Bernie Sanders unveils 32-hour workweek bill with no loss in pay for workers
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday introduced a bill to establish a standard four-day workweek in the United States without any reduction in pay. The bill, over a four-year period, would lowe…
Bernie: Here’s a bill that will help literally everyone. People waste less of their lives at work, and productivity goes up massively for the corporate overlords. There is no downside here for anyone.
Everyone: Shut up, hippy.
Everyone: Shut up, hippy.
They've been telling him that since he was being arrested for protesting for civil rights and Joe Biden was fighting against school busing...
Their stupid bullshit hasn't stopped him yet
Everyone: Shut up, hippy.
Don't listen to them, when they tell you that. As far as you know, might even be an astroturfer, trying to kill this in the crib.
Call your House of Representative member and let them know that you want this bill to become law.
If we citizens don't apply the pressure, nothing will happen.
And if your cynical about doing that, try it anyway, just as an experiment, to see what happens. Hell, even make a YouTube video about your experience doing so, for content.
Just say "Please let my representative know that I am in favor of the Bernie Sanders bill (Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act) for a 32 hour work week."
It's just a phone call. A 32 hour work week is worth a single phone call, right?
Slow it down there Thanos, just because you can't personally see a solution to our current predicament doesn't mean that genocide is the solution. Do you honestly believe that would fix things? Are you a comic book villain?
You decrie brainwashing by the media and assume that you are unaffected, but you are clearly and dangerously mislead into losing all hope for a better world. The latest shift in climate disinformation is away from denialism and towards doomerism, and you seem to have fallen for it hard.
It is not too late. There are attainable solutions. Political change is possible, perhaps even inevitable. There will be consequences for what has already been done, but we can survive them and we will. What might not survive are the institutions that got us to this point, but we can build a better world in their absence. Don't lose hope, that's what the oligarchs want.
I know it's hard to sympathize with those who refused to see reason and allowed the powers that be to bring us to the point of crisis, but it's important to remember that they too are victims.
Unfortunately that’s a fairly naive take that fails to consider how most people work in the US- hourly employees would be fucked by this.
Retail, service, anyone whose not already working 9-5 office jobs; the reality is that they won’t loose pay, but they will loose hours. And you can bet your ass that companies won’t pay more to make up for it.
I have no idea why you’re being downvoted. How would the government mandate a pay raise across the board? The government only has the federal minimum wage lever to play with. Somehow the law would have to say: all hourly workers must be paid 25% more. Would companies just increase prices by 25%?
Now, I’m all for reducing the work week to 32 hours. I’m tired of spending most of the week working and only having to 2 free days (of which one is usually spent doing home chores). But I’m genuinely curious about how this would be implemented without causing massive inflation.
We need this so fucking bad. As a species, not just America or the wealthy nations only. Everyone.
And this should just be a transitionary period down to a 24 or less hour work week. Fuck slaving away at shit jobs just to make billionaires.
We need this so fucking bad.
Of course we do, so do the corporations, though they don't realize it. With happier workers you get more profits.
Call your House of Representative member and let them know that.
If we citizens don't apply the pressure, nothing will happen.
And if your cynical about doing that, try it anyway, just as an experiment, to see what happens. Hell, even make a YouTube video about your experience doing so, for content.
Just say "Please let my representative know that I am in favor of the Bernie Sanders bill (Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act) for a 32 hour work week."
It's just a phone call. A 32 hour work week is worth a single phone call, right?
When COVID shut down my state (we were considered essential) we got furloughed one day a week. I was getting paid less so I was concerned, but it was honestly the best thing to happen to me. We started a garden, I got so much more done. I was healthier and happier.
Going back to 5 days a week, and longer commute (no more COVID clear freeways), I can absolutely feel my life shortening. I've gained a ton of weight, and increased stress significantly.
Upvote because I am Satan and I want you to suffer! /s
Yea, slaving away should be purely optional. If you love your job or you love money or you want to keep yourself distracted AND make money at the same time, by all means, knock yourself out and work 60 hour weeks.
It's a failure of the system if people have to work full time to scrape by with the very bare necessities and live in poverty, with all the nasties that come with it. America coined the term "working poor" (obligatory meme so we're on the same page)
Full Employment and Zero Protests go hand-in-hand.
As soon as unemployment figures start climbing (2008, 2014, 2016, COVID-2020) people hit the streets and cops start working a lot of extra overtime.
