Bernie Sanders clocks in with 4-day workweek bill thanks to AI and productivity tech
- Reference: 1710514171
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/03/15/sanders_four_day_week/
- Source link:
Sanders, along with Senator Laphonza Butler (D-CA), [1]introduced the Thirty-Two Hour Workweek [2]Act [PDF] in the Senate yesterday, while [3]companion legislation was introduced in the House by Representative Mark Takano (D-CA). The bill would phase a 32-hour week in over three years by gradually shortening working hours.
"The financial gains from the major advancements in artificial intelligence, automation, and new technology must benefit the working class, not just corporate CEOs and wealthy stockholders on Wall Street," Sanders [4]said of the bill.
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"Today, American workers are over 400 percent more productive than they were in the 1940s. And yet, millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages than they were decades ago."
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Sanders introduced the bill during a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing, of which he is the chairman. Along with citing the productivity rise of the average worker thanks to modern technology, Sanders also pointed out in the hearing that Americans are typically working well beyond the 40-hour workweek established by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
"Twenty-eight-and-a-half million Americans, 18 percent of our workforce, now work over 60 hours a week, and 40 percent of employees in America now work at least 50 hours a week," Sanders [8]said during the hearing.
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To put that in perspective, Sanders pointed out that, in 2022, US workers labored for an average of 204 more hours than Japanese employees, "and they're hard-working people in Japan," Sanders said. Americans also worked around 279 more hours than UK residents, and logged 470 more hours on the clock than Germans, all while making around $50 a week less than 50 years ago, when adjusted for inflation, Sanders claimed.
"Moving to a 32-hour workweek with no loss of pay is not a radical idea," Sanders noted – and it isn't, at least based on recent trials of the concept.
[10]Russian businesses want to party like it's 1959 with 6-day workweek
[11]Official science: People do less, make more mistakes on Friday afternoons
[12]Three quarters of UK tech pros are ready to leave their jobs
[13]Dell trials 4-day workweek, massive UK pilot of shortened week begins
A massive trial of a four-day work week for the same amount of pay in the UK that took place in 2022 has been [14]hailed as a massive success , with 91 percent of companies included in the pilot saying they planned to maintain the shortened week after the program ended.
Businesses who shifted to the four-day, eight-hour-shift week reported findings in line with previous [15]research from 4 Day Week Global, which found it was easier to attract and retain employees when offering a shorter week. Earlier trials in Japan conducted by none other than Microsoft found [16]similarly that a four-day week led to better results and increased productivity.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates has even said that technology could lead to a shorter work week, but he sees the future of work as an even smaller part of daily life – he [17]asserted last year that AI could lead to a mere three-day week.
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JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has [19]similarly said AI could shorten the workweek, pitching a potential three-and-a-half days of drudgery "because of technology" late last year. Sanders mentioned both billionaires' predictions in a press release about the bill.
Whether it will pass is another thing altogether – Republicans have pushed back hard, with some [20]saying the bill could "destroy some employers."
The Senate, with its slim Democratic majority, would need everyone onboard with the plan to get it passed, and it may be a tough sell for more conservative members of the liberal caucus. The House, controlled by Republicans, may not even bother to move it out of committee – just like [21]what happened to an identical measure introduced by Takano in 2021. ®
Get our [22]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/3947?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22workweek+act%22%7D&s=6&r=2
[2] https://outreach.senate.gov/iqextranet/iqClickTrk.aspx?&cid=SenSanders&crop=19543.95731740.12494810.731960744&report_id=&redirect=https%3a%2f%2fwww.sanders.senate.gov%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2fWIL241041.pdf&redir_log=475267446472419
[3] https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/1332?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22workweek+act%22%7D&s=6&r=1
[4] https://www.sanders.senate.gov/press-releases/news-sanders-introduces-legislation-to-enact-a-32-hour-workweek-with-no-loss-in-pay/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZfR@qBFYancHB1hCMqoIXQAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZfR@qBFYancHB1hCMqoIXQAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZfR@qBFYancHB1hCMqoIXQAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://twitter.com/SenSanders/status/1768378938210865293?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Eembeddedtimeline%7Ctwterm%5Escreen-name%3Asensanders%7Ctwcon%5Es1
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZfR@qBFYancHB1hCMqoIXQAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/22/6_day_work_week_russia/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/04/workers_performance_study_friday/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/11/three_quarters_of_uk_tech/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/11/4day_workweek/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/21/4_day_work_week/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/07/4day_work_week/
[16] https://www.npr.org/2019/11/04/776163853/microsoft-japan-says-4-day-workweek-boosted-workers-productivity-by-40
[17] https://fortune.com/2023/11/23/bill-gates-microsoft-3-day-work-week-machines-make-food/
[18] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZfR@qBFYancHB1hCMqoIXQAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[19] https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/03/jpmorgan-ceo-jamie-dimon-says-ai-could-bring-a-3-day-workweek.html
[20] https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4532457-republicans-pan-sanders-32-hour-work-week-bill/
[21] https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/4728?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22thirty-two+hour+workweek+act%22%7D&s=1&r=2
[22] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The problem is this political interference forcing honest American companies to pay workers.
