Protective Labor Legislation

Protective Labor Legislation

Workers' Compensation

Women's Rights

"The Jungle"

Effects of Protective Labor Legislation

Protective labor legislation historically brought increasing economic returns and expanded opportunities to all people, especially women, in the United States. Family bonds grew stronger with shorter work hours, children in school, and wages increasing.

Protective laws were specifically enacted to protect women from certain hazards or difficulties of paid work. The were also put in place so the nuclear family could strengthen since factory hours has put a strain on familial relationships. The landmark case Muller v. Oregon illustrated this by setting a precedent to use sex differences as a basis for separate legislation. Some people did not see shorter hours for women as fair and they felt women's financial independence was now restricted, but many mothers were happy that they could help support their family with a job and still be able to be a "housewife."

Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle in 1906 in order to portray the lives of low class immigrants in the American industrial society. He investigated the Chicago meatpacking industry in order to write the book. The main character's life illustrated the life of those living this reality. Sinclair wrote about the unfair treatment of workers by employers as well as the unsanitary and inhumane conditions the workers had to deal with. This work put a jump-start on Protective Labor Legislation because of the realization that the conditions people were living under could not go on.

Workers' compensation is a form of insurance providing wage replacement and medical benefits to employees injured in the course of employment in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue his or her employer for the tort of negligence. The first statewide worker's compensation law was passed in Maryland in 1902, and the first law covering federal employees was passed in 1906. The employer and employee are both protected. Workman's Compensation also insures that workers have regular, every-day insurance in the United States. Workers' "comp" is still around today.

Labor Safety

Florence Kelley

Child Labor Laws

Florence Kelley was an American social and political reformer. She fought to get children out of factories and into schools. She founded the National Consumers League which helped to put an end to sweatshops in the United States. Kelley and the league were a strong influence in getting eight-hour work days for women and even influenced the Muller vs Oregon case. In 1917 she filed briefs in a Supreme Court case for an eight-hour workday, this time for workers "in any mill, factory or manufacturing establishment", in the case "Bunting v. Oregon". This made her reform go even past women and children.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many children were forced to get factory jobs in order for their family to make ends meet. The National Child Labor Committee, an organization dedicated to the abolition of all child labor, was formed in 1904. By publishing information on the lives and working conditions of young workers, it helped to mobilize popular support of child labor laws. Some of the most important aspects of these laws were children under 12 may not be employed, children between 12 and 16 may be employed in allowed occupations during limited hours, and children between 16 and 18 may be employed for unlimited hours in non-hazardous occupations.

By the early part of the 20th century, partly because of The Jungle, many states passed laws regulating safety in the work place such as minimum wages and working conditions. The Department of Labor wanted to "foster, promote, and develop the welfare of wage earners." These laws were placed to end unfairness and ensure that working families could survive. Minimum wage was important to many low-wage workers because it ensured that they would be treated fairly by their employer. Sanitation laws were also put in place. These laws helped the workers as well as consumers. For example, the Pure Food and Drug Act forbade the manufacture or sale of mislabeled or adulterated food or drugs. Also, new, safer machinery was put into place and workers could not be easily taken advantage of.

Bibliography

-W. Forbath, Law and the Shaping of the American Labor Movement (1991).

-See C. Tomlins, The State and the Unions: Labor Relations, Law and the Organized Labor Movement, 1880—1960 (1985)

-F. Snyder, Labor, Law and Crime (1987)

-Goldmark, Impatient Crusader (1953)

-K. Sklar, Florence Kelley and the Nation's Work (1995).