ters.
By the turn of the century, though, there was a greater need for union organization. Hundreds of items were then manufactured under strenuous circumstances in homes and shops nicknamed "sweatshops," which were overcrowded, inadequately lighted, unventilated, and lacking in proper sanitary facilities. Men, women, and children worked under these conditions for low wages. The AFL worked continuously for legislative relief to eliminate these working conditions, to abolish child labor, and to introduce workmen's compensation and the Fair Labor Standards Act. Massachusetts passed the first minimum wage law in 1912, followed by eight other states in 1913 (Zollitsch and Langsner: pp. 30-32).
During this era, the government was often antithetical to the interests of labor. Injunctions were used to prevent or break strikes. The Sherman Antitrust Act was applied in a way that curtailed union activit
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