The history of the 40 hr work week/ 8 hour day

Introduction

Workers have been fighting for an eight hour workday since the beginning of the industrial revolution. During this period, most workers were forced to work for up to 16 hours in a day for six days in a week. This was not to the satisfaction of many laborers who believed that that this stand was not only exhausting but also unfair and degrading to the workers who had to endure this much to earn a living. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, the whole of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century, there was a global outcry for the need to reduce the working hours of workers all over the world. America was not spared from this global outcry.

The American labor history

Strikes by workers demanding for eight hour work days were first experienced in the United States in the state of Philadelphia in 1791. The carpenters in this state went on strike demanding for ten hour days. By 1830, this demand had become general with more workers from other fields demanding for ten working hours in a day. Later, labor movements started calling for eight hour work days. This increase in demand eventually bore its first fruit in 1842 when ship carpenters in Boston were granted an eight hour working day despite the fact that they had no union.

By 1860, eight hour working days were the central demands by labor unions all over the United States. Between 1866 and 1880, Labor unions in different states in the U.S passed resolutions demanding for congress to come up with a legislation that would legalize eight hours to be the normal working hours in the United States. In the year 1884, the American federation of organized trades and labor unions passed a resolution that stated that eight hours would constitute a legal day’s labor[1]. Although this was a strong push by the labor organization aimed at the government, it failed miserably in congress and was therefore thrown out.

During this period there had also been other groups and organizations that had been formed to try and champion for the eight hour day cause. For example, in 1969, an organization led by Terence V. Powderly referred to as the Knights of Labor was formed to champion for the eight hour day cause and institute it. The movement believed in the promotion of social and cultural uplifting of the working man by rejecting socialism and radicalism. In some cases this movement acted as a labor union and negotiated with employers on behalf of their workers. At its peak, this movement had 100,000 members. The movement successfully organized boycotts and strikes[2] to show their stand on the matter. However, this movement failed to convince the authorities to institute their demands and by the 1800s it was on the decline. Despite all this the movement was responsible for the 1886 Chicago parade in support for the eight hour day which had 80,000 people. In later days to come after the parade, the parade became nationwide with people from Chicago, New York and Cincinnati joining in the parade. This resulted in some workers getting shorter hours with no payment reduction while others accepted the reduced hours with pay cuts.

On 3^rd may, 1886, a tragic event occurred that may have had the potential of changing the federal governments stand on the eight hour day policy. An editor of a local workers newspaper[3] had just spoken a group of about 6,000 people and had later led them to down the streets of Chicago to harass a group of crowd-breakers at a factory plant. The police were involved, opened fire, and as a result, four people died and scores of others were injured. Subsequently, at a rally in Haymarket square, held the following day by labor activists to protest, the violence used by the police the previous day, a bomb went off, leading to the arrest, trial and conviction of many labor organization leaders. Though these leaders were executed, this did not stop the labor organizations from operating and further demanding for the eight hour day, if anything he executed leaders were perceived as martyrs to the cause (Hunnicutt 58).

In December of 1888, the American federation of workers met and set may 1, 1890, as the date that American workers were to start working for eight hours in a day. This stand was later endorsed in 1889, by the international workingmen’s association[4] that decided that the date would suit for international demonstrations. In the same year the united mine workers won an eight hour day.

In 1990, the Building Trades Council of San Francisco also won a land mark case for the eight hour day as well as earning $3 for the work of that day. When the employers resisted and responded by locking out employees, the trade council established a planing mill in which the employers were to obtain supplies or face boycotts and/or sympathy strikes from their employees. When the mill owners went for arbitration, the union won the eight hour day along with other changes that benefited mill workers.

The Ford Motor Company also took a radical step in 1914, when not only did they double the daily salary to $5, but also reduced the daily work shifts from nine to eight hours. This decision was not popular with most rival companies, however, they soon followed suit when they realized that fords profit margin had shot up of the implementation of the eight hour day plan.

By the summer of the year 1915, when their was increased demand for labor in world war one, there were a series of strikes[5] all over the united states to demand for the eight hour work day.

In 1916, the first law[6] was created, that upheld the eight hour day rule, in the U.S., the law that also required additional pay for over overtime strictly applied to railway workers. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of this act[7] of congress in 1917.

Through out the early 1990s, proposals kept on reaching the federal level that would limit the amount of hours an individual could work in a week. Finally, in the year 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed by congress. As it was being enacted, the act applied to all industries whose employment when put together symbolized just about 20% of all the United States work force. The act set a maximum workweek of 40 hours, a minimum wage and overtime bonus salaries.

