Fair Labor Standards Act Passes Over Fierce Business and Southern Opposition to Minimum Wage and Child Labor Ban

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) on June 25, 1938, establishing a federal minimum wage of 25 cents per hour, a maximum 44-hour workweek, and banning oppressive child labor—but only after more than a year of fierce congressional opposition from business interests and Southern Democrats who view wage and hour regulation as federal interference with the low-wage Southern economy. The act represents the last major piece of New Deal labor legislation and applies only to industries representing about one-fifth of the labor force, demonstrating how corporate and regional political resistance can severely limit progressive reform even at the peak of New Deal power.

The FLSA’s legislative journey begins in 1932 when Senator Hugo Black proposes requiring employers to adopt a thirty-hour workweek, meeting immediate fierce resistance from business groups. The bill originally drafted by the Labor Department is extensively amended to overcome opposition, with two different versions prepared—one creating national standards and another proposing a lower minimum wage for the South to placate Southern congressmen opposed to any wage floors that might undermine their region’s competitive advantage based on cheap labor. Much of the opposition comes from Southern Democrats who dominate key congressional committees and view federal wage standards as a threat to the Southern economic model built on low-wage agriculture and textile manufacturing.

Against a history of judicial opposition to labor regulation, the depression-born FLSA survives more than a year of congressional altercation. Roosevelt and Labor Secretary Frances Perkins prepare for rugged opposition, with Roosevelt putting pressure on congressmen who had “ridden his coattails to election victory in 1936 and who then knifed New Deal legislation.” Even some labor unions express reservations, with the AFL’s Building Trades Department opposing “the injection of Government in the wage-setting process.” On May 6, 1938, after a discharge petition bringing the bill to the House floor without a rule receives signatures from a majority of 218 members in less than three hours, the extensively amended bill passes the House 314 to 77.

In its final form, the FLSA applies only to industries whose combined employment represents about one-fifth of the labor force. For these covered industries, it bans oppressive child labor, sets the minimum hourly wage at 25 cents (rising to 40 cents within seven years), and establishes a maximum workweek of 44 hours (declining to 40 hours within three years), with overtime pay required beyond those limits. The act’s limited coverage and low wage floor reflect successful business and Southern opposition to more comprehensive protections. Despite these limitations, the FLSA establishes the principle of federal wage and hour standards, creating infrastructure later expanded through amendments in 1949, 1961, 1966, and 1974 that extend coverage to additional workers. The 1938 battle over the FLSA demonstrates how regional economic interests based on low-wage exploitation can forge alliances with business lobbies to water down labor protections, establishing patterns of resistance to minimum wage increases and labor standards enforcement that persist through subsequent decades.