National Labor Union Requested an Eight-Hour Workday

	重建時期 (1866-1877)

Occupational portrait of three railroad workers standing on crank handcar, between 1850 and 1860

集結提出一天工作八小時的要求並參與乾草市騷亂的勞工是如相片中的典型鐵路工人

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"Steel-Driving Song" sung by a worker on the railroad recorded during the Depression Era

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Credits

全國勞工聯盟 (National Labor Union) 於1866年8月20日要求一天只工作八小時

乾草市暴亂的結果使得一天八小時的工作時數變得太過於激進。因此，民眾對於勞工運動、組織的支持開始下滑。正當勞工武士逐漸沒落時，「美國勞工聯盟」 (American Federation of Labor) 開始茁壯。這個組織的焦點在於保護個別工會的獨立運作與基本權利。

不過在1933年之前，一天工作八小時的要求並沒有得到很大的進展。再那一年，國會通過了「全國工業復興法案」 (National Industrial Recovery Act) ，這是法蘭克林‧迪拉諾‧羅斯福 (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) 總統為了因應「經濟大蕭條」 (Great Depression) 所採行的一項緊急措施。這個法案規定工人必須工作最高時數，但領取最微薄的薪水，以及擁有集體談判的權力 (讓工會能代表成員跟僱主談判的權力) 。這項復興法案很快救被「華格那法案」 (Wagner Act) 所取代，後者確保勞工有組織工會的權力。到了1950年代，大多數的工人都已經能夠一天只工作八小時。你認識任何工會成員嗎？

The result of the Haymarket Riot was that the eight-hour-workday movement came to be seen as "radical." Therefore, popular support for organized labor decreased. As the Knights of Labor declined, the American Federation of Labor rose. The Federation focused on protecting the independence and established privileges of individual unions.

Little progress was made in establishing an eight-hour workday until 1933. During this year, Congress passed the National Industrial Recovery Act, an emergency measure taken by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in response to the Great Depression. The Act provided for the establishment of maximum hours, minimum wages, and the right to collective bargaining (allowing unions to represent their members in negotiations with an employer). The Recovery Act was soon replaced by the Wagner Act, which assured workers the right to form unions. It was not until the 1950s that most workers gained the eight-hour workday. Do you know anyone who belongs to a union?

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CREDIT: "Occupational Portrait of Three Railroad Workers Standing on Crank Handcar." Between 1850 and 1860. America's First Look into the Camera: Daguerreotype Portraits and Views, 1842-1862, American Memory collections, Library of Congress.
AUDIO CREDIT: Truvillion, Henry, performer. "Steel-Driving Song." May 16, 1939. Southern Mosaic: The John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip, American Memory collections, Library of Congress.