Imagine if people had a whole third weekend day to themselves. Imagine what they could spend their time doing that wasn't entirely predicated on enriching their bosses?
that's because America shits billionaires.
Nonono don't do it!!
Just look how it went in Germany, they went from 40 to 35 and then last year they overtook Japan as the 3rd largest economy in the world.
But if they had kept 40 hour work week, they might have done that a year earlier.
I tell you 32 hour work week will be an absolute disaster, marriages will break because people will have time to spend together. This is why the christian right will oppose this tooth and nail, and you should too.
/s
Inb4 Fox News later today
I'll tell you hwat. 32 hour work week will be an absolute disaster, marriages will break because people will have time to spend together. This is why the christian right will oppose this tooth and nail, and you should too.
Them being cancelled because they said something dumb doesn't mean they weren't cancelled. But I'm convinced economists can't be cancelled, Jonathan Gruber and Paul Krugman proved that.
The drones might have time to think and get ideas above their station. Next thing you know, they'll start objecting to being maximally exploited at every turn! Letting them off the leash, even a little, will have disastrous effects for their owners, I tell you!
Dogs and cats, living together! Mass heysteria!
Hyuck, hyuck, I get this refernce, ya fucking nerd!
I am in Germany, how do I get a 35 hour work week without working part time? Every contact I've ever had has said 40 hours, not including breaks, with an expectation of overtime going up to 50 hours (legal maximum) unpaid.
OK now I'm confused, because I was pretty sure Germany introduced 35 hour work week already in the 90's, just like Denmark reduced to 37.5 hours.
Here the 37.5 is actually the norm for full time work. I thought it was 35 in Germany, but I can't even find anything on the introduction of 35 hours in the 90's ???
But apparently the AVERAGE which is a completely different measure, is 34.2 in 2020.
https://blog.emerald-technology.com/working-hours-germany
34.2 hours as of 2020
I apologize if I misrepresented the situation in Germany.
I agree with the sentiment. But the case with Germany and Japan wasn't so much Germany overtaking but rather Japan sloping down (Japan's strict working hours/culture probably played a part in this though).
What I'm saying is that there are other factors than work hours that determine productivity. Job satisfaction is a major factor too.
Isn’t Germany the country where they’re burning wood to keep warm in the winter?
Absolutely, wood pellets and stoker furnaces are brilliant, as they work very well, and is a near CO2 neutral source of heat.
We do that too here in Denmark 7th richest country in the world, and I bet they also do in Norway and Switzerland, the 2nd and 3rd richest countries in the world.
We have both stoker furnace for central heating and a windowed stove in the living room for traditional firewood. The brilliance with the stove is that it has higher energy utilization than any other heat source. And it creates hygge in the living room in the long cold winter evenings.
Let's make a point that has nothing whatsoever to do with the original point so i can maintain my bullshit opinion.
I don’t see a path forward that doesn’t start with the US government making the change first. They are one of the only employers that don’t have market competition.
Some departments in the US government give you a paid time off day every week to use however you want. A lot of people would take every Friday off, or some would stash them for a longer vacation.
It's wild to me how internally the government offers the kind of benefits politicians should've pushed into law a long time ago. It really is "for Me, not for Thee".
Source: worked in one of those departments
I work in the Federal Government, and this isn't true. You have alternative work schedules (4/10s, 5/4/9, maxiflex, etc.) but you're still going to work 80 hours unless you take leave. You gain annual leave every pay period and the amount is dependent on how long your federal service has been. But when you start (1-3 years) you only get 4 hours per pay period.
Maybe you're seeing people who have long federal service (15 years) that gain 8 hours/pay period use their leave. That's their choice but they're still working 40 hours on paper regardless.
Literally everything US politicians and billionaires do is "rules for thee, but not for me". Even running for president.
wow, that's like two and a half months of vacation
Some departments in the US government give you a paid time off day every week to use however you want. A lot of people would take every Friday off, or some would stash them for a longer vacation.
Nope.
Source: worked in one of those departments
If you did, you had no idea what was going on.
An agency can't just "give" someone twice the leave accrual as the max. People were probably doing 4 days a week, 10 hours a day.
And you just didn't understand
Bullshit. Fake news. Made up.
As a European libertarian, americans and people in some far eastern countries work at their jobs way too much. It's harmful in every kind of way imaginable. I don't understand why it's done.
