History of U.S. Department of Labor

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 October 27, 2024 

 

Outside it’s 56° Fahrenheit.  

In the news: Israel strikes military bases in Iran. The U.S. election is next Tuesday. Troy residents shop for Halloween candy and costumes for Thursday.  

 

Today, the US has hundreds of labor laws in place to protect workers – but this wasn’t always the case. In 1913, the initial act of creating. The U.S. Department of Labor was signed by President William H. Taft. The people had been pushing for this department for the past few decades. At first, the department had divisions that consisted of the U.S. Conciliation Services, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Immigration, Bureau of Nationalization, and the Children’s Bureau. These divisions worked well to meet the Department of Labor’s purpose to “foster, promote and develop the welfare of working people, to improve their working conditions, and to enhance their opportunities for profitable employment.". Then came the dawn of World War I, in which the U.S. entered in April of 1917. This necessitated immediate war production, consequently demanding war labor policies. This consisted of the right for workers to “bargain collectively, establishment of machinery to adjust grievances, and an 8-hour workday.”. After the war, the Department continued to grow and change. The Bureau of Immigration implemented new, stricter laws. The Children’s Bureau attempted and failed to cease child labor. The Women’s Bureau which was at first temporarily created during the war, became officially permanent, allowing for welfare labor laws for women. After the Great Depression, the Department created a program to protect against wage slashing, which is when employers unfairly lower employees’ salaries. In the last 100 years, the Department of Labor has significantly expanded. We now have labor laws that cover not only wages and hours, and workplace safety, but also laws that cover compensation, benefits, family and medical leave, veterans’ preference, layoffs, and transportation. We are fortunate to have a total of 180 labor laws that allow America to run as smoothly as it does. 

 

Source: https://www.dol.gov/general/aboutdol/history/dolhistoxford  

Department of Labor logo 

Inauguration of President Taft 

Comments

  1. Hasmita KumarOctober 27, 2024 at 9:04 AM

    Hi Anusha! I love how you started your blog post in the same way the scenes start in Sweat, it was very creative. I also learned a lot about the implementation of American labor laws!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kate BestulOctober 27, 2024 at 9:11 AM

    Hi Anusha! I thought that your blog was very educational! I learned so much about the labor laws in the U.S. which will help me better understand/analyze "Sweat". I loved how you started your blog with the headlines, it's very interesting to compare what's going on in our community vs. the world.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ms. ValentinoOctober 27, 2024 at 11:59 AM

    I love that headline. It really highlights the disconnect between local citizens every day lives and global politics.

    ReplyDelete

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