburgh. Consequently, he won the resentment of the other employers in Pittsburgh and eventually the country. New York, Julian Messner, Inc., 1962, pp. 132-135. Shumaker, Richard. George Westinghouse - Inventive Mind. (Online) http://www.lm.com/~rs7717/george.html Westinghouse became famous to every citizen by a means different than his inventions. Westinghouse actually created his own town. Westinghouse became perplexed with the problems that he saw in Pittsburgh; The town had grew from a small city to a booming industrial mecca-center filled with smoky factories and pollution filled avenues. He watched the people work long hours, many were immigrants and others were Native Americans in search of a decent living; furthermore, they came home at night to horrible run down homes where sickly children played in piles of rubbish and rarely attended school. Crime, disease and alcoholism were becoming the image of the industrial world. Westinghouse knew that it could be better than this. He knew that all this progress was not for the working class to become illiterate, diseased and delinquent and for the rich to become isolated and forgetful of what they see. George Westinghouse wondered why nobody did anything about it. Politicians would not address it, the upper class would not mention it, and the workers were too busy in their rat race to care. Westinghouse decided he must take action. Finally, on a small railroad outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Westinghouse was able to try out his new air brake. On the trial run, the train came to a crossing where a farmer's wagon had broken down. Upon seeing this, the locomotive's engineer applied the new braking system. Too everyone's surprise, the train was jolted to a halt; furthermore, the train was stopped yards in front of the farmer's wagon. Even though almost everyone did fall out of their seat, this was the beginning of Westinghouse's influence on the world. Eventually, the Railroad Safety Act of 1893 would "make air brakes compulsory on all U.S. trains"(Britannica, 6). At this point, We
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Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
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