I get that some profession may benefit from it, but having standard office personnel sit at their desk 12 hours every day? What the fuck. I refuse to believe this improves company profits in 90% of the companies.
I'm self employed.
There's an infinite amount of work for me to do, but like most professions its intellectually, emotionally and mentally taxing.
Honestly, I can't do much more than 4 hours of real actual work per day.
Same here. I did a complete carreer change from STEM (robotics engineering) into visual arts, and I'm happier than ever, but the intense mental work required means I do ~4 hours of actual developed work a day, then spend the next 4-6 hours doing the art equivalent of menial work (fixing the quality of small lines, slightly tweaking colours etc)
Im working 40, and in recent memory went thru long stretches of 60+, and also 0, when i was privileged enough to take a bit of extra time between jobs.
In my "free" time, i work on the art my heart wont let me not make. When working 40, i can manage an extra 10 hrs (maybe) on a good week doing the shit i actually feel im supposed to do. When i worked 65, i hardly did shit some weeks, other weeks id feel proud of 3 hrs. Youd think i could then manage 60, or 50, or at least 40 when unemployed then, right?
Lol, try 25 as a stretch goal. When u actually believe in ur work and want to give problems the time they deserve and the details the attention they need, you find that you get burned out pretty damn fast. Any more and the effort slips.
Granted, im not counting breaks in that number. If i work 4 hrs one day, i might do it in some 45 minute chunks, 1 ninety minute chunk, with numerous 15 minute breaks and 1 lasting between 90-120.
I get that ymmv, but im typically extolled (read: exploited) as a very hard worker in all my jobs, and we're talking about the difference between working on the things that my soul demands versus what is typically rote, menial BS.
That's more than most employees do in a day, and often they have less say in the impact of it.
Real actual work you say?
It's been repeatedly shown to decrease company profits. As people work longer hours they amount of stuff they get done declines rapidly as they get tired. Their error rate also dramatically increases. This causes a rapid decline in overall productivity.
The issue is people believe that working longer hours is more productive in those cultures. Sadly people usually make decisions based upon unfounded beliefs not provable facts.
People also stress out and burn out more easily, which takes a toll on their health, which not only further reduces productivity, but also increases otherwise unnecessary medical costs
What the fuck. I refuse to believe this improves company profits in 90% of the companies.
It doesn't. Hundreds of industry studies have been done, and they all point to the same conclusion. 40 hours of work is the absolute maximum you can squeeze out of a worker before you start to see productivity and quality take a sharp nosedive. Doesn't matter if you're a factory worker or an office drone, fatigue will set in and give increasingly diminished returns for every hour over that. 40 hour work weeks only became the standard across the United States because of Henry Ford actually listening to the people doing these studies.
I think part of the reason we haven't shifted more towards a more balanced 30 hour work week despite the absolutely massive increase in productivity thanks to computerization and automation is because management positions attract individuals who strongly believe that more effort = more results, and that probably rings true for managerial positions where the most alpha-minded ones who work extra hard above and beyond the job's expectations are the ones to typically get the promotions and thus become industry leaders themselves in time.
Consider how much time people spend on Facebook or TikTok or whatever while on the job. Consider how much time is spent "looking busy" when in reality you might just be dragging out the task you are on so that you are not assigned more busywork. This is all a product of people having jobs that demand they be present and paid for 40 hours worth of labor, but a great deal of it is "performative labor" where they are not actually producing, but can't afford to clock out early because wages are based on how long you are at work, and rarely commission based, so there's no incentive to produce more for the same pay so long as you are meeting expectations/quotas.
A coworker "above me" (we don't have titles at this job so we can't determine our value) just said the other day: "I don't get this generation. Imagine calling out because you don't feel well in my time? You went to work because you needed it, you cough and people know to stay the fuck away from you. If you called out you would just get fired and the job would keep chugging."
That's viewed as a GOOD place to work at by some fucking insane people... America is the land of the blind slave.
"That's how you get pandemics."
I don’t understand why it’s done.
Useful idiots proud to work for their overlords.
Many people work 12h shifts but that's not super common in office jobs.
I had a US colleague that was ranting to me (a European) that people would still take calls just before having surgery and the moment the anastatics would have worn off work again. So I asked why not root for Bernie as he wants to do a more Scandinavian model (did not use the world socialism because reasons). Answer was no, would not be able to vote for him. Well........
Man, you're talking about a "radical", "extremist" politician who self-identifies as a (democratic) socialist.
