On this day in Labor History the year was 1940.
That was the day that the federally mandated 40-hour work week went into effect for U.S. workers.
The 40-hour week had been passed as part of Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938.
Making five days of eight hour work the national standard had long been a top goal for labor.
For decades’ union members organized, demonstrated, when on strike, and even died for the right to work eight hours.
Labor argued that reducing the long, unregulated hours of toil was a matter of worker’s health and safety.
It was also a matter of dignity.
A more reasonable work week would give workers the time to spend with their families, to pursue other interests, and to have a full life outside of the grinding schedule demanded by many bosses.
Before the turn of the twentieth century, the eight-hour day movement declared “Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, eight hours for what we will!” as their motto.
In 1886, nationwide rallies and strikes for eight hours took place on May 1st.
Today, May Day is celebrated as a worker’s holiday around the world in remembrance of that struggle.
In 1888, the American Federation of Labor took up the cause, and the Carpenters union became the standard bearer for eight hours.
Ten years later the United Mine Workers union members won the eight-hour day.
In 1916, the Adamson Act made eight hours the standard for interstate railroad workers.
A decade after that, Ford Motor Company, a leader in U.S. industry established the forty-hour work week.
Each of these victories were a step along the way to making the eight-hour day a reality and the law of the land.
January 25 - Solidarity Works!
January 24 - Arturo Alfonso Schomburg is Born
January 23 - If Poison Doesn’t Work, Try Briggs!
January 22 - Tragedy in the Mines & in the Union Hall
January 21 - On Strike for Health & Dignity
January 20 - The Flint Womens Emergency Brigades
January 19 - A Snapshot in Misery
January 18 - Is Colorado in America?
January 17 - Standing Against Wage Theft
January 15 - We Want to Live, Not Just Exist
January 14 - The Rise of the Bellamyites
January 13 - Johnny Cash Plays Folsom Prison
January 12 - The Cost of Wartime Industrial Peace
January 11 - Battle of the Running Bulls
January 10 - The Rise of Settlement Houses
January 9 - Courts Stand Against Workers
January 8 - Oil Workers Walk Out Across the Country
January 7 - Tragic Youngstown Massacre
January 6 - Remembering Ida Tarbell
January 5 - Ohio First to Enact Black Laws
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