The positive and negative effects of shift lengths

Work performance and Safety

Longer shifts are a great advantage to employers and the economy as well since the input of the employees in a day is great. However, Studies show that human errors start occurring more and more with the increase in the number of hours an individual is forced to work in. research preformed on different professions in the United States indicate that work related accidents and errors usually increase in the afternoon and are at an all-time high in the night shift. As individuals keep on working in a day fatigue kicks in. this leaves the employees vulnerable to performing errors at the work place (Facer 168). However, there have also been studies that indicate that the impact of work lengths on the work performance is only attitudinal and that in some cases, a decrease in the work length actually led to decrease in work effort by the employees[8]. Despite this fact, generally it has been established that increase in working hours of an employee led to the increase in work related errors[9] and therefore a decrease in efficient work performance[10].

Studies in the transport sector[11] indicate that most driving accidents that occurred due to fatigue related factors (White 112). It was also found that there were high accident risks for truck drivers who drove for more than eleven hours. This position was found in other professions that warranted precise care such as in nursing.

Health

Research has indicated that there is a correlation between loner working hours and physiological and psychological symptoms in workers. Researchers have found that there are greater health risks on employees including mental health for employees who work for longer hours than 48 in a week. There have been conclusive studies that have also linked other physical illnesses with long working hours[12]. However these results are not conclusive in all professions[13]. Anger frustrations and fear anxieties have also been noted with employees who work in longer shifts than the normal 8 hour shift (Knauth 130). Though there is inconclusive evidence, health concerns such as cardiovascular, gastrointestinal disorders and in extreme cases reproduction problems have been linked to longer work shifts.

Sleep/Fatigue

There is a general published agreement that there is a distinct correlation between long work hours and sleep. Studies conclude that people who work for longer hours either tend to suffer from loss of sleep which ultimately leads to fatigue which may then lead to sleeping at work. Sleep and fatigue often result in other factors that end up also affecting the employee such as disruption in the normal family and social life of the employee (Knauth 127). Fatigue at the place of work is often associated with among other side effects at the workplace decline in alertness, slow response and poor decision making. Even thought fatigue cannot measure and is only observed at a personal level, studies have shown that employees who work under eight hour day policies often end up having sufficient sleep and are less fatigued than their other counterparts.

Quality of life  

It has been argued that work hour arrangements can be used to enhance the general qualities of employees’ lives. Studies have indicated that individuals on the 8 hour day shifts record improvements in their general lives. This includes more time to spend with their lives and for leisure and relaxation, social life and domestic duties (Sparks 402). These employees are able to efficiently balance between their work-life-family conflicts. The quality of life is also improved health wise with these employees suffering less from health complications than their other counterparts. It is also indicated that the employees on longer work shifts suffer from decreased job satisfaction as well as a negative impact on their social lives[14].

Overtime

There is inconclusive research with regards to longer working hours being regarded as overtime and the impact they have on workers as opposed to those that work for longer shifts. However, it has been found that the employees on shorter shifts are more willing to do overtime than their counterparts on the longer shifts (Spurgeon 64). The decision on whether an employee should work for overtime should be based solely on the employee and not by coercion by their employer. Overtime should therefore be distinguished from the normal working day hours.

 

Working Families Flexibility Act of 2013

The Working Families Flexibility Act of 2013 is an act recently introduced into congress by the Republican Party. The act, much like the a similar one that had been introduced 16 years ago, seeks to increase overtime working hours and reduce pay for those employees who do not want such conditions. This act seems to have favored the employees rather than the employees and seeks to undermine the 40 hour work week that employees and trade unions worked so hard to establish (Roby 1). With this act, workers will no longer have the time to spend on their own leisure as well as time to spend with their families and their social pursuits. Due to the flexibility of this bill, workers would have to work unpaid overtime hours that are beyond the standard 40 hours work week to be able to accrue as many as 160 hours of compensatory time.

This would in essence mean that any low paid workers who accrued the comp time of say the 160 hours because of an overtime pay would in effect owe their employer a small loan. This goes against all labor laws both local and international. This incentive would give employers a strong reason to increase the employees’ overtime working hours[15].

It should still be noted that the American economy is still undergoing a slow recovery. This means that the labor market is still very fragile with many Americans still in the unemployment bracket. The bill however acts a detriment to the fight against unemployment, for instead of encouraging employers to continue hiring more people so that the business may do well, they will be more encouraged to increase overtime for the employees that they currently have.