Here in the US, most people from the poorest, least-educated states will simply never vote for a Democrat. That's not an exaggeration. The only reason Nikki Haley got so much attention despite never being viable is because with our 2-Party system she was considered the only non-Trump option for many people in these flyover states. Add in the outsized influence they have in the Senate and the undemocratic Electrical College... We're fucked.
I hear you my internet friend. Add to the fact that republicans want to keep their supporters dumb by further undermining education and it starts to look quite grim. Reforming the current 2 party system and electoral collage would be a common sense thing to do, but I fear this is only wishful thinking. Large corps with infinite money will keep driving the direction of a country and the politicians are just the workforce for them to execute on it. Same goes for the foreign influence (read Putin's clerk boy Trump).
Now more paries does not mean better either. I mean I look at how things go in my country where we have over a dozen parties, ans now 4 of them trying to form a coalition, takes months. And unfortunately also here we are going further to the right and slowly embrace fascism.
Time for a new french style revolution I guess...
A good third of Americans are subhuman. They are proud to be stupid, abused, and evil.
Sometimes I imagine what America would be like if Bernie had enough votes to pass his bills.
I always vote for him when he's at the polls, since 2 decades ago. But the oligarchy of this nation will never allow him in position of power to implement these changes.
The reality of America is that our owners have no interest in making life better for the us, the common man, their only interest to bleed us as much as they can for their own selfish agenda. And the American people are collectively still too stupid to understand how it all works.
He also spoke earlier about Israel breaking the US law by disrupting Us Humanitarian Aid.
So that's two things the rest of the party will ignore him on?
Everyday until closing time, forever.
Tbf they ignore him on everything and that's why I do too. He's been in politics forever and can't get anything done ever. Sure it's the fault of the party for ignoring his good ideas, but it's also his for being so bad at politics that he can't even get the backing of his own party. How was he ever going to beat Trump if not even the Democrats like him? He says nice things but he's ineffectual
Incomplete article by The Hill... Actually, the more I look at it this is a bad article. The only current bill introduced to the Congress is from last year by a different Representative. Bernie put out yesterday (the 13th) that he will be introducing a bill on Thursday the 14th (2024-03-14). It's only 0600 local time Washington, D.C. so it hasn't happened yet. And it would be very strange to he is introducing another act in the same session (118th).
H.R.1332 - Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act since they couldn't even link to the bill.
Congress.gov has the sponsor as Rep. Takano, Mark [D-CA-39] (Introduced 03/01/2023).
Long title: Official Title as Introduced
To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to reduce the standard workweek from 40 hours per week to 32 hours per week, and for other purposes.
I've noticed that I get the same amount of work done working 5 days a week as if I plan to only work 3/4 days and know I'll have some free time to enjoy life. My work is really project based so as long as it gets done no one cares.
My wife has also noticed that I'm a lot more stressed when I work 5 days a week and need pretty much the whole weekend to recover.
It's LONG overdue. Been saying this for years. Reducing the stress, increasing free time (and therefore things like family time, innovation time, etc.) would vastly overhaul our society. Productivity has risen for decades while wages remain stagnant and work-life balance, if anything, has worsened.
Productivity has risen for decades while wages remain stagnant and work-life balance, if anything, has worsened.
Wages are determined by balance of power.
Bernie is an example of what a progressive politician actually looks like.
American politicians (Republicans AND Democrats) have been moving steadily to the right for the last 40 years. So now, Democrats are where the Republicans were in the 1980s, boring corporatists and friends of banks, pharmaceutical and insurance companies.
And the Republicans have moved all the way into an insane asylum. They long for the "good old days" of company towns, run by 19th century robber barons and worry that the six corporations that control all our news are the "liberal news media."
This will never pass because we aren't seen as people with families and lives. We're seen as labor. Tools to keep the machine running and making money for corporations and its executives.
While a small tangent, I agree. I used to work 4x10 each week. Had done that for over a decade. Having a 3 day weekend really helped. When I got my current position I was moved to 5x8. I'm now endlessly tired, I can't get the weekend projects done, etc. Because you're just getting out of work, or getting ready to start work again, there's no break. So if this ends up being 4x8, that would be great! Keep my hours and get my weekend back. Though I assume corporate USA will find some way to muck it up, like the RTO bullshit.
I totally feel you! I did 12h shifts 4 days a week the absolute difference with 5x8 in crazy! I've never been so tired and that's including my night time stint doing that as well!
