Bureau Of Labor Standards
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The Bureau of Labor Standards was an agency of the
U.S. Department of Labor The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards, unem ...
from 1934 until 1971. It was the direct predecessor of the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA; ) is a regulatory agency of the United States Department of Labor that originally had federal visitorial powers to inspect and examine workplaces. The United States Congress established ...
. The unit was formed as the Division of Labor Standards in November 1934, and renamed the Bureau of Labor Standards in 1948.


History

Creation of the Division of Labor Standards in 1934 was an initiative of Secretary of Labor
Frances Perkins Frances Perkins (born Fannie Coralie Perkins; April 10, 1880 – May 14, 1965) was an American workers-rights advocate who served as the fourth United States Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, the longest serving in that position. A member o ...
, who wanted to set a new course from the relative inactivity of the Department during the anti-labor atmosphere of the 1920s. Much of its early function was working with state labor departments, which had regulatory power, to promote and draft uniform labor laws, organize conferences, and prepare factory inspection manuals and training courses. It also worked with labor unions, safety organizations, and industrial associations. Its formation led to competition with the
Public Health Service The United States Public Health Service (USPHS or PHS) is a collection of agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services which manages public health, containing nine out of the department's twelve operating divisions. The Assistant Se ...
's
Division of Industrial Hygiene The Division of Industrial Hygiene was a division of the United States Public Health Service, U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) with responsibility for occupational safety and health programs. It existed from 1914 until 1971, when it became the Na ...
over whether a regulatory or advisory agency should coordinate state and local industrial hygiene agencies, with PHS emphasizing a role as a non-partisan provider of scientific data, while the Department of Labor actively advocated for labor unions' efforts to improve work conditions. Clara Mortenson Beyer was an early administrator of the Division.Boris, Eileen. 2000. Beyer, Clara Mortenson. American National Biography Online, American National Biography Online. Beyer served as Associate Director from 1934–1957, and Acting Director for 1957–1958.Living New Deal. Clara Beyer (c.1892-1990).
/ref> In 1934, Molly Dewson and
Frances Perkins Frances Perkins (born Fannie Coralie Perkins; April 10, 1880 – May 14, 1965) was an American workers-rights advocate who served as the fourth United States Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, the longest serving in that position. A member o ...
encouraged Beyer to take the new position of Associate Director in the Division of Labor Standards. Beyer was excited about working in the new Bureau because she was eager to build an organization from the beginning. Beyer became an influential voice in New Deal era labor policies. Beyer, Perkins, and Arthur Altmeyer developed provisions that went into the
Social Security Act The Social Security Act of 1935 is a law enacted by the 74th United States Congress and signed into law by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 14, 1935. The law created the Social Security (United States), Social Security program as ...
of 1935. Beyer working on American labor issues including apprenticeship, vocational education, and programs for elderly and migrant workers. Perkins told Beyer that it was politically unrealistic for her to appoint another woman to a top job in an important Labor Department organization, otherwise she might have promoted Beyer further. Beyer apparently happily accepted this. The
Walsh–Healey Public Contracts Act of 1936 The Walsh–Healey Public Contracts Act of 193641 USC §§6501-6511 is a United States labor law, passed as part of the New Deal. It is a law on basic labor rights for U.S. government contracts. It was intended to improve labor standards. Contents ...
established labor standards for government contracts in excess of $10,000, and included the first mandatory standards for safety and health to be adopted by the federal government, through the influence of the Division of Labor Standards. Beyer's most recognized achievement at the Bureau of Labor Standards is her instrumental work towards the establishment of the
Fair Labor Standards Act The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) is a United States labor law that creates the right to a minimum wage, and " time-and-a-half" overtime pay when people work over forty hours a week. It also prohibits employment of minors in "oppre ...
of 1938, which set minimum wage and maximum hour standards nationwide. Beyer's bureau helped Ben Cohen and Thomas Corcoran draft the legislation, and when Beyer herself was resisted by organized laborers who worried that minimum wage would lower wages overall, she worked with Congresswoman Mary T. Norton to lobby William Green, president of the American Federation of Labor. With his support, the law passed, and when the act was challenged and appealed to the Supreme Court, Beyer helped prepare the government's successful defense.Susan Ware. 2004. ''Notable American Women: Completing the Twentieth Century. Beyer'', Clara Mortenson. In July 1946, the Division absorbed the Industrial Division from the Children's Bureau. Some tasks were added the Bureau's agenda by the Longshoreman's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act of 1958.Goldberg and Moye, p. 205 The Bureau became a component of the Wage and Labor Standards Administration when the latter was formed in 1967. In 1971, the Bureau of Labor Standards became the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA; ) is a regulatory agency of the United States Department of Labor that originally had federal visitorial powers to inspect and examine workplaces. The United States Congress established ...
.


References


Bibliography


The division's publications on labor standards
Bureau of Labor Standards, 1939. * US Dept of Labor
A report on the Bureau of Labor Standards 30th anniversary
Bureau of Labor Standards bulletin 272. 1965. * Joseph P. Goldberg, and William T. Moye. 1985.
First hundred years of the Bureau of Labor Statistics
'. Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin 2235. U.S. Government Printing Office. {{authority control United States Department of Labor agencies Defunct agencies of the United States government