The Eight-Hour Day Becomes Federal Law
Facing a nationwide paralysis of the rail network, Congress rushes the Adamson Act through to prevent a strike.
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The threat of a general railroad strike which had been hanging like a pall over the country for a month was lifted Saturday night. Three hours after the senate passed without amendment the Adamson eight-hour day bill, the heads of the four great railroad employees’ brotherhoods telegraphed over 600 code messages to their general chairmen cancelling the strike order. The legislative expedient was passed in the senate by a vote of 43 to 28. President Wilson signed the bill on Sunday. The law provides that after January 1, 1917, eight hours shall be regarded as a basis of reckoning for a day’s pay of men engaged in the operation of railroad trains in interstate commerce, and that their rate of compensation shall not be changed pending an investigation.
“The threat of a general railroad strike which has been hanging like a pall over the country for a month was lifted Saturday night.”
This 1916 victory for the eight-hour day remains the bedrock of modern labor standards, yet the tension between government intervention and corporate power continues to echo in today's debates over the gig economy and worker classifications. The threat of a national rail shutdown in 1916 mirrors the high-stakes labor disputes that still threaten to halt supply chains in the 21st century.
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