This makes the election really simple later. Vote against whoever opposed or brought any friction to this bill whatsoever...which will be pretty much everyone.
America should make Bernie their Emperor.
It would have been really nice to have had him as a president for a term. He'd be doing all the same things he's doing now, but with more authority. It would have been really interesting to watch mainstream media have a meltdown over everything he put forward.
Dammit we've been over this so many times!
The only way that we can remain competitive in the global marketplace is to squeeze the workers to the greatest extent that biology will allow. If that means slavery, mind control and death-at-30 then so be it. We must remain competitive
"But look! Asia's doing it! We gotta compete! Think of the GDP!"
[Completely ignoring people dying at their desks unnoticed, jumping from factory windows, suffering heart attacks at 25 years old]
Pure malicious insanity.
Don't forget their collapsing birth rates
“Step into my office.”
“Why…”
“BECAUSE YOU’RE FUCKING FIRED!”
Love the idea. But like free college and free healthcare I'm thinking it's just wishful thinking.
Coming from Germany where both of this is normal it’s pretty crazy to me that this is seen as some kind of socialist utopia.
Admittedly there are a lot of problems in that country as well but the root of them is imo not in free education & healthcare.
many of the thoughts to better people's lives in the past became the reality we live today, we just have to persist and move forward
I agree
Scotland: "Are we just wishful thinking?"
America: "We told you and the rest of your kingdom to fuck off and now we're doing it the stupid way!"
No shit. I learned that Scotland has it. Okay we have a working. Cool
Needs support. Not just from congress but from voters contacting their elected representatives. Zoomers and Millenials can complain all they want about Congress being out of touch, but if you're over 18 Then fucking vote, not just in presidential elections but midterms and local/state elections. The country isn't going to change to fit what young dreamers want it to be if the only people who vote enmass are the older generations that want it to stay the same.
Hopelessness is about the worst thing for an individual psychologically.
Written in our universes language: "Bernie Sanders released a plan that will absolutely never happen and caused literally every single person that isn't a worker to laugh until they couldn't breathe anymore."
Written in our universes language: “Bernie Sanders released a plan that will absolutely never happen and caused literally every single person that isn’t a worker to laugh until they couldn’t breathe anymore.”
I'm failing to see the problem here - most people are "workers" and this will benefit them. Anyone not workers will..... presumably die from laughing? Win/Win - what's the issue?
I wonder how fox news spins this? Maybe commies want more free stuff from money we dont have i suppose. or maybe they just ignore it
Guess how many hours rich people have to work?
0 hours
If it's a sliding scale of leisure to labor seeing time as a resource or currency, perhaps even negative hours!
It's offset to a ridiculous degree by all those who do the labor for them, and not only alleviate their burden to contribute to society, but elevate them to lives of seeking hedonism and pleasure.
The only real work they seem to do is seeking more power...but they probably hire people for that, too.
It's not going to go anywhere, but it's good that it's being introduced regardless.
i don't even like looking at or thinking about this stuff, it's too depressing getting my hopes up
Completely understand feeling this way but remember: this is how they win. If they can't steal or nullify your vote, they want to discourage you from going to the ballot box bcause you feel it's all rigged or pointless. It's not. Here in the US, we still have free and fair elections and the power still resides with us if we claim it...
At my job (standard 9–5 office) we're on a "hybrid" WFH schedule where we each get a single WFH day throughout the week. If this passed, it would be so easy to implement for us, we'd just "lose" our WFH day and get it transferred into a weekday off-day. The inside-joke among alot of people here is that nobody is working on their WFH day anyways (which I hate the joke, people are shooting themselves in the foot with it), but it would be an easy transition.
Sometimes being available and on call is the work. If you went in to the office that day you’re not going to be more productive than if you stayed home. But people should not make that joke at work.
Yes, please.
I like this as a concept, and since it has a low likelihood of passing, let a lone being bought up for a vote, i feel comfortable casting this critique:
We need a long-term solution that addresses the power imbalance of employer-employee relations, and all this does is places a temporary and incremental improvement on something that will inevitably be undermined.
I have a similar critique on minimum wage laws - while undeniably better for working class people, they fail to address the broader inequity and end up needing to be updated every couple years (which never happens).
