A laborer or labourer — see variation in English spelling — is a person who does one of the construction trades, traditionally considered unskilled manual labor, as opposed to skilled labor. In the division of labor, laborers have all blasting, hand tools, power tools, air tools, and small heavy equipment, and act as assistants to other trades, e.g., operators or cement masons. The 1st century BC engineer Vitruvius writes in detail about laborer practices at that time. In his experience a good crew of laborers is just as valuable as any other aspect of construction. Other than the addition of pneumatics, laborer practices have changed little. With the advent of advanced technology and its introduction into the construction field, the laborers have been quick to include much of this technology as being laborers work.
Read more about Laborer: Tools and Equipment, Types of Work, Pay, Hazards and Conditions
Famous quotes containing the word laborer:
“By the “mud-sill” theory it is assumed that labor and education are incompatible; and any practical combination of them impossible. According to that theory, a blind horse upon a tread-mill, is a perfect illustration of what a laborer should be—all the better for being blind, that he could not tread out of place, or kick understandingly.... Free labor insists on universal education.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“...the laborer deserves to be paid.”
—Bible: New Testament, Luke 10:7.
“If the laborer gets no more than the wages which his employer pays him, he is cheated, he cheats himself.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)