The National Anti-Sweating League is the name adopted by two groups of social reformers in Australia and Britain at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Both campaigned against the poor conditions endured by many workers in so-called
sweatshops and called for a
minimum wage
A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. Bec ...
.
Australia
The National Anti-Sweating League was inaugurated in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
on 29 Jul 1895, with Rev. A. Gosman as president,
Samuel Mauger
Samuel Mauger (pronounced "major"; 12 November 1857 – 26 June 1936) was an Australian social reformer and politician. He served in the Victorian Legislative Assembly (1900–1901) and the Australian House of Representatives (1901–1910), incl ...
as secretary, and
Alfred Deakin
Alfred Deakin (3 August 1856 – 7 October 1919) was an Australian politician who served as the second Prime Minister of Australia. He was a leader of the movement for Federation, which occurred in 1901. During his three terms as prime ministe ...
as treasurer.
[Race Mathews (1993) ''Australia's First Fabians: Middle-class Radicals, Labour Activists and the Early Labour Movement'' Cambridge University Press ] Vida Goldstein was another member.
[Lees, Kirsten (1995) ''Votes for Women: The Australian Story'' St. Leonards: Allen & Unwin, p. 145] Their efforts resulted in wage regulation via the Factory Act of 1896.
[Sheila Blackburn (1991) ''The Historical Journal'' 34 (1) 43-64 "Ideology and Social Policy: The Origins of the Trade Boards Act"]
Britain
The National Anti-Sweating League was an all-party pressure group formed in 1906 with a 3-day conference in the
Guildhall, London
Guildhall is a municipal building in the Moorgate area of the City of London, England. It is off Gresham and Basinghall streets, in the wards of Bassishaw and Cheap. The building has been used as a town hall for several hundred years, and is ...
.
[Daily Mirror 18 October 1906] 341 delegates representing (via trade union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
s) some two million workers attended.[ Notable members included ]Alfred George Gardiner
Alfred George Gardiner (2 June 1865 – 3 March 1946) was an English journalist, editor and author. His essays, written under the alias "Alpha of the Plough", are highly regarded. He was also Chairman of the National Anti-Sweating League, an ad ...
,R. H. Tawney
Richard Henry Tawney (30 November 1880 – 16 January 1962) was an English economic historian, social critic, ethical socialist,Noel W. Thompson. ''Political economy and the Labour Party: the economics of democratic socialism, 1884-2005''. 2nd e ...
,[ Mary Reid Macarthur, and Lady Astor,][Daly Mirror 5 November 1919] while its first secretary was George Shann.[David E. Martin, "Shann, George", ''Dictionary of Labour Biography'', vol.II, pp.339-340] As a result of the campaign, the Trade Boards Act 1909 was passed, with boards modelled on those in the state of Victoria, Australia, following the 1896 Act.[
]
See also
* Anti-sweatshop movement
References
{{reflist
Reform movements
Minimum wage
Australian labour law
United Kingdom labour law