The more things change...

[nachoman]

<snip>. but there are several things that did change and for the better, like safety because of standards like OSHA, MSHA, etc..

I think safety/lawsuits/lawyers have as much to do with the shorter working day. Doesn't FRA require 12 hour maximum shift for all railroad personnel? I don't think I would want an engineer driving a train through my town who was on the clock for longer than 12 hours. In fact, I don't know if I would want one who has been on the shift for 10 hours. same goes with the person flying my plane or driving my taxi. I've worked a 12 hour shift before, and that became a 15-16 hour shift with travel time. Work those shifts for 10 or more days in a row, and the lack of sleep catches up with you. I wound up getting yelled at for falling asleep on the job, getting a traffic ticket for sleeping while driving, and making (or not making) a few jobsite decisions that could have been costly. I argued with my employer that they need to have some kind of hours of service policy before they get sued. They thought that was not possible, so I quit.