Eight-hour day movement
The eight-hour day movement was a social movement that appeared in various countries to regulate the length of a working day. The goal was preventing excesses and abuses of working time.
The modern movement originated in the Industrial Revolution in Britain, where industrial production in large factories transformed working life. At that time, the working day could range from 10 to 16 hours, the work week was typically six days, and child labour was common. Since the 19th century, the eight-hour workday has been gradually adopted in various countries and industries, with widespread adoption occurring in the first half of the 20th century.
History
Sixteenth century
In 1573, Philip II of Spain established an eight-hour work day for the construction workers in the American Viceroyalties by a royal edict known as Ordenanzas de Felipe II, or Ordinances of Philip II. This established:An exception was applied to mine workers, whose work day was limited to seven hours. These working conditions were also applied to natives in the Spanish America, who also kept their own legislation organised in "Indian republics" where they elected their own mayors.
Industrial Revolution
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 via the Factories Act 1847. French workers won the twelve-hour day after the February Revolution of 1848.A shorter working day and improved working conditions were part of the general protests and agitation for Chartist reforms and the early organisation of trade unions. There were initial successes in achieving an eight-hour day in New Zealand and by the Australian labour movement for skilled workers in the 1840s and 1850s, though most employed people had to wait to the early and mid twentieth century for the condition to be widely achieved through the industrialised world through legislative action.
The International Workingmen's Association took up the demand for an eight-hour day at its Congress in Geneva in 1866, declaring "The legal limitation of the working day is a preliminary condition without which all further attempts at improvements and emancipation of the working class must prove abortive", and "The Congress proposes eight hours as the legal limit of the working day." Karl Marx saw it as of vital importance to the workers' health, writing in Das Kapital : "By extending the working day, therefore, capitalist production...not only produces a deterioration of human labour power by robbing it of its normal moral and physical conditions of development and activity, but also produces the premature exhaustion and death of this labour power itself."
Red triangle badge
The red triangle has been a left-wing political symbol since the 19th century.On Labor Day in 1890 in France workers wore a red triangle as a symbol of the eight-hour working day they were fighting for, with the three points representing 8 hours of work, 8 hours of rest, and 8 hours of leisure.
It is still used with this meaning in some parts of Europe, in conjunction with Labour Day celebrations on 8 May.
In July 1889 in Paris, at the meeting of the Second International, the workers' association bringing together European socialist and workers' parties, decided that the following year, workers would demonstrate on May 1 to demand the eight-hour day. The red leather triangle was adopted on 1 May 1890 in Paris during the workers' struggles so that the demonstrator could distinguish himself from the man in the street. The badge symbolizes workers' demand for a maximum eight-hour work day, which reserved 8 hours of sleep and 8 hours of leisure. The inscription "1 May, 8 hours of work" was sewn onto the triangle for the demonstration.
Following the immense success of the mobilization of the 1 May 1890 – in Belgium, 150,000 workers went on strike – it was decided shortly afterward to make this date a worldwide day of action, this is the creation of the International Workers' Day. The eight-hour day was obtained in 1919 in France and in 1921 in Belgium.
World War I and Labour Reforms
Prior to World War I, efforts to reduce working hours, particularly to establish an 8-hour workday, progressed slowly and unevenly across various nations. With the onset of the war in 1914, belligerent countries suspended restrictions on working hours in industries critical to the war effort, prioritizing production over labour standards. However, the intense demand for munitions revealed that extending working hours did not yield proportional increases in output. Conversely, shorter working hours were found to enhance worker efficiency stemming from the improved health of the worker and his increased production capacity for invested efforts.In 1915 Uruguay became a pioneer in labour legislation by adopting the 8-hour workday, formalised by Ley N° 5.350
Another consequence of the World War I, the Russian Revolution of 1917, significantly influenced global labour policies. The Bolsheviks’ radical rhetoric and labour reforms, including the 8-hour workday, inspired socialist and communist movements worldwide. In 1918–1919, revolutions erupted in Germany, Hungary, and Finland, while strikes and labour unrest surged in Britain, France, and the United States. Western leaders, employers, and trade unionists feared that without addressing workers’ grievances, a "global proletarian revolution" could destabilise capitalist democracies.
