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| Date | Bill | Summary | Page | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 14, 1937 | S. 2475 and H. R. 7200 | Petitions, Etc. | 7157 | (81 Cong. Rec. 7157, 1937) |
| July 30, 1937 | H. R. 7200 | Petitions, Etc. | 7859 | (81 Cong. Rec. 7859, 1937) |
| August 2, 1937 | H. R. 7200 | Message from the Senate | 8002 | (81 Cong. Rec. 8002, 1937) |
| August 4, 1937 | S. 2475 | Analysis of the Wage-Hour-Child-Labor Bill | 8205 to 8207 | (81 Cong. Rec. 8205, 1937) |
| August 6, 1937 | S. 2475 | Reports of Committees on Public Bills and Resolutions | 8478 | (81 Cong. Rec. 8478, 1937) |
| August 6, 1937 | S. 2475 and H. R. 7200 | Petitions, Etc. | 8480 | (81 Cong. Rec. 8480, 1937) |
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Page
7157 CONGRESSIONAL
RECORD - HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES July
14,
1937 (81
Cong. Rec. 7157, 1937)
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PETITIONS, ETC.
Under clause 1 of rule XXII, petitions and papers were laid on the Clerk's desk and referred as follows:
2936. By Mr. KEOGH: Petition of the Tight Barrel Heading Manufacturers' Association, Memphis, Tenn., concerning the Black-Connery bills (S. 2475 and H. R. 7200); to the Committee on Labor.
By Mr. PFEIFER: Petition of the Stephen Jerry & Co., Inc., Brooklyn, N. Y., concerning the Black-Counery bills (S. 2475 and H. R. 7200); to the Committee on Labor.
[PAGE 7157]
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Page
7859 CONGRESSIONAL
RECORD - HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES July
30,
1937 (81
Cong. Rec. 7859, 1937)
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PETITIONS, ETC.
3056. By Mr. HART: Memorial of the Bergen County (N.J.) Chamber of Commerce, protesting against enactment of the wages-and-hours bill; to the Committee on Labor.
3059. By Mr. KEOGH: Telegram of the American Manufacturing Co., Brooklyn, N. Y., concerning the Connery bill (H. R. 7200); to the Committee on Labor.
3060. By Mr. PFEIFER: Telegram of the American Manufacturing Co., Brooklyn, N.Y., concerning the Connery bill (H. R. 7200); to the Committee on Labor.
[PAGE 7859]
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Page
8002 CONGRESSIONAL
RECORD - HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES August
2,
1937 (81
Cong. Rec. 8002, 1937)
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MESSAGE FROM THE SENATE
A message from the Senate, by Mr. Frazier, its legislative clerk, announced that the Senate had passed bills of the following titles, in which the concurrence of the House is requested:
S. 2475. An act to provide for the establishment of fair labor standards in employments in and affecting interstate commerce, and for other purposes.
[Page 8002]
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Page
8205 CONGRESSIONAL
RECORD - HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES August
2,
1937 (81
Cong. Rec. 8205, 1937)
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ANALYSIS OF THE WAGE-HOUR-CHILD-LABOR BILL
Mr. MARTIN of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I ask unairlmous consent to address the House for 1 minute.
The SPEAKER. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Colorado?
There was no objection.
Mr. MARTIN of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I have prepared a brief analysis of the bill (S. 2475) to provide for the establishment of fair labor standards in employments in and affecting interstate commerce, including minimum wages, maximum hours, and child labor, and for other purposes. This analysis contains no comment whatever, but is only a naked, boiled-down analysis of the bill. I think this will be the most important measure to come before the first session of the Seventy-fifth Congress. I know from contacting many Members that they have not had and probably will not have time to read this rather lengthy bill. Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert this analysis in the RECORD at this point.
Mr. MICHENER. Reserving the right to object, Mr. Speaker, the gentleman has suggested we are going to pass the most important bill of this session and that the Members of Congress will not even have time to read it. I hope the gentleman is wrong, because we certainly should at least have time to read the bill before we are compelled to vote upon it. Which bill does the gentleman mean?
Mr. MARTIN of Colorado. I am referring now to the bill S. 2475, which has passed the Senate and is now before the House Committee on Labor.
