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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 United States federal executive departments, executive departments of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of fede ...
from 1922 until 1971. It was the direct predecessor of the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration The Occupational Safety and Health Administration'' (OSHA ) is a large regulatory agency of the United States Department of Labor that originally had federal visitorial powers to inspect and examine workplaces. Congress established the agen ...
. 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 1922 was an initiative of
Secretary of Labor The United States Secretary of Labor is a member of the Cabinet of the United States, and as the head of the United States Department of Labor, controls the department, and enforces and suggests laws involving unions, the workplace, and all o ...
Frances Perkins Frances Perkins (born Fannie Coralie Perkins; April 10, 1880 – May 14, 1965) was an American workers-rights advocate who served as the 4th United States secretary of labor from 1933 to 1945, the longest serving in that position. A member of th ...
, 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 In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
's
Division of Industrial Hygiene The Division of Industrial Hygiene was a division of the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) with responsibility for occupational safety and health programs. It existed from 1914 until 1971, when it became the National Institute for Occupational ...
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 Clara Mortenson Beyer (April 13, 1892 – September 25, 1990) was a pioneer in labor economics and workers rights. She worked under Frances Perkins at the United States Department of Labor during the New Deal era, and was instrumental in implement ...
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 Mary Williams (Molly) Dewson (1874–1962) was an American feminist and political activist. After graduating from Wellesley College in 1897, she worked for the Women's Educational and Industrial Union. She became an active member of the National ...
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 4th United States secretary of labor from 1933 to 1945, the longest serving in that position. A member of th ...
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 Arthur Joseph Altmeyer (May 8, 1891October 16, 1972) was the United States Commissioner for Social Security from 1946 to 1953, and chairman of the Social Security Board from 1937 to 1946. He was a key figure in the design and implementation of the ...
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 US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The law created the Social Security program as well as insurance against unemployment. The law w ...
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 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 "oppr ...
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 large regulatory agency of the United States Department of Labor that originally had federal visitorial powers to inspect and examine workplaces. Congress established the agen ...
.


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