Last edited Thu May 10, 2018, 02:01 PM - Edit history (1)
was enacted under FDR. The law protected children from exploitation, abuse, injury, dangerous work environments and ensured that their "health, well being or educational opportunities" were not adversely effected if employed.
Advocates for child labor laws struggled for recognition since the late 19th c. and into the 20th century in the US.
In July 1903, Mother Jones, the fierce Ireland-born labor leader drew national attention to the exploitation and abuse of child labor by leading the "Children's Crusade," or "March of the Mill Children."
The group was formed from thousands of Philadelphia area textile mill employees on strike, including many children and women who were forced to work night shifts and long hours. The marchers walked all the way from Phila. to New York City and then Long Island, NY to the summer home of Pres. Theodore Roosevelt to highlight to their plight.
More years passed until federal legislation protecting child labor, the FSLA was enacted in 1938 during Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration with the efforts of Frances Perkins, the US Secretary of Labor. Perkins was working in NY City in 1911 when the disastrous Shirtwaist Triangle factory fire took place in Greenwich Village killing 146 garment workers, mostly young women and girls.
Secretary Perkins was a champion of worker rights and the first woman cabinet member. While secretary, she helped establish New Deal social and labor programs that transformed American labor rights for workers; the Social Security Act, fair labor laws FSLA, the minimum wage, the 40 hour work week, overtime pay and protections for unions.
1903 March of the Mill Children/Children's Crusade & labor activist Mother Jones called attention to child labor abuses.
- Phila. Encyclopedia: March of the Mill Children
http://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/march-of-the-mill-children/
- US Department of Labor, Child Labor, Overview:
The federal child labor provisions, authorized by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938, also known as the child labor laws, were enacted to ensure that when young people work, the work is safe and does not jeopardize their health, well-being or educational opportunities. These provisions also provide limited exemptions.
https://www.dol.gov/whd/childlabor.htm#Overview
*WHY WE HAVE UNIONS & WORKER SAFETY LAWS*
- March 25, 1911 TRIANGLE FACTORY FIRE KILLS 146 WORKERS in NYC, CBS:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/on-this-day-march-25-1911-triangle-fire-tragedy-kills-146-factory-workers-in-nyc/
Bangladesh Garment Factory Collapse and Fire Kills more than 1,100 Workers, India 2013
https://inhabitat.com/ecouterre/bangladesh-garment-factory-collapse-kills-nearly-100-people-injures-a-thousand/
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/31/rana-plaza-bangladesh-collapse-fashion-working-conditions
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