Mr. MICHENER. I shall not object, but I hope the gentleman will intercede with somebody in authority, so we shall at least have time enough to read the bill before we are compelled to vote upon it.
Mr. MARTIN of Colorado. I may say that I shall take pleasure in furnishing a copy of the bill to the gentleman as soon as I get off the floor.
Mr. RICH. Mr. Speaker, reserving the right to object, is this a request to bring up the labor bill at this time?
Mr. MARTIN of Colorado. No; this is just a request to insert in the RECORD a brief analysis of the major provisions of the bill.
Mr. RICH. I want the gentleman to know we are not going to let that bill be brought up here by surprise.
Mr. MARTIN of Colorado. I want to print the analysis for the benefit of my dear friend the gentleman from Pennsylvania.
The SPEAKER. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Colorado?
There was no objection.
ANALYSIS OF MAJOR PROVISIONS OF S. 2475, THE WAGE-HOUR-CHlLD-LABOR BILL
LEGISLATIVE DECLARATION
Section 1: Declares that the employment of workers under substandard labor conditions in occupations in interstate commerce, in the production of goods for interstate commerce, (1) causes interstate commerce and the channels and instrumentalities thereof to be used to spread substandard working and living conditions; (2) directly burdens interstate commerce in the free flow of goods; (3) constitutes an unfair method of competition in interstate commerce; (4) leads to labor disputes affecting interstate commerce; (5) directly interferes with the orderly and fair marketing of goods in interstate commerce. Requires remedial legislation.
Definitions: Interstate commerce, employer, employee, etc.
CLASSES OF EMPLOYEES EXEMPTED FROM THE ACT
Section 2: List of exemptions from the word employee
, which
means exemption from the act. The exact words are set out: Executive,
administrative, professional, local retailing capacity, seaman, railroad
employee, employee common carrier by motor vehicle, air-transport employee,
express company, taking of fish, sea foods or sponges, agriculture, farming in
all its branches cultivation and tillage of the soil, dairying, forestry,
horticulture: market gardening, cultivation and growing of fruits, vegetables,
nuts, nursery products, ferns, flowers, bulbs, livestock, bees, poultry. (Also
includes definitions in the Agricultural Marketing Act.)
Any other agricultural or horticultural commodity.
Any practices ordinarily performed by a farmer or on a farm as an incident to such farming operations, including delivery to market.
[PAGE 8205]
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[PAGE 8206]
LABOR STANDARDS BOARD
Section 3 sets up a Labor Standards Board, composed of five members, appointed by the President with the consent of the Senate. Consideration to be given to industrial and geographic regions. The term of office Is 5 years and the salary $10,000 per year. The Board may employ certain skilled personnel Without regard to the provisions of the civil service. All other employees are subject to the civil-service laws. This section vests the Board wtth the usual administrative powers of boards and commissions.
MINIMUM WAGES, MAXIMUM HOURS
Section 4 gives the Board power to establish minimum wages, not more than 40 cents per hour, and maximum hours, not less than 40 hours per week.
SEASONAL EXEMPTIONS FROM HOURS
When the services are seasonal, section 4 exempts certain activities from the hour provisions of the act, leaving them subject to the wage provisions of the act. They are as follows:
Ginning and baling of cotton.
Canning, packing, packaging of fish, sea foods, sponges.
Picking, canning, processing of fruits, vegetables.
Processing beets, cane, maple into sugar and sirup.
Plant located in dairy production areas in which milk, cream, butterfat are processed, shipped, or manufactured if owned by a cooperative as defined in the Farm Credit Act.
Processing or packing perishable agricultural products during harvesting season.
CONSIDERATIONS IN FIXING WAGES
Section 4 provides that in fixing minimum wages the Board shall consider:
The cost of living.
Transportation costs and freight rates where discriminatory.
Local economic conditions.
Value of services which would be relevant in a lawsuit where services are rendered wtthout contract.
Wages established for like work by collective labor agreements under collective bargaining.
Wages paid for like work by employers who voluntarily maintain minimum-wage standards.
CONSIDERATIONS IN FIXING HOURS
The section also provides that in fixing the maximum workweek the board shall consider—
Relation of the work to physical and economical health, efficiency, and well-being of employee;
Number of persons available for employment in the occupation;
Hours of employment for like work by collective labor agreements under collective bargaining;
Hours of employment for like work maintained by employers who voluntarily maintain a maximum workweek.
