1863 Ira Steward Founds Boston Eight Hour League

Ira Steward began working life with an apprenticeship as a machinist where he worked twelve-hour days. It did not take long for Ira to begin speaking out for shorter hours. He was an active member of the Machinists and Blacksmiths Union, where he soon became a full-time agitator for fair hours.

In 1863 Steward formed the Eight Hour League in Boston to promote a shorter work day. Within two years, eight hour leagues were active in sixteen other towns and had even spread to other states. As the League grew in size, it also became more influential. Shipyard workers in Charlestown struck to obtain the eight-hour day and managed to win the support of President Lincoln. The Charlestown workers also elected one of their own, a ship joiner named Edward Rodgers, to the legislature in 1864. Rodgers joined a group of like-minded reformers in the legislature where he was able to push for improvements to the workday. Several Short Time Committees were formed to investigate the possibility of passing legislature to shorten the workday. In 1864 they issued a report in support of shorter hours.

In the same year that the Charlestown shipyard workers were fighting for fair hours, struck for the eight-hour day in Southbridge, Taunton, and New Bedford. In addition to the strikes, several “eight-hour men” were elected to the Lowell and Boston city councils. The push for shorter hours was one of many labor initiatives that were gaining momentum across the country. Many attributed this to the abolition of slavery. The famous abolitionist Wendell Phillips of Boston remarked that with the end of slaver, the “next question for our country – the rights of the laboring class.” Progress was being made in the pursuit of workers rights, although it would take many more years for the eight-hour day to become a reality.