, Research Paper

On Saturday, June 25, to avoid pocket vetoes 9 yearss after Congress had adjourned, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed 121 measures. Among those measures was a landmark lawin the state s societal and economic development-Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.Against a history of judicial resistance, the depression born FLSA had survived, notunscathed, more than a twelvemonth of congressional affray. In its concluding signifier, the act appliedto industries whose combined employment represented merely about fifth part of the laborforce. In these industries, it banned oppressive kid labour and set the minimal hourlywage at 25 cents, and the maximal workweek at 44 hours. In 1933, under the New Deal plan, Roosevelt s advisors developed aNational Industrial Recovery Act ( NRA ) . The act suspended antimonopoly Torahs so thatindustries could implement fair-trade codifications ensuing in less competition and higher wages.As an early measure of the NRA, Roosevelt promulgated a President s ReemploymentAgreement to raise rewards, create employment, and therefore restore concern. Employerssigned more than 2.3 million understandings, covering 16.3 million employees. Signersagreed to a work-week between 35 and 40 hours and a minimal pay of 12 to 15 dollarsa hebdomad and undertook, with some exclusions, non to use young persons under 16 old ages of age.Employers who signed the understanding displayed a Badge of award, a bluish bird of Jove over themotto We do our portion. On Black Monday, May 27, 1935, the supreme Court disarmed the NRA as themajor depression-fighting arm of the New Deal. The 1935 instance of Schechter Corp. v.United States tested the constitutionality of the NRA by oppugning a codification to better thesordid conditions under which poulets were slaughtered and sold to retail kosherbutchers. All nine justnesss agreed that the act was unconstitutional deputation ofgoverment power to private involvements. Even the broad Benjamin Cardoza thought it was Delegation running public violence. Though the ill poulet determination seems an absurd instance uponwhich to make up one’s mind the destiny of so brushing a policy, it invalidated non merely the restrictivetrade patterns place by NRA authorized codifications, but the codifications progressive labour provisionsas good. As if to head off farther efforts at labour reform, the Supreme Court in a series ofdecisions, invalidated both State and Federal labour Torahs. Most ill-famed was the 1936case of Joseph Tipaldo. The trough of a Brooklyn, N.Y. , wash, Tipaldo had beenpaying nine laundry adult females merely $ 10 a hebdomad, in misdemeanor of the New York State minimumwage jurisprudence. When forced to pay his workers $ 14.88, Tipaldo coerced them to kick back thedifference. When Tipaldo was jailed on charges of go againsting the State Law, counterfeit andconspiracy, his attorneies sought a writ of habeas corpus on evidences the New York jurisprudence wasunconstitutional. The Supreme Court, by a 5-to-4 bulk voided the jurisprudence as a violationof autonomy of contract. When Roosevelt won the 1936 election by 523 electoral ballots to 8, he interpretedhis landslide triumph as support for the New Deal and was determined to get the better of theobstacle of Supreme Court resistance every bit shortly as possible. In February 1937, he struckback at the nine old work forces of the Benck: He proposed to pack the Court by adding upto six excess Judgess, one for each justice who did non retire at age 70. Roosevelt furthervoiced his letdown with the Court at the triumph dinner for his 2nd startup, stating if the Three-horse squad [ of their executive, legislative and judicial subdivisions ] pullas one, the field will be ploughed, but that the field will non be ploughed if one Equus caballus lies down in the hints or dips off in another way. However, Roosevelt s metaphorical rebel fell in measure. On White Monday, March 29, 1937, the Court reversed its class when it decided the instance of West CoastHotel Company v. Parrish. Elise Parrish a former fille de chambre at the Cascvadian hotel inWenatchee, Wash, sued for $ 216.19 in back rewards, bear downing that the hotel had paid herless than the State Minimum pay. In an unexpected turn-around, Justice Owen Robertsvoted with the four-man broad minority to continue the Washington lower limit pay jurisprudence. As other close determinations continued to formalize societal and economic statute law, support for Roosevelt s Court reorganisation