Samuel Parnell

Shortly after marrying, Samuel set off with his wife Mary in search of a better life, sailing to New Zealand in September 1839 on the Duke of Roxburgh. A sum of £126 secured immediate passage for the couple, as well as the right to 100 acres of country land and a one-acre plot of land in town.

Arriving in Pito-one/Petone, Wellington, in February 1840, Samuel found not only the life he was seeking, but he laid the foundation for a movement that has improved workers’ rights around New Zealand and the world – the eight-hour working day.

One of Samuel’s fellow passengers on his journey was shipping agent George Hunter. He asked Samuel to work as a carpenter to build him a store in the settlement. Samuel agreed to the job – but took a stand against repeating the same working conditions he had left behind.

“I will do my best, but I must make this condition, Mr Hunter: that on the job the hours shall only be eight for the day. There are twenty-four hours per day given us; eight of these should be for work, eight for sleep, and the remaining eight for recreation and in which for men to do what little things they want for themselves. I am ready to start tomorrow morning at eight o’clock, but it must be on these terms or none at all.”

George Hunter reminded him that in London, the bell rang at six o’clock, and if a man was not there ready to turn to, he lost a quarter of a day. “We’re not in London,” responded Samuel. “If you don’t agree to these terms, I can’t help you. I have plenty to do for myself.”

While George was reluctant, the shortage of labour available at the time left him with few options and little leverage, so he accepted Samuel’s demands.

Samuel later reflected on this conversation and wrote that the first strike for eight hours a day the world has ever seen was settled on the spot.

These working conditions were considered a revolutionary concept at the time, and Samuel Parnell faced opposition from those who argued shorter workdays would lead to reduced profits and economic stagnation. He insisted that, on the contrary, an eight-hour day would instead result in increased productivity and overall economic growth.

The movement spread, and while other employers tried to insist on longer workdays, Samuel met arriving ships, telling new migrants that were also looking for a better life than the one they left behind that they too should not agree to work beyond eight hours a day.

A workers’ meeting held in October 1840 established the eight-hour workday in the settlement, and a promise was agreed that anyone caught accepting less favourable working conditions would be thrown into the harbour.

The 50th jubilee of European settlement in New Zealand in 1890 saw Samuel Parnell honoured for his efforts as the father of the eight-hour movement.

He reflected:

“I feel happy today because the seed sown so many years ago is bearing such abundant fruit and the chord struck at Petone fifty years ago is vibrating round the world. And I hope I shall live to see eight hours a day as a day’s work universally acknowledged and become the law of every nation of the world.”

“It is the outcome of my early convictions on entering on the battle of life. I was convinced that the working hours were too long, and the time for recreation too short.”

While Samuel died just a few months following his recognition at the jubilee, his concept of an eight-hour working day was entrenched as the standard for tradespeople and labourers and continued to spread to other industries. His advocacy for the eight-hour workday extended beyond New Zealand and was instrumental in paving the way for other countries to adopt the labour movement.

In 1899, New Zealand’s parliament made Labour Day a public holiday, a day to recognise and celebrate the significant struggle that was endured for an eight-hour working day. It continues to be celebrated annually to this day, on the fourth Monday every October.