Workers

History -  Five days of work and two days of play is how most Americans structure their lives. But the 40-hour, 5-day work week wasn’t enshrined until the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938. That law was the culmination of more than a century of American workers fighting for shorter hours, better wages and safer working conditions. “At the turn of the 20th century, it was not uncommon for most Americans to work 60 or more hours a week,” says Joseph McCartin, a labor historian at Georgetown University.

In 1898, Massachusetts published a “labor bulletin” tracking the wages and hours of domestic workers in the commonwealth. Domestic cooks at the time worked between 78 and 83 hours a week for about 9 cents an hour. They got Sundays off and sometimes a half day on Saturdays. Some factory workers in Massachusetts were slightly better off; according to state law, women and children could only work a maximum of 58 hours a week in textile mills. MORE 

Metafilter -  While labor’s net assets have risen 225% since 2010, membership has declined by 1.8 million workers. According to the latest Gallup poll, approval of unions is at the highest level since the 1960s, yet only one-tenth of one percent of workers in the private sector got the chance to vote for a union. 

NPR -Thousands of hotel workers walked off their jobs in 25 cities across the U.S. to press for higher wages and increased staffing after contract negotiations with major chains Hyatt, Hilton and Marriott stalled. The strike, which started Sunday, is expected to last two to three days, organizers said. Unite Here, a union representing hospitality workers, says many hotels never restored cuts they made to staffing and guest services during the COVID-19 pandemic.