faded. Meanwhile, Justice Roberts feltcalled upon to deny that he had switched sides to guard off Roosevelt s court-packingplan. He claimed valid legal differentiations between the Tipaldo instance and the Parish case.Nevertheless, many historiographers subscribe to the modern-day position of Robert s ballot, that a switch in clip saved nine. Many proposals were tried although none were successful. In 1933 Rooseveltasked Frances Perkins to go secretary of labour. Perkins had a measure written that wouldcontain minimal pay criterions, but which would be written that if one or two of theprinciples were invalidated the remainder of the measure might still be accepted. Perkins sent this billto President Roosevelt. On May 24, 1937 President Roosevelt sent the measure to congress. Senator HugoBlack of Alabama agreed to patronize the Administration measure in the senate, whileRepresentative William P. Connery of Massachusetts introduced matching legislationin the house The Black-Connery measure had broad public support, and its way seemedsmoothed by agreements for a joint hearing by the labour commissions of both houses.This measure ab initio called for a 40-cent-an-hour lower limit pay, a 40-hour maximumworkweek, and a minimal on the job age of 16. The measure besides proposed a five memberlabor criterions board which could authorise still higher rewards and shorter hours. Oppositions of the measure charged that the measure was a bad measure severely drawn whichwould lead the state to a oppressive industrial absolutism. several brotherhoods becameinvolved in the conflict of the measure. The understandings and dissensions went on until July 31,1937, when the badly diminished measure passed the Senate by a ballot of 56 to 28 and wouldhave easy passed the house if it had been put up to vote. But a alliance of Republicansand conservative Democrats bottled it up in the house regulations commission. Congressadjourned without House action on Fair labour criterions. An angry President Roosevelt decided to press once more for transition of theBlack-Connery measure. Having lost Popularity and split the Democratic party in his conflict to pack the supreme tribunal, Roosevelt felt that assailing maltreatments of kid labour andsweatshop rewards and hours was a popular cause that might reunite the party. Awage-hour, child-labor jurisprudence promised to be a happy matrimony of high idealism and practical

political relations. On October 12, 1937, Roosevelt called a

special session of Congress to conveneon November 15. The public interests, he said, required immediate Congressional action: The exploitation of child labor and undercutting of wages and the stretching of the hoursof the poorest paid workers in periods of business recession has a serious effect on buyingpower. Despite White House and Business pressure, the conservative alliance ofRepublicans and southern Democrats refused to discharge the bill as it stood.Congresswoman Mary Norton of New Jersey the new chairman of the house rulescommittee made a valiant effort to shake the bill loose. Many representatives said theyagreed with the principles of the bill but objected to the five man board with broadpowers. In an attempted to jar the bill out of committee Norton offered an amendment tothe five man board to an administrator under the department of labor. By December 2, thebills supporters rounded up enough signers to give the petition the 218 necessary to bringthe bill to a vote. With victory in grasp, the bill became a battle-ground in the war ragingbetween the AFL and the CIO. In the ensuing confusion, shortly before the 1937Christmas holiday, the House vote 218 to 198 to send the bill back to committee. In hermemoir to President Roosevelt Perkins wroteThis was the first time that a major administration bill had been defeatedon the floor of the house. The press took view that this was the deathknell of wage-hour legislation as well as a decisive blow to thePresidents Prestige. Lawyers in the department of labor worked on a new bill. Roosevelt told Perkinsto try to reduce the size of the bill two pages. Keeping the supreme court in mind theywere not able the meet the Presidents goal however, they did condense the bill from 40pages to 10. January of 1938 Perkins brought Roosevelt the revised copy of the bill.Roosevelt approved the bill and sent it to congress. Representative Robert Ramspeck ofGeorgia was appointed to head the subcommittee to bridge the gap between variousproposals. The subcommittee s efforts resulted in the Ramspeck compromise. The