[2] First enacted as a four-year experiment, the wages board was renewed in 1900 and made permanent in 1904; by that time it covered 150 different industries.
It introduced the influential idea of a 'living wage' for a man, his wife, and three children to "live in frugal comfort".
Following that law, the South Australian Industrial Court would periodically declare what a living wage was in South Australia, as follows: On 14 December 2005, the Australian Fair Pay Commission was established under the Workplace Relations Amendment (WorkChoices) Act 2005.
At first it applied to four industries: chain-making, ready-made dresses, paper-box making, and the machine-made lace and finishing trade.
[8] In 1917, "Whitley councils" or Joint Industrial Councils were established in 41 industries with over 2 million employees to bring together unions and management to discuss not only wages and conditions but also a wide range of related issues such as jobs, security, benefits and technical education.
[9] Starting in 1909, Liberals, led especially by David Lloyd George, promoted the idea of a minimum wage for farm workers.
They say, "The minimum wage lifted out of poverty many families of farm labourers who remained employed, but it significantly lowered the incomes of farmers, particularly during the 1930s.
It largely affected workers in high turnover service industries such as fast food restaurants, and members of ethnic minorities.
[20] In 1930, Getúlio Vargas established a minimum wage in Brazil with a new set of work laws In Mexico, the Constitution of 1917 decreed that "there shall be a minimum wage," but no enabling legislation was enacted until President Abelardo L. Rodríguez began pushing for it in August 1933.
A French law passed in the National Assembly on 17 February 2015 and effective from the end of 2015 imposed statutory minimum wage regulations on foreign truck drivers plying international routes to and from France and undertaking cabotage in the country.
[28] The European Commission introduced an infringement procedure against France and Germany on 19 May 2015, arguing that the application of these laws in the transport sector had a disproportionately restrictive impact on the freedom to provide services and the free movement of goods, two of the principal freedoms on which the European Union is based.