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Re: [OPE-L] length of the working day

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Hi Michael P:

Well, I can't check on any sources now, but surely someone
must have used a "competitiveness" argument against the 8-hour-day.
I.e. domestic firms, if forced to comply with a limit on the working
day, would be at a competitive disadvantage in relation to firms from
other nations which had no such limit.  I suspect, in the context of
the 19th Century, conservatives also made a "laziness" argument --
since the working class was deemed to be slothful.  I bet you
could also find a conservative argument (from the Church?) that the
8-hour-day would increase alcoholism and othere sorts of sinful activities
like adultery.  After all, the working class with too much time on its
hands would surely fall into all sorts of moral depravities.

In solidarity, Jerry
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