The Supreme Court had been one of the major obstacles to wage-hour and child-labor laws. In the 1936 Presidential race wage-hour legislation was a campaign issue and Roosevelt promised to seek some constitutional way of protecting workers. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt won the 1936 election by a landslide he was determined to overcome the obstacles of the Supreme Court’s opposition as soon as possible. Roosevelt and his Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins tried to make a model for employers of government contractors in all fields, not just construction. But the Federal Government actually encouraged employers to exploit labor because the Government had to award every contract to the lowest bidder. President Roosevelt and Frances Perkins continued to try to get congress to pass acts to prohibit the labor of children and set minimum wages and hours. The “Fair Labor Standard Act” in a draft form was sent to the White House where two trusted legal advisers of the President, and with the Supreme Court in mind, added new provisions to the already lengthy bill. Roosevelt had told his Secretary of Labor, that the length and complexity of the bill caused some of its difficulties with Congress, and asked for it to be shortened. Lawyers tried to
The Supreme Court had been one of the major obstacles to wage-hour and child-labor laws. In the 1936 Presidential race wage-hour legislation was a campaign issue and Roosevelt promised to seek some constitutional way of protecting workers. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt won the 1936 election by a landslide he was determined to overcome the obstacles of the Supreme Court’s opposition as soon as possible. Roosevelt and his Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins tried to make a model for employers of government contractors in all fields, not just construction. But the Federal Government actually encouraged employers to exploit labor because the Government had to award every contract to the lowest bidder. President Roosevelt and Frances Perkins continued to try to get congress to pass acts to prohibit the labor of children and set minimum wages and hours. The “Fair Labor Standard Act” in a draft form was sent to the White House where two trusted legal advisers of the President, and with the Supreme Court in mind, added new provisions to the already lengthy bill. Roosevelt had told his Secretary of Labor, that the length and complexity of the bill caused some of its difficulties with Congress, and asked for it to be shortened. Lawyers tried to