He waited for the laughter to subside. “While I do not necessarily consider myself among friends…” Again, the laughter. “…I speak to you about a problem that only now seems to have captured our attention. For years some of us in the labor movement have suggested that the work week for blue-collar workers be shortened so that the men and women of this country’s work force will be able to spend less time in its factories and more at home and at leisure to do what they choose. But the movement for a thirty-two-hour week cannot become, in time, a movement for a twenty-two-hour week and then a twelve-hour week and finally a no-hour week. That is economically senseless. That is why my emphasis has been on changing the nature of work. Perhaps we cannot bring back the day of the artisan and the craftsman taking pride in their individual daily accomplishments. But the monotony of mass production on the assembly line must be dealt with. You cannot ask grown men and women to spend their work weeks of whatever length being bored.
