在資本主義社會生產關係下，「工時」即為一個饒畜鬥爭的議題，因為它牽涉到資本最終的關，懷─利潤率，同時也深刻地影響著勞方的體力及精神負荷，與家庭及社會生活。馬克思政治經濟批判作為觀察工時鬥爭深層邏輯的理論啟發，可以釐清包藏在工時論述中的諸多送思。勞動力作為一種特殊商品，及其所創造出來的「剩餘價值」，是資本主義社會關係再生產的關鍵。而「剩餘價值」的生產則與工作日的長短關係密切，因而百年來勞資在工時上的鬥爭仍持續進行中。 上個世紀的工時鬥爭主要環繞在工作日的長短，屬於絕對剩餘價值擷取的範疇，這個世紀資本擷取剩餘的手法較精緻，改以「彈性化」為主要訴求，但批評者也紛紛指出，資方在進行彈性化努力上卻只停留在勞動力市場的彈性化這一層面，這對於化解七○年代的西方危機，其實助益不大。 我國工時爭議中，資方也相當執著於所謂的彈性「配套」措施，如變形工時、女性夜間工作的解禁、外勞的不縮減等這些屬於「數量彈性」的配套。由馬克思政治經濟學批判的觀點來考察，吾人即能清楚明暸作為工時縮短之交換籌碼的配套措施，何以資方如此地堅持！

　　　　　Working time has been the center issue of class struggle, given the capitalist relation of production, for it is, about surplus value, the ultimate concern of the capital. A critique from Marx political economy is a theoretically insightful perspective to examine working time struggle, and unveil mystiques long propagated by capitalists. Labor power, as a special commodity from which surplus value is extracted, is the key to the reproduction of the capitalist social relationships. While the surplus value is closely related to the working hours, working time struggle will maintain its momentum as it was hundreds years ago. Working time struggle in 19th century was about the length of working hours, which is the domain of absolute surplus value. When time moved on to the 20th century, this struggle became much more sophisticated. "flexibility" was the catch word. However, capitalists pursue flexibility in a much narrower route, which can hardly ameliorate the economic crisis of the 70s. What to be noted in this struggle is the emphasis on the "supplementaries" from the employer associations, such as flexi-time, the lifting of female night working ban, and increasing the number of foreign workers. It's crystally clear from the perspective of political economy why the employers persistently insisted in these supplementaries as the bargaining chips to exchange for the loss in working time.