A hundred years ago: US workers had no legal right to join unions or to earn a minimum wage; women made up just 20 percent of the workforce; the Department of Labor was just a dozen years old. And the family of an immigrant cigar maker honored his passing with a gift to Harvard to advance the study of labor relations.
One hundred years later: tens of millions of workers have exercised the right to join a union; women now make up almost half of the workforce and have risen throughout the ranks in many areas of the economy and society (including the labor movement); the Department of Labor is now responsible for protecting workers’ right to a safe workplace, minimum wage, overtime and family and medical leave. And the Jacob Wertheim Research Fellowship for the Betterment of Industrial Relations has made it possible for the Center for Labor and a Just Economy (CLJE) at Harvard Law School to support cutting-edge scholarship on all of these topics.
To celebrate 100 years of the Wertheim fellowship, CLJE will hold a symposium and reception honoring the legacy of the fellowship at Harvard Law School and setting forth a bold agenda for the future.
WATCH THE SYMPOSIUM
