In the early 19th century, Robert Owen raised the demand for a ten-hour day in 1810 and instituted it in his socialist enterprise at New Lanark.
By 1817 he had formulated the goal of the eight-hour day and coined the slogan: “Eight hours’ labour, Eight hours’ recreation, Eight hours’ rest”. Women and children in England were granted the ten-hour day in 1847. French workers won the 12-hour day after the February Revolution of 1848.
Boston ship carpenters, although not unionized, achieved an eight-hour day in 1842.
In 1864, the eight-hour day quickly became a central demand of the Chicago labor movement. The Illinois legislature passed a law in typical Illinois fashion early 1867 granting an eight-hour day but it had so many loopholes that it was largely ineffective. A citywide strike that began on 1 May 1867 shut down the city’s economy for a week before collapsing.
It took the threat and actual unions, along with an act of Congress (Adamson Act of 1916) to get the US work week down to 40 hours a week for railroad workers.
Now China has the 996 working hour system, it is a work schedule commonly practiced by some companies in the People’s Republic of China.
This system derives its name from its requirement that employees work from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm, 6 days per week, i.e., 72 hours per week.
The future may be a scary place. A forced longer work week, this along with no cursive being taught, kids will soon need to sign with a mark (X) and not a signature, if a computer is not available… after working 72 hours each week.
Are we moving backwards in time or forward?