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Show TEX HOIR DAY One of ihe serious cjjestion3 for tiie laboring man and woman of today to-day to consider, la the avowed attempt at-tempt of some employers to re-ln-s a.tu the ten hour day without over t ine that is, they will propose to maintain the eight hour day, but lr a laborer works ten hours, there shall be no time and a half for the over time. That will be the first step. The first step once taken they figure the next step will be easy. Let's look back a few years and (review the struggle for the eight hour day as I remember it. Back in Tie 80s and into the 90's, but few workers were enjoying an eight hour day, however the agitation started and ex ended. I should have used the word "propaganda." However that like the c'ght hour day was little known. Anyway, we talked and argued ar-gued for it and our principal line was: Eight hours work, eight hours sleep and eight hours recreation, and the fact that the eight hour day would give more men work. And we won out on that line of argument. I wonder how many of you laboring labor-ing men here remember those days, and how happy we were the first day of eight hours we worked. We just thought we were right up next k Taratlise. We just dispised anv workman who put in over eight hours or any employer who tried to get his men to work over time, and we enforced the time and a half and double time rules so as to discourage discour-age the employer and made the work man get a permit to work overtime. In some cases if the permit was granted the overtime was split, the organization getting a certain per cen of the pay. This discouraged the workman from asking for a permit, and the result was, no employer, nor no workman violated the eight hour dny and employment was general. Some times whenever work was scarce. Ihe four or five dav a week was adopted simply to nMe what-work what-work there was go round to more workmen. Recently it appears to me that the workmen have lost their heads in their greed for overtime and thus they have been playing right into the hands of the employer, who Is anxious to get rid of tho "overtime" rule. It appears ( hat the principal of eight hours work, eight hours sleep and eight hours recreation has been lost by the short sightedness of a few greedy "overtime" ' grabbers. Once more. I say. let no man accept overtime as long as there is an idle man in the country. There is no. excuse ex-cuse for it. You can live on straight eight hours pay and you know it. Then when the struggle comes to go back to ten hours there would not be three or four million idle men ready and anxious to step up and take your Jobs if you refuse to accept ac-cept the ten hour day. They will be just hungry enough and feel just about mean enough towards you for having kept them out of work to be glad of the chance. If this struggle comes, there will be no one so much to blame as the leaders who today are allowing their men to accept overtime. |