I ::^ • Organized Labor and the Wage and Hour Lai^ aitd The Wage and Hour Lai^ Organized labor and the Wage and Hour Law stand together on the same platform — decent pay and reasonable hours of work. Organized labor fought to place the law on the statute books. It has helped to make it successful. It has protected it from those opponents who would destroy it with amendments or starve it with meagre appropriations. For organized labor, the law has performed one important service. It has made safe from the competition of sweated labor the high American wage and hour standards which the working man has won after decades of united effort. Every union man is in competition with every other worker in the country who is able to do his work. He is in competition, not only with those workers who happen to live in his community, but also with those who live in communities with lower labor standards. For it is to those places where men are willing to work for a pittance that unscrupulous employers swarm like flies around honey. The Wage and Hour Law has hammered into the permanent struc- ture of America a floor below which wages cannot fall and a ceiling above which the hours of the working man should not go without payment of overtime rates. These standards are country-wide. The sewing machine operator in New York need no longer fear that his job will vanish because his employer can no longer compete with the man who has run away to another State where he can work his labor 60 hours a week for 15 or 20 cents an hour. Any employer is subject to the law if he manufactures or processes goods which are later sold outside the State, if he runs a radio, tele- phone, telegraph, railroad, bus, or trucking company which does business across State lines or if he is a wholesaler who either receives his goods from another State or sells them across State lines. He must pay his workers at least 30 cents an hour and time and a half their regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 a week.^ In addition, minimum rates have been raised to between 30 and 40 cents an hour 1 Between October 24, 1938, and October 24, 1939, the minimum wage was 25 cents an hour, the standard workweek, 44 hours. After that the minimum wage rose to 30 cents the workweek dropped to 42 hours. The 40-hour week became effective October 24, 1940. 276578°— 41 (2) for all branches of the textile and apparel industries, including shoes, hats and millinery. Wage orders raising the minimum wages in other industries are issued from time to time. The Wage and Hour Division has an inspection force of 1,000 inspec- tors to see that this law is obeyed. They are placed in strategic points throughout the country. Their job is to inspect pay-roll records and talk to employees. Any worker who believes that he is not receiving what he is entitled to under the law should get in touch immediately with the nearest Wage and Hour Division representative. The ad- dresses of the local offices of the Wage and Hour Division are as follows: Wage and Hour Field Offices Atlanta, Ga., Witt Building, 249 Peachtree Street. Baltimore, Md., 606 Snow Building. Birmingham, Ala., 1007 Comer Building, 2d Avenue and 21st Street. Boston, Mass., 304 Walker Building, 120 Boylston Street. Buffalo, N. Y., Pearl and Swan Streets. Charleston, W. Va., 805 Peoples Building. Charlotte, N. C, 221 Post Office Building. Chicago, 111., 1200 Merchandise Mart, 222 West North Bank Drive. Cincinnati, Ohio, 1312 Traction Building. Cleveland, Ohio, 728 Standard Building, 1370 Ontario Street. Columbia, S. C, Federal Land Bank Building, Hampton and Marion Streets. Columbus, Ohio, 211 Rowlands Building. Dallas, Tex., 824 Santa Fe Building, 1114 Commerce Street. Denver, Colo., 300 Chamber of Commerce Building. Des Moines, Iowa, 227 Old Federal Building. Detroit, Mich., 348 Federal Building. Honolulu, T. H., 345 Federal Building. Houston, Tex., 605 Federal Office Building. Indianapolis, Ind., 108 East Washington Street. Jackson, Miss., 402 Deposit Guaranty Bank Building. Jacksonville, Fla., 456 New Post Office Building. Kansas City, Mo., 504 Title and Trust Building, 10th and Walnut Streets. Little Rock, Ark., 333 State Capitol Building. Los Angeles, Calif., 417 H. W. Hellman Building. Louisville, Ky., 1106 Republic Boulevard. Manchester, N. H., 227 Post Office Building. Milwaukee, Wis., 298 Federal Building. Minneapolis, Minn., 406 Pence Building, 730 Hennepin Avenue. UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA ilililllillillii 3 1262 08859 0095 Nashville, Tenn., Medical Arts Building, 119 7th Avenue North. Newark, N. J., 1004 Kinney Building, 790 Broad Street. New Orleans, La., 1512 Pere Marquette Building. New York, N. Y., 30th Street and 9th Avenue, Parcel Post Building. Oklahoma City, Okla., 523 Federal Building. Pawtucket, R. I., 214 Post Office Building. Peoria, 111., 342 Post Office Building. Philadelphia, Pa., 1216 Widener Building, Chestnut and Juniper Streets. Pittsburgh, Pa., 219 Old Post Office Building. Portland, Maine, 309 Federal Building, 76 Pearl Street. Portland, Oreg., 315 Customhouse. Raleigh, N. C, 507 Raleigh Building, Hargett and Fayetteville Streets. Richmond, Va., 215 Richmond Trust Building, 627 East Main Street. Salt Lake City, Utah, 207 Boston Building. San Antonio, Tex., 583 Federal Building. San Francisco, Calif., 785 Market Street. San Juan, Puerto Rico, Box 112 Post Office. Seattle, Wash., 305 Post Office Building. Spokane, Wash., 228 Hutton Building. St. Louis, Mo., 100 Old Federal Building. St. Paul, Minn., 137 State Office Building. Worcester, Mass., 503 Federal Building. 0. S. GOVERNMENT PaiNTING OFFICE: 19*1