10
40-Hour, 5-Day Week Requested
For Oregon State Employees
It will be surprising to many to re-,
alize how long we have been moving
to w ard 'a 40-hour, 5-day work week. .
The very fact that we have the Federal
Fair Labor Standards Act withJ its pro
vision for a 40-hour week indicates that
years of agitation and experimentation
preceded its passage. One of the chief
developments of the industrial age has
been the gradual shortening of hours
of labor.
As early as, 1845, Sarah Bagley of the
Female Reform Association, petitioned
the Massachusetts Legislature to limit
factory hours to 10 a day. The 10-hour
day was the first to be written into
State laws. Then with increasing'mech
anization and speed of production, it
was gradually supplanted by a 9-hoUr
day and by the latter part of the
nineteenth century the 8-hour day and
4 8-hour week had become the accepted
standard. This was followed by a Sat
urday half holiday——the 44 and 41-
hour week. By 1926 the 40-hour, ¿5-
day week had begun to take root, as
shown by a survey of the Bureau of
Labor Statistics and by other sources.
In October, 1926, Henry Ford created
considerable controversy by adopted the
5 -day week in his manufacturing de
partments. Said Mr. Ford in 1929, "It
has now been sufficiently demonstrated
to us that the five-day week for men
brings better results, than the six-day
week.” And the movement was on its:
way, with the blessings of Mr. Ford, the
labor unions and various industrial ex
perts. During the depression, the, 5 -day
week was established to give employ
ment to more workers or to make up
for drastic cuts in wages. Since then,
wages have traveled back up from de
pression depths but the 5 -day week has
become enough of a general standard to
be retained,
Some are still requesting justification
for the shortening of working hours—
and valid reasons are plentiful. First,
shorter hours afford the desirable and
necessary leisure time- for the pursuit
of personal development and creative
avocations. The late President Roose- %
velt in a report to Congress in 1942,
Stated that "Any new declaration of
personal rights, any translation of
freedom into modern terms . . . must
include: The. right to rest, recreation,
and adventure; the opportunity to en
joy life and to take part in an advanc
ing civilization.” H e concluded that
this right merits a place beside the right
to work, education and equality before
the law.
Second, it is stated by many effi
ciency experts that production does
not decrease with the elimination of
Saturday morning working time. Per
sons who have surveyed the situation
in industrial plants make these points.
.(F) The tendency of workers is to pro
duce less on a Saturday morning than
on a week day morning because of
fatigue, interest in personal week-end
activities and resentment at having-to
work when similar employees are free.
(2) Employees will work harder and
devise more ef ficient methods to , get
the work done in five days in order to
merit the sixth day off. (3) More effi
cient machines and methods make in
creased production possible in shorter
time. A fter i study of industrial plants,
the Bureau of Labor Statistics has con
cluded that "the 40-hour week and the
8-hour day yield the highest output.”
Third, it provides those with finan
cial burdens an opportunity to obtain
additional wages which their chosen oc
cupation may not provide in their reg
ular salary. An all day Saturday job
may bring in the additional money
which will enable a man or woman to
continue the work he or she prefers.
Fourth, shorter hours are of benefit
to health and safety. The person who
does hard physical work is often worn-
out arid unable to support himself in