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Labor relations

The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, also known as the Wagner Act, finally guaranteed workers the rights to collective bargaining through unions of their own choice. The Act also established the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to facilitate wage agreements and to suppress the repeated labor disturbances. The Wagner Act did not compel employers to reach agreement with their employees, but it opened possibilities for American labor. The result was a tremendous growth of membership in the labor unions, especially in the mass-production sector, led by the older and larger American Federation of Labor and the new, more radical Congress of Industrial Organizations. Labor thus became a major component of the New Deal political coalition. However, the intense battle for members between the AFL and the CIO coalitions weakened labor's power.

To help agricultural labor, the 1934 Jones-Costigan Act included provisions such as the prohibition of child labor under the age of 14, limited the working hours of children aged 14–16, and the granting to the USDA "the authority to fix minimum wages, but only after holding public hearings 'at a place accessible to producers and workers ' ". In addition, the Act called for farmers "to pay their workers 'promptly' and 'in full' before collecting their benefit payments as a way to deal with the historic inequalities embedded in staggered payments and hold-back clauses". This Act was replaced by the 1937 Sugar Act after the Supreme Court ruled the AAA unconstitutional. In passing the Act, Congress not only followed Roosevelt's advice by continuing the previous Act's labor provisions but strengthened them. As noted by one study, the Act "once again prohibited child labor and made the 'fair, reasonable and equitable' minimum wage determinations mandatory". The Public Contracts (Walsh-Healey) Act of 1936 established labor standards on government contracts, "including minimum wages, overtime compensation for hours in excess of 8 a day or 40 a week, child and convict labor provisions, and health and safety requirements". The Anti-Strikebreaker (Byrnes) Act from that same year declared it unlawful "to transport or aid in transporting strikebreakers in interstate or foreign commerce".

The Davis-Bacon Act Amendment (Public Act 403) was approved in August 1935, "Establishing prevailing wages for mechanics and laborers employed on public buildings and public works". Under the Miller Act of 1935, as noted by one study, "every construction worker or person who furnished material on a covered contract has the right to sue the contractor or surety if not fully paid within 90 days after performing labor or furnishing such material". The Motor Carrier Act of 1935, as noted by one study, "authorized the Interstate Commerce Commission to limit the hours of service and to prescribe other measures to safeguard motor carrier employees and passengers, as well as the users of highways generally". The Merchant Marine Act of 1936 directed the Maritime Commission "to investigate and specify suitable wage and manning scales and working conditions with respect to subsidized ships". Public Act 783 of March 1936 sought to extend "the facilities of the Public Health Service to seamen on Government vessels not in the military or Naval establishments". The Railway Labor Act Amendment (Public Act 487) was approved in April 1936, "Extending protection of Railway Labor Act to employees of air transportation companies engaged in interstate and foreign commerce".

The Bituminous Coal Act of 1937 contained various labor provisions such as prohibiting "requiring an employee or applicant for employment to join a company union". A national Railroad Retirement program was introduced that year, which in 1938 also introduced unemployment benefits. The Randolph-Sheppard Act provided for "licensing of blind persons to operate vending stands in Federal buildings". Public Law No. 814 of the 74th Congress, as noted by one study, conferred jurisdiction "upon each of the several states to extend the provisions of their State workmen's compensation laws to employments on Federal property and premises located within the respective States". The National Apprenticeship Act of 1937 established standards for apprenticeship programs. The Chandler Act of 1938 allowed wage earners "to extend debt payments over longer periods of time." That same year the Interstate Commerce Commission "issued an order regulating the hours of drivers of motor vehicles engaged in interstate commerce". The Wagner-O'Day Act in 1938 set up a program "designed to increase employment opportunities for persons who are blind so they could manufacture and sell their goods to the federal government".

Public Act No. 702 provided an 8-hour day for officers and seamen on certain vessels that navigated the Great Lakes and adjacent waters, and the Second Deficiency Appropriation Act (Public, No. 723) contained an appropriation for investigating labor conditions in Hawaii. Public Act No. 706 provided for the preservation of the right of air carrier employees "to obtain higher compensation and better working conditions so as to conform to a decision of the National Labor Board of May 10, 1934 (No. 83). Under Public Act No. 486 the provisions of section 13 of the air-mail act of 1934 "relating to pay, working conditions, and relations of pilots and other employees shall apply to all contracts awarded under the act". A number of laws affecting federal employees were also enacted. An act of 1936, for instance, provided vacations and accumulated leaves for Government employees, and another 1936 act provided for accumulated sick leave with pay for Government employees.

The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 set maximum hours (44 per week) and minimum wages (25 cents per hour) for most categories of workers. Child labor of children under the age of 16 was forbidden and children under 18 years were forbidden to work in hazardous employment. As a result, the wages of 300,000 workers, especially in the South, were increased and the hours of 1.3 million were reduced.