Houselabor Committee shot down the compromise by a 10-to-4 vote. Again the House RulesCommittee prevented discussion of the bill on the floor by an 8-to-6 vote. In the January and May of 1938 elections of the House, many older members werevoted out and several new freshman arrived. On May 6, at noon, a petition was placed onthe speakers desk to discharge the bill from the Rules Committee. In two hours andtwenty minutes, 218 members had signed it and more were waiting in the aisles. Greatcontroversy erupted over the provisions of the bill. The south had the biggest problemsdue to labor standards. The minimum wage was reduced to 25 cents an hour due tosouthern protest. The new bill after days of controversy was finally voted on May24,1938. The bill passed with a 314-to-97 majority. After the house had passed the bill,the Senate-House Conference Committee made still more changes to reconcile differences.During the legislative battles over fair labor standards, members of congress had proposed72 amendments. Almost every change sought exemptions, narrowed coverage, loweredstandards, weakened administration, limited investigation, or in some way worked toweaken the bill. The surviving proposal as approved by the conference committee finally passed thehouse on June 13, 1938, by a vote of 291 to 89. Shortly thereafter the Senate approvedthe bill without a record of the votes. Congress then sent the bill to the President. On June25, 1938, the President signed the Fair Labor Standards Act to become effective onOctober 24, 1938. This act of 1938 was applicable to employees engaged in interstate commerce or inthe production of goods for interstate commerce. This did not cover all workers but itwas a good first step. By October 24, 1939 the minimum wage was raised to 30 cents an hour. Thewage was raised again in 1945 to 40 cents an hour. In 1950 it was raised to 75 cents anhour. By March 1, 1956 the minimum wage was increased to 1 dollar an hour. And onSeptember 3, 1961, the wage increased to $1.15 an hour. In 1961 amendments were passed to extend coverage primarily to employees inlarge retail and service enterprises as well as local transit, construction, and gas stationemployees. The wage was set at $1.00 an hour on September 3, 1961. In 63 minimum wage from the 1938 act rose to $1.25 an hour. In 1964 theminimum wage for the 1961 amendments rose to $1.15 and in 1965 rose to $1.25. OnFebruary 1, 1967 The both raised to $.40 and stayed in unison from 67 on. In 1966 an amendment passed extending coverage to state an local govermentemployees of hospitals, nursing homes, and schools. The coverage also was extended tomotels, hotels, restaurants, and farms. On February 1, 1967 there were three separate ratesof minimum wage. The employees covered by the act of 1938 and the amendments of1961 was at $1.60 an hour. The 1966 Amendment split between nonfarm and farm wageswhich were both set at $1 an hour. In 1968 both farm and non-farm wage increased to $1.15. In 1969 they bothincreased to $1.30. In 70 non-farm wage increased to $1.45 and to $1.60 in 71. On May1, 1974 Minimum wage increased to $2 for these covered in the 38 act and 61amendment. The non-farm wage increased to $1.90 and the farm wage increased to$1.60. In 1975 Commerce, interstate, service, and retail employees minimum wageincreased to $2.10, non-farm rose to $2 and farm wage increased to $1.80. In 1976 Commerce, interstate, service, and retail employees minimum wage increased to $2.30,non-farm rose to $2.20 and farm wage increased to $2.00. On January 1, 1977 Non-farmwage increased to $2.30 and farm wages increased to $2.20. On January 1, 1978 Minimum wage was increased for all workers to $2.65. In 79increased to $2.90, in 80 increased to $3.10, in 81 increased to $3.35, in 90 increased to$3.80, in 91 increased to $4.25, in 96 increased to $4.75, and in 97 the minimum wageincreased to $5.15 Now in the year 2000 minimum wage is set at $5.15 an hour. Minimum wage isnot a necessary measure needed in todays economy as it was when it was founded. nowyou can go almost anywhere and work at a McDonalds and start above minimum wage.The only place were minimum wage is really a big subject is in rural areas of the UnitedStates. For example the delta in Mississippi minimum wage would affect life. But in amajority of the U.S. an increase of the minimum wage would have only slight affects otherthan increased price. A new minimum wage increase in being pushed in congress. Theeconomy of the U.S. is so strong people do not need to rely on the minimum wage.