Given how beneficial the lifetime unpaid internships allegedly were we must reintroduce the system to make American 1850 again
Sadly most people are unable to see that most of the regulations being pushed by the politicians who've never had a real job in their lives are designed to make people dependant on the state. Similar in the UK with all the tax credits and the such that allow companies to underpay in the knowledge that the taxpayer will stump up the rest. We've got a bonkers system where if you work more you get less...
Living in government housing and buying from the government shop is no different from the old factory towns. You become a serf of the state.
Fast food is already moving to automation which is removing a large number of low skill jobs. Soon there will be none as automation takes over coupled with large numbers of store closures due to soaring crime (even though the quoted numbers are going down due to the redefinition of 'crime'). So far every minimum wage increase has led to more automation. Self checkouts, the touchscreen ordering at McD's or having to use an app rather than talk to a waiter.
The 4 day working week has been tested on the sort of people who only need a flat space for their laptop and a wifi signal to work. Middle management paper pushers who read a few docs, look at a spreadsheet and occasionally answer emails. I have no doubt that these people would be very upset if they could not get their overpriced starbucks or their uber eats 24/7 during their 3 day weekends.
I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad and our mother would kill us and dance about on our graves singing Hallelujah.
"You become a serf of the state."
As opposed to the serf of the psychotic billionaire with the private tropical island and the mega-yachts?
Luckly I am a skilled worker so have the option to decide which psychotic billionaire I am a serf to.
You are of course conflating two completely different things to object to one of them, a classic straw man.
Firstly the "state aid" you decry, well yes to a degree, if a company can pay below subsistence and have the state pick up the balance they will. There are circumstances where this is necessary but it should never be by design. If a company can pay a dividend, if a company can pay outrageous amounts to the C suite then they can meet the wage bill and any state aid given to underpaid staff should be clawed back from the company once they are profitable. The government should never subsidise badly or maliciously run companies and they should definitely prosecute if such schemes are exploited.
This is mainly a US problem, in most countries workers have rights and enforceable minimum wages and things like tips are extras not an undefined part of the wages.
As for coverage, that's dumb argument. With people working 40 hour weeks companies manage 24/7 or 9 to 5 for 5 to 7 days with out any problems so reducing the individual hours should present no problems whatsoever.
No straw involved and this is not limited to the USA. Govts in Europe are more likely to have topup benefits for working people compare to the US. Work should pay enough and not require tax money to top it up.
"As for coverage, that's dumb argument. With people working 40 hour weeks companies manage 24/7"
Every employee has a a fixed overhead to a company so more people = more overhead. This is why uber etc. have gone with the 'contractor' model as suddenly those overheads have gone away. Almost every attempt by govts, usually of the 'progressive' variety, to improve workers rights and conditions results in some unintended mess that actually makes life worse.
Remember California and their AB5 to try and put the squeeze on big corps for using gig workers? Suddenly the media orgs who used to use a lot of freelance journos switched to a much smaller number of employed staff writers. The freelancers who would normally write for a number of publications ended up jobless and a little upset.
Don't forget the coin clipping to pay for currency devaluation!
Short version:
Sen Sanders' proposal is a good idea but will fail to address the reasons of *why* so many people are working themselves to death.
Long version:
I am still recovering from about two months of working six days a week. Even the massive overtime I was getting wasn't worth it. I'm thankfully not in a situation where I normally need to just to keep fed and a roof over my head, but many people are, and they would not be impacted at all by Sen Sanders' proposal, even if it *is* a good idea overall.[1] And it doesn't matter if minimum wage is $100 (or £100 or €100 or whatever) an hour if the cost of living wasn't out of control, and a substantial portion of the population will still have to work 50+ hours a week just to survive.