Thus, better understanding of labour efficiency, fear of revolutionary movements and liberal aspirations of the nations drove efforts to improve working conditions. International cooperation in this direction resulted in the Versailles Treaty’s labour provisions, signed in 1919, which included creation of the International Labour Office, later renamed to the International Labour Organization.
The eight-hour day was the first topic discussed by the International Labour Organization which resulted in the Hours of Work Convention, 1919 ratified by 52 countries as of 2016. The eight-hour day movement forms part of the early history for the celebration of May Day, and Labour Day in some countries.
Asia
India
was among the first Indian companies to provide various labour welfare benefits, such as eight-hour workdays since 1912, free medical care since 1915, school facilities for the children of employees since 1917, paid time off since 1920, formation of a provident fund and accident compensation in 1920, vocational training since 1921, maternity benefits since 1928, profit sharing bonuses since 1934, and retiring gratuity since 1937.Iran
In Iran in 1918, the work of reorganizing the trade unions began in earnest in Tehran during the closure of the Iranian constitutional parliament Majles. The printers' union, established in 1906 by Mohammad Parvaneh as the first trade union, in the Koucheki print shop on Nasserieh Avenue in Tehran, reorganised their union under leadership of Russian-educated Seyed Mohammad Dehgan, a newspaper editor and an avowed Communist. In 1918, the newly organised union staged a 14-day strike and succeeded in reaching a collective agreement with employers to institute the eight-hours day, overtime pay, and medical care. The success of the printers' union encouraged other trades to organise. In 1919 the bakers and textile-shop clerks formed their own trade unions.However the eight-hour day only became code by a limited governor's decree on 1923 by the governor of Kerman, Sistan, and Balochistan, which controlled the working conditions and working hours for workers of carpet workshops in the province. In 1946, the council of ministers issued the first labour law for Iran, which recognised the eight-hour day.
Israel
's The Jewish State proposed a 7-hour day for the Jewish Company that would implement the initial stages of the Jewish homeland.Japan
The first company to introduce an eight-hour working day in Japan was the Kawasaki Dockyards in Kobe. An eight-hour day was one of the demands presented by the workers during pay negotiations in September 1919. After the company resisted the demands, a slowdown campaign was commenced by the workers on 18 September. After ten days of industrial action, company president Kōjirō Matsukata agreed to the eight-hour day and wage increases on 27 September, which became effective from October. The effects of the action were felt nationwide and inspired further industrial action at the Kawasaki and Mitsubishi shipyards in 1921.The eight-hour day did not become law in Japan until the passing of the Labour Standards Act in April 1947. Article 32 of the Act specifies a 40-hour week and paragraph specifies an eight-hour day, excluding rest periods.
Indonesia
In Indonesia, the first policy regarding working time regulated in Law No. 13 of 2003 about employment. In the law, it stated that a worker should work for seven hours a day for six days a week or eight hours a day for five days a week, excluding rest periods.China
In China, the first company to introduce the eight-hour working day was the Baocheng Cotton Mill in the port city of Tianjin. Its manager Wu Jingyi announced on 16 February 1930 through Ta Kung Pao that his factory is starting the new 8-hour work schedule immediately. The workers were elated. The union representative Liu Dongjiang stated "Under the spirit of cooperation, labourers and factory owners work together to advance the business, and in turn to contribute to our nation's development." A celebration was held on the same day in the courtyard of the factory.The new schedule was called "3–8 schedule". The first shift worked 6 am – 2 pm; the 2nd shift 2 pm – 10 pm; the 3rd shift 10 pm – 6 am. Manager Wu Jingyi reasoned: "All of the factories now have a 12-hour work schedule. Workers are all exhausted and do not have time to take care of their families. In case of workers getting sick, the business also suffers. Therefore we decided to start trying the eight-hour working day".
The Beiyang government in Beijing had issued a decree "Provisional Regulations for factories" as early as in 1923, stating "Child-labourers shall not work more than 8 hours per day and shall have 3 days of rest per week; while adult labourers shall not work more than 10 hours per day and shall have 2 days of rest per week." After the successful Northern Expedition, the new Nanking government established the Bureau of Labour in 1928, followed by issuing the "Factory Law" in 1929 to set legal framework for the eight-hour working day. Yet, no business actually implemented this until 1930 by Baocheng Cotton Mill.