TWIF (Thank Westinghouse It s Friday)

Transcription

1 TWIF (Thank Westinghouse It s Friday) Everybody's working for the weekend Everybody wants a little romance Everybody's goin' off the deep end "Working for the Weekend" Loverboy, 1981 The weekend comes in every week as naturally as daylight and nightlight. Its arrival is as assured as dark comes with night and light comes with the day. Saturday and Sunday have become days in which Americans have an opportunity to empty their minds of the daily struggles of weekdays and to indulge in more leisurely activities. The more active weekenders use the time for physical activities such as playing sports to doing work around the house. For some it is special time where they can explore their hobbies or a chance to nurture personal relationships. Others see this as an opportunity to do absolutely nothing productive. Contrary to popular belief, the modern concept of the weekend has not been in existence since the beginning of man, its history is relatively briefer. People did not have a day off from work unless it was for a religious purpose. Religions across the world have their Sabbath or day of rest: Christians with Sunday, Jewish people with Saturday, and Muslims had Friday. These days were strictly used for worship of their respective deities: not a time to play golf or lay around the house. The first colonists from the Old World carried along these religious observances to the newly found America, and Sunday was the only day away from the proverbial office. The predominantly Christian settlers continued to observe Sunday as the day of rest, but work tirelessly the other six days in order to survive as farmers. Advancements in manufacturing created a need for a multitude of workers to drive America to a future of progress. The owners of these industries kept the tradition of the six day workweek for their employees, who labored daily in unhealthy and dangerous working environments. Most owners saw their employees as just another cog in their production machine. However, one captain of industry had a more humane view of his employees. George Westinghouse Jr.'s policy of being the first to give his employees the afternoon off each Saturday created a legacy that has affected more Americans than his famous invention of the air brake and the founding of the multi billion dollar Westinghouse Works Corporation.

2 Before George Westinghouse Jr. started his company in Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he started his manufacturing career in Schenectady, NY as twelve year old boy working in his father s machine shop which specialized in making farming equipment. Israel Levine s Inventive Wizard: George Westinghouse tells the story of how Westinghouse became determined to give his employees the weekend off. One Saturday in July the temperature was ninety five and The Birth Place of the Idea the shop had become a furnace. The manufacturing was becoming seemly impossible because sweet was pouring off the workers faces. George Westinghouse Sr. seeing the struggles of his employee made a decision and announced After lunch, we will close for the rest of the day. The time off will be on the company. Everyone will receive his regular wage. The workers and young Westinghouse cheered and returned to work with the anticipation of having time off. George s excitement would soon be cut short. Before lunch his father summoned him into his office and notified him that the shop had just received an order for two wheat threshers for the end of next week and that irons pipes needed to be cut for the mechanics to begin working on the machines on Monday morning. George congratulated him on the new business without fully understanding what his father said. Westinghouse Sr. regrettably informed his young son We must begin cutting the pipes to length this afternoon. I'm assigning you to that job. The boy upset because of the unfair situation declared "If ever I own my own George Westinghouse, Sr. allowed his son to work in his machine shop. the American workplace. Shop, I will give the men every Saturday afternoon off, as well as Sunday. And I'll pay them their full wages!. This brash statement foreshadowed the tremendous change that was going to occur in

3 From these modest beginnings, Westinghouse grew up to become a worldrenowned inventor, industrial juggernaut and creator of the American weekend. After serving in the Navy in the Civil War and a three month stint in college, he began filing patents for rotary steam engine and an instrument which put derailed trains back on the tracks. He began putting these inventions into production and invested the profits into other railroad technology ventures. In 1869 Westinghouse Air-Brake Co., where the weekend became reality. Westinghouse invented the air brake, which provided an automatic fail safe way to stop a train. This allowed trains to move faster because the previous method of slowing down trains required brakemen to manually apply brakes when they were given a signal. With see the potential of this invention, Westinghouse started the Westinghouse Air Brake Company, his first of many companies, in July As business soared to the extent that the company had trouble filling brake orders, Westinghouse gave his employees half day Saturdays and Sundays off in George Westinghouse the inventor, the businessman and father of the modern day weekend. When Westinghouse introduced his new policy it was initially received with skepticism from fellow industry leaders and decision makers from within his own company. When George introduced his new policy of giving employees a half a day off with pay on Saturday s, his directors were suspicious because they felt the expenses would be too great. Westinghouse convinced them by saying, When I was a lab in my father s place I vowed that if I ever had a shop of my own I would give the men Saturday afternoon off at full wages. Call it sentiment if you will, but I would like you to support me in this boyish whimsy. Other industrial leaders were not so convinced. J.P. Morgan, the kingpin of corporate finance in the late 19 th century, viewed the half day Saturday holiday as

4 frivolous and costly. This move gave Westinghouse a lot of publicity and profit because it was the first of its kind to have ever been made in Pittsburgh and as far as known, in the United States, so it gave the shop a unique distinction among the local industries. This along with the 9 hour workday attracted a greater number of workers compared to the other factories. For example Andrew Carnegie's employee's had a 12 hour a day, 7 hour a day work week. As Westinghouse expanded his business into the production of other machines and electricity he continued to give all his employees Sunday and half of Saturday off. Westinghouse's employees also received other employment benefits that were unprecedented. The workers also received pensions and workman's compensation if they injured on the job, about sixty years before other companies had such programs. Mr. Westinghouse also built an ideal town in Wilmerding, PA so that his Westinghouse Air Brake Company employee's would have housing at a reduced price. His employee's would play baseball on Westinghouse's made field on their Saturday's afternoons. As Quentin Skarabec in his book George Westinghouse: Gentle Genius, Westinghouse's concern for the employee seemed more based on his love his fellow man than any potential productivity gain. People take the weekend for granted as an alienable right. The weekend was not originated by the government or by nature, but by George Westinghouse who saw his employees as more than pieces of equipment or a necessary expense. George Westinghouse contributions to the world of technology with his inventions and winning the fight for alternating current as the standard of electrical transmission are nearly unparalleled, but his social sensibilities completely changed the model of the American employer.

5 Works Cited Leupp, Francis Ellington. George Westinghouse; His Life and Achievements,. Boston: Little, Brown, Print. Levine, Israel E. Inventive Wizard: George Westinghouse. New York: J. Messner, Print. Library of Congress. The Westinghouse World:the Companies, the People, and the Places. 15 April November < Joslin, Jeff. Westinghouse Co. 20 September October < Prout, Henry G. A Life of George Westinghouse. New York: Cosimo Classics, Print. Print. Skrabec, Quentin R. George Westinghouse: Gentle Genius. New York: Algora Pub., 2007.