This is one of those moments where I really wish Bernie would put a finer point on it - this is an issue driven by capital. The federal government wouldn't need to spell out labor laws if they could strengthen the working-class's position against capital more broadly. I would almost rather him propose a bill that strengthens union laws and the NLRB, since those are currently under attack.
I'd like to think this actually gets some consideration though. Totally agree with your points, but let's be honest: Once you start calling it like it is and openly blaming Capital, your career in American politics is dust.
Somehow Bernie has managed to have quite a career, in spite of constant opposition by the status quo machine.
I'm not opposed to a 4 day work week, but I am always curious as to what jobs the studies have looked at to conclude that people with 4 work days instead of 5 do the same amount or more work.
I'm a construction worker. Despite the jokes about standing around, we work hard. I do not think that a 4 day work week would produce better results than a 5 day in my field.
Just for reference I've been doing home rehabilitations for lower income families. There's not a ton of heavy lifting, there's just a lot to do.
Also, a lot of guys in my line of work also work side jobs on their days off.
You don't think there's a chance that working 4 days instead of 5 reduces the physical toll to keep you going longer and working better? Wouldn't working 4 days a week reduce your stress, allow you to recover from all that heavy lifting you mentioned, and improve your physical and mental health on the long-run?
Besides, as I understand it, if your company still wants you to work 5 days, you would still have the option. This bill would require them to pay you overtime for that extra day.
I specifically mentioned not much heavy lifting. The most taxing work I've had to do in the past few months was yesterday, lifting a solid core exterior for into place. And the entire second half the day was recovery while I finger painted with wood putty on all the doors and trim.
Regardless of my personal work situation, I can't deny that there would be mental and health benefits for shorter work weeks. I just really don't think that more work would get done in less time, which is what a lot of studies on "office" work seem to say.
It looks like it's about overtime - people getting paid more when they work more than 32 hours.
I honestly wonder why there aren't incremental versions of this. Like why not advertise a 38 hour work week where Fridays are 6 hours long? Or 35 where every day starts or ends an hour early?
Fisher-Price offers half day Fridays in the summer and that's a big part of their pitch for why to work there. They are the only company I've ever heard of with anything like it and it's not even year-round. But it makes a lot of sense.
My current job does this: I work 7-430 M-Th, and then 7-12 on Friday. It's pretty cool, and the extra hour those 4 days feels negligible, with an early start to the weekend. Unlike Fisher-Price, though, mine is year round.
However, I've worked jobs that advertise as "full-time, 32-35 hrs/week," and as the system is currently set up, it's sucks big time. Like, I worked as a chef 32-hours a week and (shockingly) got benefits like health insurance and stuff. But when I went to buy a house, the mortgage company told me I either needed another 8 hours per week from my current job, or to find another that would give me at least 40 hours/wk. While the company considered me full-time, the mortgage company did not.
Worked another job for a school cafeteria as a cook, same thing, 30-35 hours per week, but the only benefits they offered were health insurance (which was expensive), and the ability to follow the school calendar. So, we'd get all the half-days and vacation days like the kids did, which was cool, but we didn't get paid for it. So if 2 days per week were an early dismissal, I'd lose about 5+ hours of pay. Any break that was 3-days or more, we had to file for unemployment, which is an absolute joke and headache in my state. The only time I tried before I quit that job, the forms required me to give:
Took me over 3 hours to put it all in, just for the system to acknowledge my bank existed, and then refuse to accept the routing number, trying to force me to get one of those temp debit cards mailed to me (that I think they charge fees on). I was so frustrated towards the end of it all I started putting "Why do I FUCKING need to tell you about a job from 6 years ago when I'm requesting unemployment for THIS FUCKING MONTH" in the comment sections.
Basically, until the laws/regulations regarding worker's rights are standardized and written in a way where workers can actually benefit from shorter work weeks, or actually enjoy the incentives that shorter days and such provide, then these corporations will continue to find these loopholes to fuck us over. It's why I'm trying to go into business for myself in the next few years: set my hours, choose my workload, and not deal with this corporate bullshit anymore.
Sorry, that turned into a rant, and I do want shorter work weeks, but unless the law is written extremely well, companies will just continue these bullshit antics.
There's a bunch of smaller tech companies and ad agencies that do half day Fridays during Summer. (They call it Summer hours and it lasts from Memorial Day to Labor day.) A bunch of my friends work for companies that do this. As someone who works for a small IT company that does not, I am massively jealous every summer.
Can someone explain that "with no loss in pay"?