COLLECTIVE-BARGAINING AGREEMENTS PROTECTED
Section 5: Provides that nothing in the act shall be construed to interfere with, impede, or diminish the right of employees to bargain collectively, to obtain a wage in excess of the minimum, or a shorter workweek than the maximum, or otherwise to obtain benefits and advantages not reqUired by the act.
This section also provides that a minimum wage shall not be deemed illegal or unfair because it is in excess of the minimum of the act, and the maximum workweek will not be deemed illegal or unfair because it is shorter than the maximum under the act.
EXEMPTIONS FROM LABOR STANDARDS WITH RESPECT TO WAGES AND HOURS—OVERTIME—APPRENTICES—DISABLED EMPLOYEES
Section 6: Where necessary, and under regulations, employees may work overtime, at time-and-a-half pay.
Where the board finds that the special character of the employment or limited qualifications of employees makes such employment justifiable, it may permit employment at a wage lower for for a workweek longer than the standards of the act.
Apprentices may by order work at a lower wage than the minimum, subject to time limitations fixed by the act.
The board may also license the employment of persons impaired by age, physical or mental deficiency, or injury at wages lower than the standard.
The board may permit overtime employment in seasonal or peak activities, maintenance, repair, or other emergency work at pay not exceeding time and a half.
PROHIBITION OF SHIPMENT IN INTERSTATE COMMERCE
Section 7: Prohibits the transportation, delivery, or sale in interstate commerce of goods produced in violation of the labor standards of the act, or to employ under substandard labor conditions any employee engaged in interstate commerce or in production of goods intended for such transportation and sale.
PROTECTION OF STATES FROM SUBSTANDABD LABOR CONDITIONS IN OTHER STATES
Section a: Empowers the Board to require the elimination of substandard labor conditions and maintenance of standard conditions in States producing goods which compete with other States having standard labor conditions.
TARIFF STUDIES ON COST OF PRODUCTION
The section provides for the study of differences in cost of production at home and abroad with a view to determining whether tarrif changes should be made to equalize such differences.
CLASSIFICATION OF AND DIFFENTENIATIONS BETWEEN EMPLOYERS, EMPLOYEES, AND LOCALITIES WITHIN AN OCCUPATION
Section 9: Provides that the Board may classify employers, employees, and employments within an occupation according to (1) localltles, (2) population of communities, (3) number of employees, (4) nature and volume of goods, (5) such other differentiating circumstances as the Board finds neeessary.
It is declared the policy of the Board to avoid the adoption of any classification which effects an unreasonable discrimination against any person or locality.
This section also declares 1t to be the policy of the Board to
establish such minimum-wage standards as will affect only those employees in
need of legislative protection. without interfering with the voluntary
establishment of appropriate differentials and higher standards for other
employees in the oocupation.
It also provides for restrictions or prohibition of industrial home work as the Boani may find necessary to prevent circumventions or evasions.
HEARINGS
Section 10: Provides that labor standard orders shall be made, modified, or rescinded only after a hearing. Notice of the hearing must be given by publication in the Federal Register not less than 10 days before the hearing. The hearing shall be public and records kept.
ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Section 11: Provides that before making an order establishing a minimum wage or a maximum week for employees in any occupation, an advisory committee shall be appointed by the Board, composed of an equal number of pernons representing the employers and the employees in such occupation and not more than three disinterested persons representing the public. The committee shall investigate and report information necessary to a fair determination. The Board may accept or reject in whole or in part the recommendations of the committee or resubmit the matter to a new committee.
INVESTIGATIONS
Section 12: Empowers the Board to make investigations and gather data, subpena witnesses, compel attendance, take testimony, require production of records, and invoke the jurisdiction of the Federal courts thereon.
ENFORCEMENT.
Section 13: Authorizes the Board to bring an action in the proper district court of the United States to enforce compliance.
RECORDs--LABELS
Section 14: Requires the keeping by employers of wage and hour records and the posting of orders issued by the Board. The section empowers the Board to require that goods subject to the act shall be labeled with information deemed necessary to assure compliance. No person other than the producer shall be prosecuted for transportation or sale of unfair goods who has secured a representation in writing from the consignor that the goods are not produced in violatiun of the act.
