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This resource is hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, but was compiled and authored by Padraig O’Malley. It is the product of almost two decades of research and includes analyses, chronologies, historical documents, and interviews from the apartheid and post-apartheid eras.

1941. Factories, Machinery & Building Works Act

Simons & Simons (1969: 533) refer to this act as MADELEY'S FACTORIES ACT (though not in the index).

This gave way for separating workers of different races. Thus, "a minister, purporting to safeguard the physical, social and moral welfare of workers, could require an employer to segregate them by race or sex on the factory floor, in rest rooms and toilets" (Simons & Simons 1969: 534). It also "limited the number of hours that skilled workers could work overtime. This prevented white skilled workers from cashing in on the labour scarcity by working longer hours. Also, the use of 'emergency' workers in wartime manufacturing reduced the average white wage, because most of these workers were female" (Nattrass 1993: 47).

This resource is hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, but was compiled and authored by Padraig O’Malley. Return to theThis resource is hosted by the site.