Reforming the Workplace
Section 2
(pgs.174-178)
Reforming the Workplace
The Big Idea
In the early 1900s, Progressives and other reformers focused on improving conditions for
American workers.
Main Idea 1 Reformers attempted to improve conditions for child laborers.
• Marie Van Vorst focused attention on the problem of child labor.
• Many children worked in industry—in 1900 more than 1.75 million children age 15 or
younger.
• Children as young as seven years old provided cheap labor for manufacturers but brought
home only small amounts of money to their families.
• Reformers wanted labor laws to protect women and children
• Florence Kelley was a leader in the fight against child labor.
• Massachusetts passed the first minimum-wage law in 1912, and established a commission to
set wage rates for children.
Main Idea 2Unions and reformers took steps to improve safety in the workplace and to limit
working hours.
• Workplace accidents were increasing in 1800s and early 1900s.
Some 35,000 Americans were killed in industrial accidents in 1900.
About 500,000 suffered injuries in 1900.
• The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire that killed 146 workers, mostly women and girls,
led to laws to improve factory safety.
• Reformers fought for workers’ compensation laws, which guaranteed a portion
of lost wages to workers injured on the job.
• In 1902 Maryland became the first state to pass a workers’ compensation law.
The Courts and Labor
• Some businesses opposed workplace regulations, believing that the economy
should operate without government interference. They went to court to block
new labor laws.
• New York passed a law in 1897 limiting bakers to a 10-hour workday.
 Bakery owner Joseph Lochner sued.
 In Lochner v. New York (1905), the Supreme Court ruled the law
unconstitutional.
The court ruled that the state could not restrict employers from
entering into any kind of agreement with employees.
• In 1908, however, the Supreme Court upheld a law restricting women’s work
hours in Muller v. Oregon,
ruling that it was a public
health issue.
Labor Organizations
•Labor unions tried to improve working conditions and pay. Union
Membership rose.
•American Federation of Labor led by Samuel Gompers, who supported
capitalism, an economic system in which private firms own and run industry,
while other labor unions supported socialism, a system in which the
government owns and runs most industry.
•The leading socialist union was Industrial Workers of the World(IWW) led by
William “Big Bill” Haywood.