@Robert S. Butler posted:The idea of no work on Sunday in the pre WWII period is interesting and I'm sure there were places where that was true however the 40 hour work week with Saturday and Sunday off is more of a post WWII condition than pre WWII.
I do know when my Grandfather worked for the railroad it was all day Saturday with a half-day Sunday.
It's quite possible, that's true.
However, Henry Ford put his workers onto a 40-hour week in 1914, creating the "weekend", after understanding the human benefits of reducing the work week from a more common 48-hour stretch. Other working conditions, including job time expectations, led to the famous General Motors sit down strike of 1937.
Working conditions overall in the first third of the 20th century demanded some sort of standards, for which FDR stepped up passing the original Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938. The 40-hour work week was part of that statute. However, certain labor categories, including the railroads, had caveats and concessions due to the unique skills and nature of their industry. And, of course, that original 1938 statute has been revised and 'massaged' in the years since...even into this century.
The 3 short years between enactment of the FLSA and Dec. 7, 1941 with regard to the adoption and roll-out of a standard 40-hour work week throughout all industry/business probably were less memorable to the more demanding wartime expectations, which kept virtually all industry working 24/7 for any able-bodied individual.
It'll probably change again someday...soon.
