Prof. Jacobson,
Saw this (while stopped at a red light) on the way back from class. I thought it was interesting how the middle sticker had replaced the “God” in “Thank God it’s Friday,” with “Unions.”
Thank you for all you do.
Regards,
A Conservative in Medical School
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Comments
The Obama signs language sticker could have not used the 5 signs & said the same thing with 1 everyone would have recognized.
…and all this time I thought that it was Henry Ford who introduced the concept of a forty hour work week…
GrumpyOne is absolutely correct, Henry Ford invented the 5 day 40 hour workweek, not labor unions. The idea that unions gave us the weekend is one of the enduring myths about organized labor. When Ford realized that going to an 8 hour shift meant that he could run his factories 24 hours a day, and that eliminating the half shift on Saturdays meant that he could, with overtime, run the plants 24/7/365 if needed, he went to the standard workweek we still use today.
Another secret that labor unions don’t want you to know is that wages and benefits were increasing long before industrial America was organized. Again, Henry Ford had a role, raising wages to $5/day (working in his factories was a crappy job – repetitive, noisy and dangerous and Ford had something like a 93% employee turnover rate so he paid more money to keep people on the job). Ford and other industrialists also introduced the notion of company supplied health care, with company clinics. Remember, it took FDR and the Wagner Act of 1935 to give unions enough power that they were able to finally organize the auto industry and other industrial sectors. Wages, working conditions and fringe benefits had all dramatically improved before then.
Ronnie Schreiber
Cars In Depth