Generally, the workers decision on whether to receive comp time instead of overtime payment is usually at the workers discretion. The bill is also clear on the fact that the employers are not supposed to use any form of coercion to intimidate the employees into accepting comp time instead of wages. However, these are tough economic times and there are still so many unemployed individuals who would do anything to gain employment status. With this trump card, the employers still hold the upper hand over employees whose loyalty may be questioned if they refused to comply with the demands of their employers. It should also be noted that not all jobs in the United States are under workers unions who would fight for their right.

The bill also has a weakness in that it allows the employer the right to determine whether they can the employees request for comp time is accepted of not. This may be bad for the employee if the employer decides to reject the request on the basis of the fact that granting the request would disrupt the company’s schedule. This gives the employer undue leverage over the employee which should not be the case.

With that said, there are better legislations that congress would pass that would help the workers more so the hourly paid worker. Such bills include the Healthy Families Act and ‘the small necessities bill’[16].

Conclusion

The American workers quest for 40 hours a week/ 8 hours day work has been a long road that has been marred with challenges that were later overcome with the help of strong labor unions and movements that fought for the right of the employee. The passing of the fair Labor Standards Act came as a relief to all employees whose working conditions were then legally protected employees from excessive exploitation from their employers. Over the years since its passing, American employees have been able to exercise their rights as American citizen in a dignified manner while earning a living. Introduction of legislation that would negate the long struggle for the better work place conditions for workers all over America.

 

 

 

 

Work Cited

Facer, R.L., & Wadsworth, L. Alternative work schedules and work-family balance: A

Hunnicutt, Benjamin. Free Time: The Forgotten American Dream. Temple University Press, 2013.

Knauth, P. Extended work periods. Industrial Health, 45(1), 125-136, 2007.

research note. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 28(2), 166-177, 2008.

Roby, Martha. "HR 1406-Working Families Flexibility Act of 2013-Cosponsors." (2013).

Sparks, K., Cooper, C., Fried, Y., & Shirom, A. The effects of hours of work on health: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Occupational & Organizational Psychology, 70, 391-408, 1997.

Spurgeon, A. Working time: Its impact on safety and health. Korea Occupational Safety & Health Agency: International Labour Office and Occupational Safety & Health Research Institute, 2003.

Van, Horn C. E. Work in America: : an Encyclopedia of History, Policy, and Society. Santa Barbara, Calif. [u.a.: ABC-Clio, 2003. Print.

White, J., & Beswick, J.. Working long hours. Sheffield: Health and Safety Laboratory, 2003.

Dray, Philip. There Is Power in a Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America. New York: Doubleday, 2010. Print.

Murolo, Priscilla, and A B. Chitty. From the Folks Who Brought You the Weekend: A Short, Illustrated History of Labor in the United States. New York: New Press, 2001. Print.

    

 

[1] This was to come into effect after May 1, 1886 and was to be adopted through out the United States jurisdiction.

[2] With their most successful being the 1884, Union Pacific Railroad strike.

[3] August Spies, was the then editor of the Arbeiter-Zeitung

[4] At a meeting held in Paris, France.

[5] Started in Bridgeport, Connecticut and continued spreading.

[6] This was the first Federal Law of its kind that regulated workers in private companies

[7] Wilson v. New, 243 U.S. 332 (1917)

[8] This was proved by a study conducted on nurses who worked on a 12 hour shift who reported that they [provided better patient care as compared to the 8 hour shift. However, this is still subject to contention.

[9] A report preformed by Falkland and Tucker in 2003 indicated that there was a great number of industrial accidents and injuries that occurred with the increase of working hours from 8 to 12 hours.

[10] It has been established that there is lower cognitive performance in employees who work in longer shifts than those who work in 8 hour shifts.

[11] This is an analysis carried out by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on air carriers between 1978-1990.

[12] Research carried out on truck drivers indicated that those who drove for longer hours in a day experienced lower back pains.

[13] Such as nursing where the results were inconclusive.

[14] This is according to a research carried out on nurses who worked on the 12 hour work shift.

[15] This would mean that Instead of having to pay time-and-a-half wages when an hourly-paid employee works longer than the standard 40-hour work week, the employer incurs no financial cost at the time the extra hours are worked

 

[16] Which would let workers accrue a few paid sick days each year so they can stay home for a day or two or on family medical emergencies and provide workers with up to 24 hours a year unpaid to attend parent-teacher conferences or meet other urgent family needs respectively.