June 16, 1933 — President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the National Industrial Recovery Act (NRA) including the first federal minimum wage — about 30 cents an hour.
The road to minimal wages and benefits for low-wage workers has always been long and steep. To this day every proposal for minimal wages, living wages, paid sick days, or basic health and safety in the workplace is always shouted down by whiny business interests as a "job killer" and condemned as "class warfare."
As the distinguished journalist Bill Moyers recently put it:
"Truth is, there’s been a class war waged in America for thirty years now from the top down, and the rich have won."
After 75 Years, the Working Poor Still Struggle for a Fair Wage
by Adam Cohen
The New York Times, June 17, 2008.
This week marks the 75th anniversary of the National Industrial Recovery Act - which Roosevelt signed June 16, 1933, at the end of his famous first 100 days - and of the federal minimum wage. It was a grudging, almost accidental win, and the road since then has been rocky. Advocates for low-income workers have had a hard time keeping the minimum wage at a reasonable level and passing other laws necessary to fulfill the original goal: ensuring that people who work hard can achieve a reasonable standard of living.
When progressives set out to establish a national minimum wage, they faced stiff opposition. Industry insisted that government should not interfere with its relations with its employees. Organized labor was also opposed. ("If you give them something for nothing," one labor leader objected, "they won’t join the union.") The pro-business Supreme Court presented the biggest obstacle, ruling that minimum wages were unconstitutional.
The Depression provided an opening...
Last year, the new Democratic-controlled Congress raised the minimum wage for the first time in 10 years to $7.25 an hour in 2009. A family earning the 2009 minimum wage in California would still be way below the poverty line.
75 years and the struggle continues...
Click to read More on: www.9to5california.org