BOARD MAY UTILIZE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Section 15: Empowers the Board to utilize the Department of Labor in making investigations and inspections. Authorizes the Secretary of Labor to cooperate with State agencies, with the consent of the State agency.
BOARD MAY ISSUE, CHANGE ORDERS
Section 16: Authorizes the Board to issue, amend, and rescind regulations and orders when necessary; and relates to other usual procedure.
VALIDITY OF CONTRACT
Section 17: Declares invalid any contract or understanding in violation of the act.
RECOVERY FOR UNDERPAY AND OVERWORK
Section 18: Authorizes recovery by employees for underpay or overwork, by a civil actlon, together with costs and attorneys' fees.
RELATION TO OTHER LAWS
Section 19; No provision of the act shall justify noncompliance with any Federal, State, or local law establishing a higher minimum wage or a lower maximum week than established by the act.
COMMON CARRIERS EXEMPT
Section 20: Exempts from liability or penalty any common carrier transporting goods in the regular course of its business.
COURT REVIEW OF ORDERS
Section 21: Provides for review in the United States Circuit Court of Appeals by any person aggrieved to by any order of the Board.
JURISDICTION OF OFFENSES AND SUITS
Section 22: Vests jurisdiction in district courts of the United States of violations of the act, and, concurrently with State courts, of an suits and actions at law to enforce any liability or duty under the act.
PENALTIES
Section 23: Fixes the penalties at a fine of not more than $500 or imprisonment for not more than 6 months, or both. The case of each employee constitutes a separate offense. The discharge of the employee for filing a complaint or testifying in an investigation
[PAGE 8206]
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[PAGE 8207]
is within the penalty clause. The making of false statements and refusals to testify are also within it.
CHILD LABOR
Section 24: (A) Provides that all goods produced after January 1, 1938, wholly or in part through the use of child labor, .and transported in interstate commerce, shall upon arrival and delivery in any State be subject to the operation and effect of the laws of such State as though produced therein.
(B) Makes it unlawful to transport or aid or assist in transporting any goods produced after January 1, 1938, wholly or in part through the use of child labor, from one State to another in violation of any law of such State.
(C) Makes it unlawful to transport or aid or assist in transporting any goods produced on or after January 1, 1938, wholly or in part through the use of child labor, unless the goods are conspicuously labeled as set forth in the section, including on the label the name and address of the shipper and consignee, the nature of the goods, and a summary statement of the kind of work in which child labor was utilized.
(D) Makes it unlawful for any person who has produced goods wholly or in part through the use of child labor, on or after January 1, 1938, to knowingly transport such goods in interstate commerce.
This furnishes a three-way approach to the constitutional question.
CHILD LABOR DEFINED
(E) Defines child labor as employment of a person under the age of 16 years and as employment of a person under 18 years at extra hazardous work.
(F) Carries a penalty by fine of not more than $1,000 and forfeiture of the goods to the United States.
In any proceeding under the section a showing that the goods
were produced wholly or in part by child labor subsequent to January 1, 1938,
and within 6 months after the date of the alleged violation, at a place of
employment where said goods
were so produced, would be prima-facie
evidence that the goods were produced through the use of child
labor.
The Secretary of Labor, through the Cbildren's Bureau, is charged with the enforcement of the child-labor section.
Section 25: Separability clause.
Section 26: Effective 120 days after enactment.
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Page
8478 CONGRESSIONAL
RECORD - HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES August
6,
1937 (81
Cong. Rec. 8478, 1937)
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REPORTS OF COMMITTEES ON PUBLIC BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS
"Mrs. Norton: Committee on Labor. S. 2475. An act to provide for the establishment of fair labor standards in employments in and affecting interstate commerce, and for other purposes; with amendment (Rept. No. 1452). Referred to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the union."
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Page
8480 CONGRESSIONAL
RECORD - HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES August
6,
1937 (81
Cong. Rec. 8480, 1937)
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PETITIONS, ETC.
3168. Also, petition of the American Bakers Association, Chicago, Ill., concerning Senate bill 2475 and House bill 7200, the wages-and-hours bill; to the Committee on Labor.
3169. Also, petition of the Merchants Association of New York, concerning the Fair Labor Standards Act; to the Committee on Labor
[PAGE 8480]
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