Women’s History Month: Frances Perkins was a champion of worker’s rights

By Peggy Perkins

Frances Perkins was horrified at the work that many women and children had to do in factories. There were absolutely no effective laws that regulated the number of hours they worked. There were no provisions which guarded their health nor adequately looked after their compensation in case of injury. Witnessing women jumping to their deaths or being engulfed by flames at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, changed her forever. She took what horrified her and did something.

Perkins’ hard work and tenacity during FDR’s administration, got the Fair Labor Standards Act passed that set maximum hours and minimum wages in all interstate industries and placed restrictions on child labor. The National Labor Relations Act gave workers the right to organize and bargain with their employers. She got a Bureau of Labor Standards established that implemented industrial accident and occupational disease prevention.

Frances became the first woman in the nation to serve in a Presidential cabinet as Secretary of Labor. In her words, she came to Washington to work for God, FDR, and the millions of forgotten, plain, common working men and women. Perkins forged legislation that created Social Security providing pensions that our seniors count on today. She also made sure that the SSA provided unemployment compensation, workers’ compensation and aid to the needy and disabled now aken for granted.

Under the leadership we have representing us today, all that Frances Perkins achieved for the forgotten working men and women is on the chopping block. Are we okay with that?

Peggy Perkins is a resident of Winder