For example, the formation of the Department of Labor on March 4, 1913, by President Taft with its sole .purpose being to promote and monitor the wellbeing of workers, to improve working conditions, and to enhance profitable employment. There are currently a list of regulations that must be followed in factories or owners will suffer consequences and therefore lose their economic profits. A grievance system was established and workers unions are stronger than ever with the power to strike and stop factories from producing materials while trying to prevent such tragedies from ever occurring again. “Even today, sweatshops have not disappeared in the United States. They keep attracting workers in desperate need of employment and undocumented immigrants, who may be anxious to avoid involvement with governmental agencies.
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act History The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 was signed into law by President Barack Obama, January 29, 2009. The purpose and goal of the Lilly Ledbetter Act is to amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This Ledbetter Act states that the 180-day statue of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination resets with each new paycheck affected by that discriminatory action. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilly_Ledbetter_Fair__Pay_Act_of_2009)
They did the undesirable work that nobody else would do. As the Asian Indian laborers did back breaking work in the fields, Europeans and masters supervised them. This is shown in one of the photos of Document 5. The other photo shows the contracted laborers lined up awaiting their plantation assignments. The photos of indentured servitude resemble slavery.
These reforms included stricter safety standards, shorter work hours, and the elimination of dangerous working conditions. As a result of these efforts, New York and other states began to pass laws that regulated child labor and improved working conditions for all workers. In New York, for example, the state passed the Labor Law of 1913, which prohibited children under the age of 14 from working in factories and required employers to provide safety equipment and training.
The Act was the solution to corrupt quality and safer working
Industrialist would increase the amount of hours for workers from about ten to eighteen hours, and decrease their pay. There were not really any safety conditions or protection offered for workers during this time, and
The main goal of businesses, in the growing manufacturing economy, was to produce the most product at the cheapest price. With a large influx of desperate immigrants looking for jobs, companies were able to quickly capitalize on the rights of vain workers. Viewing as them as easily replaceable, owners were easily able to take advantage of the rights of workers and utilize them to their advantage. The desperation prevalent in those willing to take the jobs that nobody else wanted supplied labor to factories, often for a high price. Worker’s rights were often manipulated in the industries exemplified throughout The Jungle.
In Walter Mosley 's fictional short story, "Equal Opportunity" (1995), he describes employment discrimination through the character of Socrates Fortlow, an African American ex-convict attempting to find employment. Socrates lives in an abandoned building in Los Angeles neighborhood called Watts. He has been out of “prison eight years, fifty-eight years old, and ready to start life over again,” (Mosley 1). Socrates faces several conflicts, attempting to gain employment, because of his (1) age, (2) race, and (3) where he lives. He has to travel far to look for a job because everyone on his side of town, especially, Crenshaw and Washington, both store owners in Watts, knew that he collected bottles and cans for money and “they would not hire
They had to find a way to meet the needs of society and not just what the country wanted. The country around Europe wanted to make as much money as possible but it was at a big cost. William Alexander Abram, “ The Hours of Labor in Factories Act, passed in 1844… the excessive hours of labor have legally reduced to ten hours per day. Wages— thanks mainly to accelerated machinery and improved working conditions— have largely increased.”
The National Labor Relations Act allows employees to form a union or join a preexisting union. The same act prevents employers from standing in the way of workers attempting to unionize. Many organizations frown on unionization, but regardless of their opinion, they cannot interfere with employment rights. Employers are violating the law if they threaten employee 's jobs, question union activities, or eliminate benefits for employees by unionization. They also cannot offer benefits or perks to employees for refusing to unionize, as this could be seen as illegal persuasion (Employer/Union Rights, n.d.).
How to best fix this corrupt system of labor was a great debate. The first major leap in the right direction was the creation of minimum wage laws, the regulation of working hours, and the prohibition of child labor. These laws clapped down on Gilded Age ideas by ensuring that owners would no longer exploit workers and maintain fair working conditions. Furthermore, worker compensation laws required employers to compensate employees who became injured or ill while on the job. This law helped to provide workers with greater financial security and protection.
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 is a federal labor law that establishes the minimum wage, sets the overtime pay eligibility, standards of record keeping, Child Labor Protections and the Equal Pay. The fair labor standards set nationwide labor standards for all organizations engaged in interstate commerce, operations of a set size and all government agencies and had significant impact on the labor movement in the United States of America under President Franklin Roosevelt. Since the enactment of Fair Labor Standard Act, several amendments including offering an equal pay for same job done that happened in 1963.The Fair Labor Standard Act is enforced by the US department of Labor’s Employment Standards Administration. (Fair Labor Standard Act ,1938).
During the nineteenth century economic changes increased the amount of European industrial workers. Conditions under which they lived and worked improved along with the availability of jobs for women. Ultimately, the industrial revolution and the agricultural revolution lead to migration to cities for factory work. Theses changes in conditions for industrial workers were caused by the debate between government involvement in economics and if workers themselves have to take the initiative to create changes. English economists argue that the government should not get involved in helping the poor.
In 1904 Harsh national campaign for federal child labor law reform began, they had set a national minimum wage for the first time, a maximum number of hours for workers and placed limitations on child labor, children under sixteen years of age were prohibited in manufacturing and mining.
Among all of these problems that immigrant workers face from past history and present history. There is solutions for immigrant workers, for example groups and organizations help out immigrant workers by providing them with labor law protection that apply to its own nationals. By having this protection for immigrant workers it creates remedies for compensate workers, stop ongoing violations and defer future violations. For instance the “AWPA it contains significant protections regarding recruitment, migrant farm workers. While the immigration workers are doing their job, they have a protection labor law for them.
