Accounting jobs in Myanmar – like plenty of other jobs – follows a standard 8 working hours. This means that, in a week, an employee works for forty hours. However, do you ever wonder why you have to spend eight hours at work every day?
The Start: 10 to 16 Hours a Day
The eight hour day started in the Industrial Revolution in Britain. From the mid-1700s to the mid-1800s, Britain transitioned from producing products by hand to utilizing machines, chemical, and iron manufacturing production processes. This included the use of water wheels, steam power, and machine tools, which all led to the rise of the factory system. During this time, child labor was common, and the working day ranged from 10 to 16 hours. In addition, instead of five working days, employees work for six days a week.
In the midst of all this, Robert Owen – a social reformer from Wales – founded utopian socialism together with Henri de Saint-Simon and Charles Fourier. Utopian socialism was the term used to call the first waves of socialist thoughts that we have today, providing visions of the ideal society.
It was Owen who first fought for a 10 hour work day back in 1810. He even implemented it in his socialist enterprise situated in New Lanark! Seven years later in 1817, he reduced the work hours once again, this time from 10 hours to eight. In fact, Owen was known for coining the slogan: “Eight hours’ labor, Eight hours’ recreation, Eight hours’ rest.”
Implementation of Eight Hour Work Day
Despite Owen’s efforts, it wasn’t until 1847 when the 10 hour work day was granted for women and children in England. Meanwhile, the French only got their 12 hour work day after the February Revolution in 1848. As Chartist reforms started to grow and trade unions started to form, the working class also started protesting for improved working conditions aside from shortening the daily working hours.
This does not mean that Owen’s endeavors were useless. Although adult employees still have to work 10 hours a day, the working hours for some children was greatly reduced. Due to the Factory Act of 1833, children aged nine to 13 only have to work for eight hours. On the other hand, children who are 14 to 18 year old still have to work for 12 hours a day. Meanwhile, children below nine years old were required to attend school instead of working.
Karl Marx, a revolutionary socialist, saw that a shorter work day was important to the worker’s health. He believed that if the work days were not minimized, it was going to exhaust the labor power of a company as the workers’ morale and physical conditions will deteriorate.
In August 1866, the International Workingmen’s Association held a convention in Geneva where they voiced their demand for an eight-hour workday. They campaigned that although long workdays were attempts at improvements, they only proved to be emaciating, which is why they propose a legal limit of eight hour work days.
New Zealand and Australia were successful in implementing the eight-hour work day through the mid-1800s. In spite of this, it was not until the early and mid-twentieth century that the legally limited work day was widely achieved. In France’s case, it was due to the 1936 Matignon agreements that 40 hour work week was enacted.
The fight for the eight hour work day, or the forty hour work week, was long and difficult. Throughout this long-drawn-out battle, plenty of people suffered from extended working hours in less than acceptable conditions. With a little history lesson, we can look back and appreciate what our forefathers have done for us.