The National Anti-Sweating League is the name adopted by two groups of social reformers in Australia and Britain at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Both campaigned against the poor conditions endured by many workers in so-called Sweatshop

Sweatshop

Sweatshop is a negatively connoted term for any working environment considered to be unacceptably difficult or dangerous. Sweatshop workers often work long hours for very low pay, regardless of laws mandating overtime pay or a minimum wage. Child labour laws may be violated. Sweatshops may have...

s and called for a Minimum wage

Minimum wage

A minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labour. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in a great many jurisdictions, there are differences of opinion about...

.

Australia

The National Anti-Sweating League was inaugurated in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

 on 29 Jul 1895, with Rev. A. Gosman as president, Samuel Mauger

Samuel Mauger

Samuel Mauger was an Australian social reformer, hat manufacturing unionist and a Protectionist politician.-Early life:...

 as secretary, and Alfred Deakin

Alfred Deakin

Alfred Deakin , Australian politician, was a leader of the movement for Australian federation and later the second Prime Minister of Australia. In the last quarter of the 19th century, Deakin was a major contributor to the establishment of liberal reforms in the colony of Victoria, including the...

 as treasurer. Vida Goldstein

Vida Goldstein

Vida Jane Mary Goldstein was an early Australian feminist politician who campaigned for women's suffrage and social reform.-Early years:...

 was another member. Their efforts resulted in wage regulation via the Factory Act of 1896.

Britain

The National Anti-Sweating League was an all-party pressure group formed in 1906 with a 3-day conference in the Guildhall, London

Guildhall, London

The Guildhall is a building in the City of London, off Gresham and Basinghall streets, in the wards of Bassishaw and Cheap. It has been used as a town hall for several hundred years, and is still the ceremonial and administrative centre of the City of London and its Corporation...

. 341 delegates representing (via trade union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

s) some two million workers attended. Notable members included R. H. Tawney

R. H. Tawney

Richard Henry Tawney was an English economic historian, social critic, Christian socialist, and an important proponent of adult education....

, Mary Reid Macarthur, and Lady Astor

Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor

Nancy Witcher Astor, Viscountess Astor, CH, was the first woman to sit as a Member of Parliament in the British House of Commons.Constance Markievicz was the first woman elected to the House of Commons in December 1918 after running for the Sinn Féin party in 1918 General Election, but in line...

  As a result of the campaign, the Trade Boards Act 1909

Trade Boards Act 1909

The Trade Boards Act 1909 was a piece of social legislation passed in the United Kingdom in 1909. It provided for the creation of boards which could set minimum wage criteria that were legally enforceable...

 was passed, with boards modelled on those in the state of Victoria, Australia

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

, following the 1896 Act.