Labor victories on working hours have reversed under the gig economy

Evidence

Another barrier to increasing the length of the working day is that workers have been able to assert themselves. During the nineteenth century and much of the twentieth, workers fought to pressure governments to regulate the working day. In Britain, for example, the limit of eight hours per day was a victory of the post–World War I period, a time when strikes reached unprecedented levels. Unfortunately, in recent decades we have witnessed a real regression. With the transition to the so-called gig economy, for many, working hours have become so flexible as to seem endless. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 113

Categorization

• XREF: The decline of working-hour regulation tracks Mattei’s thesis that capitalist arrangements need not appear natural — political contestation shaped them and their erosion is political too. — connects to: Gig-economy liberation rhetoric masks new and deeper labor exploitation — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 225; Gig-economy disruption benefits dissipate as consumers become workers — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 226