Acts
The first step to improving conditions was in 1833 with the Factory Act passed by Parliament. This limited the amount of hours children of certain ages could work. Specifically, children 9 to 13 years of age were only allowed to work 8 hours a day. Those 14 to 18 years of age could not work more than 12 hours a day. Children under 9 were not allowed to work at all. ("The Industrial Revolution, 1700-1900." DISCovering World History. 1997Student Resource Center. Framington Hills, Mich.: Gale Group. Online Database.
November 8, 2001) |
In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act also known as Federal Wage and Hour Law was finally recognized by the United Stated federal government. This Act made it mandatory for employers to give children minimum wage of twenty-five cents an hour and a maximum amount of work hours. Additionally, it set age limits and limited certain jobs that children could obtain. Once this Act was upheld children soon began to stop working and received their education.(Sharron Solomon-McCarthy)
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The Department's Bureau of International Labor Affair's (ILAB) Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking efforts and activities include research and reporting on international child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking; administering grants to organizations engaged in efforts to eliminate child labor; and working to raise public awareness and understanding of these issues. (U.S. Department of Labor)
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Group Movements
In the early 1900's a social movement was established to protest child labor. This assembly was called the reformers. (Sharron Solomon-McCarthy)
organizations led by working women and middle class consumers, such as state Consumers’ Leagues and Working Women’s Societies. These organizations generated the National Consumers’ League in 1899 and the National Child Labor Committee in 1904, which shared goals of challenging child labor, including through anti-sweatshop campaigns and labeling programs.The National Child Labor Committee campaigned for tougher state and federal laws against the abuses of industrial child labor, and Lewis W. Hine was its greatest publicist. Many laws restricting child labor were passed as part of the progressive reform movement of this period. (The Child Labor Public Education Project: Sponsored by the University of Iowa Labor Center and The University of Iowa Center for Human Rights’ Child Labor Research Initiative.)
The first organized group was formed in1904 it was known as The National Child Labor Committee (NCLC). This committee consisted of politicians, social workers and citizens who contested child labor. Two of the most renowned reformers were Jane Addams and Lewis Hine.Congress passed the first child labor bill, Keating-Owen Act. This act banned the sale of any article produced by child labor (factory, cannery, and mine) and it regulated the number of hours a child could work. The Keating-Owen Act was passed in 1916 under the Woodrow Wilson's administration. (Sharron Solomon-McCarthy)
The first organized group was formed in1904 it was known as The National Child Labor Committee (NCLC). This committee consisted of politicians, social workers and citizens who contested child labor. Two of the most renowned reformers were Jane Addams and Lewis Hine.Congress passed the first child labor bill, Keating-Owen Act. This act banned the sale of any article produced by child labor (factory, cannery, and mine) and it regulated the number of hours a child could work. The Keating-Owen Act was passed in 1916 under the Woodrow Wilson's administration. (Sharron Solomon-McCarthy)
Unconstitutional
Congress passed such laws in 1916 and 1918, but the Supreme Court declared them unconstitutional.The tireless efforts of reformers, social workers and unions seemed to pay off in 1916 – at the height of the progressive movement – when President Woodrow Wilson passed the Keating-Owen Act banning articles produced by child labor from being sold in interstate commerce. The act was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court just two years later.(The Child Labor Public Education Project: Sponsored by the University of Iowa Labor Center and The University of Iowa Center for Human Rights’ Child Labor Research Initiative.)