Why Do We Work Eight Hours a Day?

Unions helped in this area, but what unions don't advertise is that company's like Ford also wanted to go with a 40 hours' work week.

Ford had done studies that confirmed that more than 40 hours your really did not gain any more output or efficiency.

I just read this about a week or 2 ago. I'll see if I can find it.

Here's an article that references the 40 hour work week with Henry Ford:

"By 1914, emboldened by a dozen years of in-house research, Henry Ford famously took the radical step of doubling his workers' pay, and cut shifts in Ford plants from nine hours to eight. The National Association of Manufacturers criticized him bitterly for this - though many of his competitors climbed on board in the next few years when they saw how Ford's business boomed as a result. In 1937, the 40-hour week was enshrined nationwide as part of the New Deal."

no, thats not it!

thanks

Yes, sort of true.

He was unable to hire sufficient tradesmen, few wanted to work as "cogs in a machine" doing identical work day in and day out, they saw themselves as skilled artisans.

Ford was forced to pay more to recruit more. The free market in action.

I didn't have a reference.

30+ years ago, in one of my quality classes, a metalurgist was giving a lecture.

He mentioned was that Ford would intentional pay one work slightly more/hour down stream. which made the workers up stream upset, and they would try to overwhelm the work down stream.

Which would fall into what you just stated.

I do not know what the truth in that. I only heard it in a lecture. I myself would think, if it was union, how it could happen, and if it did and where the union they would never think of race themselves, but pace themselves.

24 Hr. in a day divided by 3 shifts equals 8 Hr. per shift. Don't stop the machines, keep the line moving, don't exaust the workers to the point of incopatance. The Roman Army undestod this consept of deviding time in to 3 shifts per day. If you read the account, presented in the Bible of garding the grave of Christ, it documents the 3, 8Hr. shifts.

8-hours day is a part of time and labor management and is related more to economics that anything else. According to the Chinese a day of 24 hours is divided into periods of 2 hours each while according to Muslims a 24 hr day has 8 periods of 3 hours each. Thus in an 8 hr work day the chinese have to work for 4 periods, the Muslims for 2-1/2 periods. Zodiac has one hour period thus working time is 8 periods. Schools usually remain open for 5 to 6 hours. There is no true criteria for fixing an 8 hour working day yet it seems to be a 'capitalistic convenience' ..If you include the pick and drop time the working hour often goes upto 9 to 10 hours in many places. This is ridiculous. ...as you don't get paid for the extra time spent by one in going to and getting back from his work place. This all shows that an 8 hr working day is a product of Industrialization....where people often have to travel distances to attend to their work but paid for lesser hours actually spent.

Economics is correct, look at the Europeans such as the French who has a 35 hour work week.

http://www.google.com/search?q=how+long+is+a+work+week+in+france&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari

And compared to the Uniter States makes us look like workaholics.

http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500164_162-704571.html

I myself enjoy working, but I just no longer have the stamina like I used to. 40-42 hours/week with an occasional 55 is just fine with me now. Or maybe I just dumbied up