Was the weekend really invented in Greater Manchester?

Article excerpt

Salford is celebrating what it claims as a pivotal moment in labor history: the invention of the weekend. The industrial city in Greater Manchester is hosting a free family festival to mark the achievement, which locals credit to textile workers and labor organizers who fought for reduced working hours during the Industrial Revolution. The weekend, a concept now taken for granted across much of the world, emerged from hard-won battles by ordinary workers demanding time away from the mills and factories that defined the region's economy.