Today in Labor History February 24th, 2023

 

Lawrence Massachusetts Strike

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Muller v. Oregon to uphold the state’s restrictions on the working hours of women, setting a precedent to use sex differences, and in particular women’s childbearing capacity,  as a basis for separate legislation.  A laundry owner was fined $10 for making a female employee work more than 10 hours in a single day. – 1908

Women and children textile strikers were beaten by Lawrence, Massachusetts police during a 63-day walkout protesting low wages and work speedups. – 1912

A new national child labor law passed in Congress and was declared unconstitutional in 1924. A similar law passed two years earlier was declared unconstitutional in 1918. – 1919

Congress passed a Federal Child Labor Tax Law that imposed a 10 percent tax on companies that employed children, defined as anyone under the age of 16, working in a mine/quarry or under the age of 14 in a “mill, cannery, workshop, factory, or manufacturing establishment”. The Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional in 1922 in Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Co. – 1919

District 1199 Health Care Workers became the first U.S. labor union to oppose the war in Vietnam. – 1965