Workers often have a complex relationship with the
technologies they use in the workoplace, and many
influences can affect that relationship. This is well
demonstrated in the story of unionized painters who,
at the turn of this century, were sufferingfrom occupational lead poisoning because the paints of the day
used lead as their primary pigment. At the beginning
of the study period, the painters were fairly passive
about the disease, having accepted it as a hazard of the
job. By the middle of the 1920's, however, the painters'
union was fighting aggressively to remove lead from
their work environments and to make employers take
some responsiblilty for work-related health care needs.
No single event or person brought this change about.
Instead, it was the coalescence of several influences
that convinced the painters that occupational lead
poisoning was something they should fight against.
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