It's not like there is a magical way to know what you'd get paid if you worked a 40hr week, when everybody works 32hr week, and punish your employer if it's less.
It's not like wages are determined by the government either.
(iii) by adding at the end the following:
"(3) With respect to any employee described in paragraph (2) who in any workweek is brought within the purview of this subsection by the amendments made to this Act by the Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act, the employer of such employee may not reduce the total workweek compensation rate, including the regular rate at which the employee is employed, or any other employee benefit due to the employee being brought within the purview of this subsection by such amendments."
And yes, wages can definitely be determined by the government; see the Federal minimum-wage limit. Salary would remain the same; your hourly-wage would be increased by 1.25x.
It means that full time is 32 hours per week.
I havent read the bull so I don't know what protections it has for hourly or salary employees.
There can possibly be none.
And most things get done in the first 4-6 hours of every day, if it's not a dumb job at McDonalds. So I'm not sure there'll be need to hire many more people.
Is there any reason that it couldn't use existing employees rate of pay as a benchmark and literally force them to pay accordingly while reducing hours? It's not like that wage data is secret its reported to the government as part of withholding. Ultimately a business would have to hire to meet needs or commit to paying overtime to all its 40 hour workers.
Yes there is at least one reason: jobs that aren’t yet defined wouldn’t exist in the Big Table of Centrally-Controlled Prices. So we either don’t apply it to those, or we prevent anyone from creating any new kind of employment arrangement without first getting government approval.
This kind of thing precedes starvation and mass murder. This is very dangerous.
Good for Bernie Sanders.
That would be a great thing but I also had another idea, why can't a test be devised and codified into law, to tie minimum wage to. I know the main reasons why, obstructionist capitalists, but a test to find a living wage, average rent costs tied with other bill expenses and grocery costs. The companies raising costs feel free but the minimum wage will rise. Could something like this work? Tie wages and service/goods costs together to incentivize either livable/thrivable wages or lower costs. either way we need one of those two things, more buying power, or... more buying power.
Something to stop the decages long stagnation of worker compensation.
This sounds awesome. Here's what I wanna know though:
What stops your boss from then saying "You better stop at 31.95 hours or you're in trouble." Because they don't wanna pay overtime? They already do this in a lot of jobs.
So, you'd need additional pay to compensate for less hours, but now you have a two-pronged battle because that just sounds way too lovely.
And I'm guessing a lot of the "exempt" office workers that grind themselves into dust the hardest won't be affected?
I mean hey, I'd rather it just passes and we see what happens, and keep fixing it as it goes, at least it's something! But the hardest part is blocking your bosses from weaseling around laws and screwing you anyway.
having your boss say “stop” at 32 hours is the intent of the bill.
Correct. But that's the issue right now. People look at the equation all wrong and say "I just wish I could get more hours!" instead of fighting for reasonable pay. If hours go down but pay doesn't go up to compensate, a ton of people will actually get hit really hard by this and their lives will get worse instead of better.
Companies can use that tired, stupid line that "Washington says you don't have the eagle-screeching-freedom-right to WORK! How dare they!" and people will buy it.
We don't want that, because it'll turn workers against worker-friendly politics, and that would be a Very Bad Thing, given the level of job-simp-indoctrination we're already combating! :O
This will never be allowed to happen.
Fuck the DNC.
Nice, now you can go from two jobs to three in order to afford a house!
So let's say I run a business and I employ workers at $1000/wk and they work 5 8 hour days. Maybe I have a 10% profit margin on them and I make $1100 for each employee.
If this law passes and I need to pay my employees $1000/wk for 4 days... that means suddenly I'm losing money. Where would that extra money come from? I'd probably end up raising my prices. I'm not necessarily against this plan, I just want to understand what the proposals are to fill this gap. If I work 4 days a week but prices all go up by 20%, I'm not sure that's a good outcome.
You'd have to get rid of the least productive workload. We have work in abundance, but well paying jobs are kept tight by a minority of the population. By reducing the workweek, the medium term natural reaction of the market is getting rid of the least productive jobs, and create job opportunities that pay better all across the board to fulfill the more productive workloads that have just been left vacant, ultimately making each hour of work more productive.
This isn't a painless process: there are businesses that are going to have to rethink their finances and a few will have to shut down. But businesses aren't an end by themselves - they're useful as long as they serve to allow people to earn a living: if we're going to oppose a restructuration of the economy that benefits the vast majority of the people because businesses will suffer, we've got our priorities backwards.
