We won the 40 hour work week. It wasn't given to us. It was hard fought, and people died for our right to have a work/life balance.

You need to read up on your history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_affair

Your calculator must be broken? The Haymarket Affair ushered in the 8 hour workday, not 40 hours per week. 8 * 6 (typically, sometimes 7) = 48.

The 40 hour work week came in 1938. This is even echoed in the link, as mentioned earlier.

40 hour work week isn't possible without the 8 hour workday, which was won by workers through blood.

Not sure why you insist on continuing to use that broken calculator. Four 10 hour days, for example, also allows a 40 hour work week. A 40 hour work week is in no way dependent on an 8 hour workday.

But it remains that 6 days per week was the norm prior to 1938, so 48 hours would be typical. We're talking about 40 hour weeks being typical. Stay on topic, my man. The 40 hour work week was not won, unless you think the Great Depression was caused by a labor uprising?

You're missing the forest for the trees.

Then the forest mustn't be relevant then. The only reason we're here is because an earlier commenter doesn't understand basic math. If they did, they'd have realized that the discussion was talking about something else entirely.

No, we're here because you didn't understand the obvious connection between the Haymarket Affair and the FLSA and how it supports the claims in the post that linked it.

The only connection is that labor groups both conceived of the 8 hour workday and the 40 hour workweek before either were recognized in law, but they only fought for the former. The latter came into force in an effort to put an end to the Great Depression.

However, if you would have taken the time to read the thread, you'd have known that I already pointed all that out in my very first comment. The forest was seen all along. The only reason that other thought it wasn't seen was due to not understanding basic math.

The industrialists tried to coup FDR. They filled the air waves and newspapers with paid opinions about how his pro-labor policy would sink the economy. And then it didn't. Not only did it not sink the economy, it led to arguably the greatest period of middle class prosperity ever seen.

I think there was another small event that occurred around the same time that confounds things a bit. An event which VERY heavily involved industrialists.

No, it wasn't just war profiteering: many countries which were on the wrong side of that equation also saw an unprecedented elevation of the middle class. That is the opposite of what you would expect in a war profiteering story, but it's exactly what you would expect in a labor bargaining power story.

Funnily enough, there is a compelling argument that France adopting the 40 hour work week weakened its army and that is what encouraged Hitler to become aggressive. That small event might never have occurred without the 40 hour work week.

Mmmhmm. Every little labor victory helps Hitler, dontcha know? You wouldn't want to help Hitler, would ya?

These arguments were omnipresent at the time but they suddenly faded away when Hitler got his ass kicked. I wonder why?

You might want to revisit the history books. WWII didn't help Hitler.

My point exactly: why do you think the anti-labor arguments that rhyme with yours went away when Hitler got his ass kicked?

It didn't go away...? We wouldn't be able to have this discussion if it did.

I have no idea what you are trying to get at. If it is that wars can be won by working 40 hours per week, that is highly unlikely to be true. The 40 hour work weeks went by the wayside during the war. The US, for example, mandated a minimum of 48 hour workweeks in manufacturing during the war.