During the Industrial Revolution , many companies are trying to maximize production from their factories to keep the factories working hours as much as possible every day. Usually they will implement the working hours from sunrise to sunset. Wages paid is also very low, so that the workers themselves often take their children to work in factories as workers rather than send them to school. With a little representation, education, or a choice, factory workers also tend to work in poor working conditions. Working hours during this time usually takes between 10-18 hours per day, six days a week.
But, this all began to change in the 19th century. The man who first suggested working hours during an 8-hour day was an Englishman named Robert Owen, who is also one of the founders of socialism understood. Owen felt that the time of day should be divided into three, where workers should get the same time comparisons for themselves and bed rest as they do for work. In 1817, he began a campaign slogan with the phrase, "Eight hours labor, eight hours recreation, eight hours rest." Unfortunately, this is not a serious reaction for some time, until the 19th century in which a series of demonstrations of the workers who passed to the improvement of working conditions and the reduction of working hours for factory workers. So finally, it was determined that women and children were allowed to work for 10 hours a day.
Proposed hours of work 8 hours a day appears once again in the UK in 1884 were triggered by Tom Mann, who is a member of the Social Democratic Federation. Mann then form the "Eight Hour League", one of which aims to hours of work 8 hours a day specified. Their biggest victory came when they managed to convince the Trades Union Congress, which represents the majority of the trade unions in the UK to set hours of work 8 hours a day which applies even to this day.
The urge to cut working hours began earlier in the United States, in 1791, where workers in Philadelphia urge to work hours, 10 hours a day including 2 hours of time to eat. In the 1830s, support for the hours of work 8 hours a day said among the majority of the working class in the United States, but still failed to find support among business owners.
Momentum then obtained when some of the "Eight Hour League" was formed in the United States, such as the Mann founded in England at the same time. In 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions stated that on May 1, 1886 will be the first day in which the hours of work 8 hours a day is required. But this is ignored by the owners of the company that led the workers strike and protest. So when May 1, 1886 arrived, about 350,000 workers on strike from their jobs to protest work hours, 8 hours a day.
In 1905 the owners of the industry finally started implementing business hours 8 hours a day on their own initiative. One of the first companies to implement this is the Ford Motor Company, in 1914, not only that they also doubled the salaries of their workers.Surprisingly, this would lead to significantly improved productivity Ford and Ford profit margin doubled in the two years after implementing this change. This then encourages other companies to take similar steps.
