Work, Rest, and What You Will

We at Basecamp love to preach the virtues of the 8-hour work day, but where did it come from? (Hint: Not from Henry Ford!) Labor historian Emily Twarog explains the origins of the 8-hour work day and why it was so short-lived in the U.S.Show Notes"This CEO thinks it's crazy to work more than 40 hours a week" (CNN) - 00:34"Extreme Capitalism with Jason Calacanis," the episode that credits Henry Ford with the 8-hour work day - 1:04"Did the 8-hour day and the 40-hour week come from Henry Ford, or labor unions?" (Politifact) - 1:06Emily Twarog | Twitter - 1:10"The Mill Girls of Lowell" (National Park Service) - 1:54The Lowell Offering - 3:04"Fire of 1871" (Encyclopedia of Chicago) - 3:51A history of McCormick's reaper works factory - 4:59An overview of the Haymarket Riot - 5:24A history of the Bread and Roses Strike of 1912 - 5:54The U.S. Department of Labor's history of the Fair Labor Standards Act - 11:02The National Labor Relations Board's FAQs on the National Labor Relations Act - 11:06Fight for $15 - 29:17"She was Instacart's biggest cheerleader. Now she's leading a worker revolt" (Washington Post) - 29:29Emily Twarog's book, Politics of the Pantry: Housewives, Food, and Consumer Protest in Twentieth-Century America - 31:25Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor by Steven Greenhouse - 31:36On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane by Emily Guendelsberger - 31:45