 Despite the powerful opposition , by 1947 the labor unions had managed to organize enough support to force the congress to pass a new labor code . This law was revolutionary in many ways ; it forbade discrimination in salary levels on the basis of " age , race , sex , nationality , religious beliefs , or political affiliation . " It created a set of health and safety standards in the workplace , and standardized an eight @-@ hour working day and a 45 @-@ hour working week , although the congress succumbed to pressure from the plantation lobby and exempted plantations from this provision . The code also required plantation owners to construct primary schools for the children of their workers , and expressed a general commitment to " dignifying " the position of workers . Although many of these provisions were never enforced , the creation of administrative mechanisms for this law in 1948 allowed several of its provisions to be systematically enforced . The law as a whole had a huge positive impact on worker rights in the country , including raising the average wages by a factor of three or more . 