I'm not necessarily opposed to this... I just expected the plan to address how the productivity gap will be filled. Looks like the plan is: "People will just work harder in the 32 hours to make up for it".
My pessimism says that if this passes, businesses will just increase their prices to cover the extra cost per hour of employee time.
I can see how this appears burdensome to some jobs/areas of employment where productivity is directly related to output such as mechanics, plumbers, veteinarians, or maybe even like food service. It's probably not an issue with many fields where productivity is achieved more through creativity/ideas/or generating more efficient workflows to save time. I suppose some fields are already at their "maximum efficiency" and will probably just need to raise prices to accommodate.
I'm actually cool with the prices of those sorts of things increasing if I get three day weekends. For one, I'll have more time to do them myself if I desire, offsetting the cost entirely. Large corporations will hopefully be forced to just eat the loss; sure, companies have no problem kicking up the prices of their services.... but I think they'll find that we won't be quite as dependant on eating out and buying garbage once we have more time to live our lives. Maybe people can learn to maintain their own cars as a swift "FU" to car manufacturers proce gouging and refusing to produce affordable automobiles for the masses.
Just throwing out some thoughts!
when workers won the 40 hour week, the 8 hour day, there were basically no restrictions on the time workers could be required to work.
a 32 hour week is a 6 hour day.
This is weak.
Why do you consider this weak?
I don't oppose this, but it should be done by employees themselves rather than further leaving this up to congress.
How? Maybe by electing people to some kinda group? Maybe a congress of people?
Strikes, refusing to work. Which yes, unfortunately not everyone has that luxury, which it could be argued something like a UBI(or negative income tax) could provide, or at least not as excessive housing costs.
Perhaps collectively gathering, discussing what would be good things, then kindly telling the boss they're going to hold a picket until good things get done.
But honestly, if good things come by law before that, I think it would be neat. Wouldn't want the boss to get scared by all the kindness, you know?
Tell me you've never worked a day in your life without telling me.
That certainly isnt Bernie
You dont get something for nothing, either prices have to rise, or the government is propping up companies that are that ineffient that workers are only doing 32 hours in a 40 hour work week.
You should probably update your economic knowledge.
Study after study over the last 20-30 years has shown that productivity remains or increases when switching from 40 hrs to 32.
Many workers already only work 32 hours a week and fill a chair while bullshitting the rest of the time. Many people do that because they would burn out otherwise. Cut the hours by 25% and it's more reasonable to expect people to actually work. Right now even supervisors don't crack down on that behavior because it's just generally accepted that you can't push people that hard or productivity starts to fall. Imo 30 hours/week is the sweet spot for productivity and cutting down wasted dead time.
Most supervisors don't push that button because they don't want anyone to question how much work they do. Because it's the same as the rest of us. Or less.
The hardass bosses who do demand more typing and more hours simply don't possess self-awareness.
Pharmacist here. I definitely work the full 40 hours basically non stop and... It's awful. I don't think this is how humans are meant to live. If you have a job that absolutely requires the full 40 to be 100% effort, the rest of your life suffers. I believe the reason so many people are able to do 40+ hours is the downtime that's built into most jobs.
I did 30 hours as a pharmacist for years and it was AMAZING. Like the job was still hard, but it felt like I had a portion of my life that was hard. Now that I'm stuck back to 40 it feels like I have a hard life. I barely have energy to give to my 1 year old baby on days off because I am recovering from the day before. I do the best I can but man was I in a better place at 30 hours.
This is a different discussion, but I agree with you. I think the issue you are looking at is that the way the government manages the currency has created the issue where many people NEED to work 40 hours just to get by. The government has been devaluing our wages for generations and we are on the same side, I just think we all need to realize what the actual problem is.
Which is disproved by Germany. When you compare Germany to surrounding countries, the economy of workers that now only work 35 hours per week, has not declined by comparison to neighboring countries.
Other factors are way more significant, like wealth distribution, economic environment, and quality of public services. If you look to UK they are way worse off, because they have generally fucked up and used economic thinking similar to republicans.
Also look at Denmark, we have one of the least number of yearly work hours, yet we are among the highest paid in the world. With almost no natural resources to benefit from.
If you are unwilling to progress, there will be no progress.
You clearly do not have an economics degree, nor do you know what you are talking about
seems like a crazy old man