August 6, 2026 — August 2026 marks the 160th anniversary of the formation of the National Labor Union (NLU) in Baltimore, Maryland. It was the first labor union in the United States that once formed immediately began to study the concept of an 8-hour workday.
The committee on “Eight-Hours in All Its Respects” eventually recommended calling on Congress to establish an 8-hour workday, the start of what is now codified into law through the Fair Labor Standards Act. Congress passed the law in 1868 for federal employees.
The scope of the 1868 law did not come with all the necessary protections, however, as federal workers saw their pay reduced by 20%. A year later, President Ulysses S. Grant issued a proclamation that demanded wages not be cut due to shorter workdays.
Over many decades, the idea of an 8-hour workday would continue to be popular with workers across all sectors. In 1912, then candidate for President Theodore Roosevelt took on the slogan “8 hours for work, 8 hours for rest and 8 hours for what you will” to push the campaign further.
By 1873, the NLU was effectively defunct, but the Knights of Labor and American Federation of Labor eventually formed and continued the push for workers’ rights.
The 40-hour work week and “time-and-a-half” overtime pay for those who worked more than 40 hours was added to the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938.