40 Hour Work Week

In the initial October 20th article there was a proposal for the nation’s industry to

go to a 40 hour work week. The method of attaining the laws goal of a universal 40 hour

work week was initial to make a proposal to the American Federation of Labor. The

industrial revolution introduced yet new complexities. Sunrise to sunset was too long to

expect people to work indoors at tasks that were now totally disconnected from personal

survival. Factory workers became unhappy and began to push for shorter hours. First they

asked for a limit of 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. During the 1800s, they asked for 10

hours, 6 days a week. Labor Day was introduced in 1882, when most Americans were

still working 60 hours a week and only dreaming of a 48-hour week, which didn't become

the normal until World War I. It wasn't until 1938 that the Fair Labor Standards Act

started the final countdown: 44 hours in 1938, 42 hours in 1939, and 40 hours in 1940. So

the 8-hour, 5-day, 40-hour work week has only been with us since the year 1940.

In this article the standard work week, 40 hours, is soon to go into effect. The

wages and hours law puts into effect over time hourly rates and a minimal wage of 30

cents. This law has affected the whole country and immediately changed the lives of over

2.7 million people. However some wage earners were exempt from the over time law. It

did not affect the railroad workers, truck and bus employees, and retail salesman. In New

York and Pennsylvania both had more than 1 million working more then 40 hours week.

This greatly affected the income of these states. The amount of money these states

contributed to the federal government in taxes increased by more than 25 percent.

In the October 23rd article, the administrator of the wages and hours division,

Calum Fleming discussed the reasons for the longer work week. He says that the longer

work week was triggered by a desire to cut labor costs rather then increase production,

The wages and hour law affected well over the 12 million people unemployed at the

time in the country. The American Federation of Labor organization recommended that

the United States government adapt the forty hour week as a means of easing the post

war adjustment, This intern will help the unemployment rate drop throughout the United

States. This will the help the economy recover from the post war lost .

The November article states that few earners are said to be receiving enough for

their health and efficient living. In this article the American Federation of Labor urges

retention of the 40 hour work week and increase of wages for the defense program. The

Federation believes that labor should be mainly put towards the emergency program.

Alfred Sloan Jr, chairman of General Motors, urged a six day work week, rather than a 5

day work week, to increase production and speed up the defense effort. He also state that

raised wages should not be put into effect until cost of living increases, to avoid inflation.

The article also discusses that labor saving machinery and high speed work, only possible

under the shortened work week, have increased production since 1910.

The