In the

Beginning

We want to see the sunshine

We want to smell the flowers

We want the time for what we will

We mean to have eight hours

In 1869 a newspaper on the east coast printed a very influential article on the eight hour day. At this time many immigrants were working ten to fourteen hours a day, (In some cases sixteen hours) six days a week for little pay. They were tired, hungry, and poor. The article gave them some encouragement and soon secret societies were started to work for the eight hour day and workers rights (there were no labor laws, if a person got sick, hospitalized or just missed work they were immediately fired with no compensation. Conditions were extremely hazardous (No health or safety codes were in force) with no compensation if someone got hurt, no insurance or unemployment compensation. They was no such thing as the forty hour work week or overtime)

The movement became known as the eight hour movement with songs, various strikes and the secret organizations running their own newspapers denouncing the current working conditions and hours. Among these groups, in Milwaukee were the Catholic Church's Knights of Labor led by Robert Shilling (The Volksblatt) and the central labor union led by Paul Grottkau (Arbeiten Zietung or voice of the worker)

In 1884, The federation of trades and organized labor called upon employers to grant the the eight work day and gave them until May 1st, 1886 to comply. After May 1st anyone who was not on the eight hour workday was to cease work until their employers agreed.

The information on these two pages actually happened between May 1st and May 5th 1886, During the May Labor strikes.

On This site

The Haymarket Monument(Another version of the event)

Comments or Labor events suggestions

Rolling Mills aka Massacre at Bay View

other interesting sites

Historyclub

Comfind search engine

The Militant newsletter

Stec's labour links (history)

The Solidarity Song(labors anthem)

An electic List of events in U.S. labor history

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