Limited Working Hours
During the Progressive Era, skilled workers were working eight to ten hours while other workers, like miners, worked twelve hour shifts. The working conditions were unsanitary and often dangerous. Workers began to protest the long working hours but lacked means to sustain organized resistance. As power shifted to managers, there was less need for skilled workers and cheap labor became more common. Workers also did not want to compete with women for jobs. Unions formed and caused class conflict, and in 1866 the National Labor Union was formed. In 1877, a national railroad strike caused labor turmoil all over the country, and in 1886, there was a massive strike for an eight hour work day. Despite employers being anti-union and the violent actions that took place to stop strikes, in 1868, the National Labor Union was successful in persuading Congress into legalizing an eight hour work day for government workers.