Labor Laws Maaaaaiinnnnn!

By BoyGent3

  • New England unions condemn child labor

    The New England Association of Farmers, Mechanics and Other Workingmen resolve that “Children should not be allowed to labor in the factories from morning till night, without any time for healthy recreation and mental culture,” for it “endangers their . . . well-being and health”

  • The original Tompkins Square Riot

    As unemployed workers demonstrated in New York's Tompkins Square Park, a detachment of mounted police charged into the crowd, beating men, women and children indiscriminately with billy clubs and leaving hundreds of casualties in their wake. Commented Abram Duryee, the Commissioner of Police: "It was the most glorious sight I ever saw..."

  • The Homestead Strike

    Pinkerton Guards, trying to pave the way for the introduction of scabs, opened fire on striking Carnegie mill steel- workers in Homestead, Pennsylvania. In the ensuing battle, three Pinkertons surrendered; then, unarmed, they were set upon and beaten by a mob of townspeople, most of them women. Seven guards and eleven strikers and spectators were shot to death.

  • The Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire

    The Triangle Shirtwaist Company, occupying the top three floors of a ten-story building in New York City, was consumed by fire. One hundred and forty-seven people, mostly women and young girls working in sweatshop conditions, lost their lives.

  • The U.S. Bureau of Investigation

    The U.S. Bureau of Investigation began carrying out the nationwide Palmer Raids. Federal agents seized labor leaders and literature in the hopes of discouraging labor activity. A number of citizens were turned over to state officials for prosecution under various anti-anarchy statutes.

  • Railway Labor Act

    In 1926, the Railway Labor Act (RLA) was passed, requiring
    employers to bargain collectively and prohibiting discrimination
    against unions. It applied originally to interstate railroads and
    their related undertakings. In 1936, it was amended to include
    airlines engaged in interstate commerce.

  • Davis-Bacon Act

    Congress passed the Davis-Bacon Act, requiring that contracts for construction entered into by the Federal Government specify the minimum wages to be paid to persons employed under those contracts.

  • Norris-LaGuardia Act

    during the last year of the Hoover Administration, was the first in a series of laws passed by Congress in the 1930s which gave Federal sanction to the right of labor unions to organize and strike, and to use other forms of economic leverage in dealings with management.

  • National Industry Recovery Act

    Congress passed the National Industry Recovery Act (NRA) at
    the request of newly inaugurated President Franklin Roosevelt. The Act sought to provide codes of "fair competition" and to fix wages and hours in industries subscribing to such codes.

  • A strike in Woonsocket

    RI, part of a national movement to obtain a minimum wage for textile workers, resulted in the deaths of three workers. Over 420,000 workers ultimately went on strike.

  • Anti-Strikebreaker Law

    made it a felony to transport any person in interstate commerce who was employed for the purpose of using force of threats against non-violent picketing in a labor dispute or against organizing or bargaining efforts.

  • Walsh-Healy Act

    the Walsh-Healy Act stated that workers must be paid not less than the "prevailing minimum wage" normally paid in a locality; restricted regular work ing hours to eight hours a day and 40 hours a week, with time-and-a-half pay for additional hours; prohibited the employment of convicts and children under 18; and established sanitation and safety standards.

  • The 'Battle of the Overpass'

    Walter Reuther and a group of UAW supporters, fresh from having organized GM and Chyrsler, attempting to distribute leaflets at Gate 4 of the Ford Motor Company's River Rouge plant, and were beaten up (together with bystanders) by Ford Service Department guards.

  • Memorial Day Massacre

    Police killed 10 and wounded 30 during the "Memorial Day Massacre" at the Republic Steel plant in Chicago.

  • Fair Labor Standards Act

    Known as the wage-hour law, this 1938 Act established minimum wages and maximum hours for all workers engaged in covered "interstate commerce."