The union meeting takes us deeper into the world of the Hands and allows Dickens to satirize the everyday, agitating spokesman with the harshly drawn caricature of Slackbridge. The narrator informs us that Slackbridge differs from the other Hands in that he is “not so honest, he [is] not so manly, he [is] not so good-humored.” His primary intention is apparently to stir up the workers’ feelings until they are in an impassioned frenzy against their employers. Dickens’s own feelings about labor unions, and about any attempt to right wrongs through hostility and conflict, are expressed through Stephen’s views. Stephen immediately recognizes that Slackbridge does not care so much about creating unity among workers as he does about creating tension between employers and employees. This tension, Stephen believes, will do nothing to aid the workers in their desire for better working conditions and pay. Thus, Stephen asks only to be allowed to make his living in peace: “I mak’ no complaints . . . o’ being outcasten and overlooken, fro this time forrard, but I hope I shall be let to work.” Stephen is unwilling to sacrifice his belief in what is right, even if he will be made a pariah. With his hardworking integrity, Stephen represents a very sentimental and idealized portrait of a poor worker, which Dickens wields to arouse our sympathy. Through the contrast between Slackbridge and Stephen, however, Dickens suggests that the working class contains both good and bad individuals, just like the rest of society.

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