Five Dollar Workday
In January 1914, Henry Ford announced his “$5 a Day” wage increase. This enormous increase led to thousands of people searching for jobs in the Ford Motor Company. Many thought that Ford was insane and would even have a very hard time making any kind of profit. However, Ford proved himself an industrial genius and became one of the most wealthy and famous people in the world at the time.
"No one loses anything by raising wages as soon as he is able. It has always paid us."
~Henry Ford "The next day it was a sign there on Manchester Avenue. That place was packed so that the human being couldn't move! It was almost what you'd call a riot. Everybody wanted to work at Ford Motor then at $5 a day, because that was better than doubling a man's wage. It finally got so that even the police couldn't handle it."
~George Brown |
An excerpt of a CarDataVideo of which explains the five dollar day
"The Ford Motor Company, the greatest and most successful automobile manufacturing company in the world, will, on January 12, inaugurate the greatest revolution in the matter of rewards for its workers ever known to the industrial world. At one stroke it will reduce the hours of labor from nine to eight, and add to every man's pay a share of the profits of the house. The smallest to be received by a man 22 years old and upwards will be $5 per day...."
~Ford Motor Company Vice President and Treasurer James Couzens "We believe in making 20,000 men prosperous and contented rather than follow the plan of making a few slave drivers in our establishment multi-millionaires."
~Henry Ford in The La Crosse Tribune Thousands of job seekers trying to get a $5 day pay check
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"The $5 day was the greatest cost cutting move I ever made." -Henry Ford
Crowds of people swarm Ford's employment office and eventually the police had to be called in
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"Almost overnight, the new wage increase transformed the area around Highland Park into a boomtown."
~Douglas Brinkley "...Ford's plan doubled typical wages and sent shockwaves through the other car companies. They thought Ford was crazy and would soon go out of business. Ford knew, however, that this new deal would not only lower costs due to decreased turnover, but it would create more buyers of his cars: the employees themselves!"
~Michigan.gov |