Only part of this necessity, albeit a rather large one has to do with normal supply/demand[2]. It's also a matter of monopolies, whether in essential communications services, or housing. A relative handful of entities own roughly 80% of the rental housing market in the Bay Area, and as the lawsuits against that Texas company's rental pricing software show, collude to jack rents beyond the stratosphere. These companies also place bids on new homes that very few people could even hope to match, convert various units to AirBnBs, and would rather keep vacancies for tax reasons than lower rents. And I'm not even getting into the "everything is an ever-increasing subscription" model for so many other things in life. At some point, government intervention to control the cost of living has to happen. Breaking up these monopolies, encouraging "work from home" where possible and converting now vacant office spaces into housing, and doing away with zoning restrictions in the way of denser construction could make a significant dent in that cost, and, I'd argue, are better options than price-controls.
[1] Even though it won't benefit me personally, and I do think that the US needs to improve the work/life balance of its people overall, this idea doesn't address those driven by necessity.
[2] Housing construction, especially the denser sort is often blocked by zoning/NIMBYs and nowhere near enough to meet needs.
The same problem is everywhere, housing costs are out of control. Massive housebuilding programs are needed but politicians can't allow that to happen because while houses should be cheaper, the ones owned by their voters which must continue to inflate.
Ludicrous property prices are entrenched and many peoples entire worth is locked in property so if there was a (much needed) revaluation downwards of all property these people would have a lower book wealth, it probably wouldn't actually affect them much but they would think it did because the bottom line figures would be smaller.
Again you miss some key details. You can't just build more houses at a whim. It has to be part of a large scale plan that involves schools, doctors, transport, power, water, drainage...
In the 50s and 60s the UK built vertically and the US built the projects and look how well that worked out. The plan was to move people from slums into nice new accommodation and it promptly turned into new slums due to poor planning.
Blackrock and Vanguard are very good donors to politics in the US (and Canada I believe) so they won't be doing much to fix that problem any time soon. Plus it makes for good campaign rhetoric along with climate change and abortion.
Another issue is the 'never worked a real job' Marxist activist types HATE small businesses and especially hate private landlords (petite bourgeoisie/kulak) which has led to a lot of this consolidation. The ACA did this for medicine.
WFH has its own problems as a HUGE amount of money has been put into commercial real estate and a crash of that market would be horrific. Not helped by the 'everything is an investment' culture which has seen people who bought EVs with the plan of selling them for profit burnt horribly.
"American workers are over 400 percent more productive than they were in the 1940s"
Oh hell -- is that four times or five times as productive? The prevalence of using percentages instead of multiples both forces us to do rapid mental arithmetic and results in ambiguities of this kind. But I suppose it sounds much more impressive to say "1000 per cent" than "ten times", or even "200 per cent" rather than "double".
I'm a bit puzzled as to how this is going to work. Working 5 days a week is largely a convention that those who don't work shifts live by. Are they going to make working 5 days a week illegal or are they going to enforce a cap on hours per week that anyone can work? What about those who sometimes need to work overtime?
There are solid reasons why some occupations have a daily limit on activity (truck drivers etc) but for many jobs this is not the case. I know that many Americans are effectively wage slaves but I'm not sure that this is really aimed at them anyway.
This ridiculous demands of the workshy for a 5 and 1/2 day week is being led by that arch communist Henry Ford
If workers expect almost 2 days a week off the world will collapse, this is unreasonable government interference in true American capitalism
The woke mob will be stopping me sending children up the chimney next
Next thing you know workers will demand that they have money left after buying bread & water from the company store! Damn communists!
From the news report I am recollecting, they will bring the legal definition of a "work week" down from 40 to 35 hours and increase work that is considered "overtime". So if you want or need to work 40 hours you are still considered "full time", but if you want or can work *35* hours this no longer classifies as "part-time", therefore requiring full benefits and Social Security be paid.
They are trying to change the legal classification of a 'full' work week; it is up to the worker & the employer to decide if they want to take the 4-day week. If they do take the 4-day week, you are still a "full time" employee.
This is all wrong!
If you want a 3-day weekend, it's easy!
There are 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week. So remove 3 hours from each day, and we can have 8 21 hour days per week. We'll call the extra day Spartacusday - seeing as it's my idea. Problem solved.
I don't know how long we'd have to wait to have the technology to speed up the rotation of the Earth so that daylight matched our new days. But the extra day of weekend should be compensation enough in the meantime.
He's way behind. WFH has already lead many people to have a 2 day work week, if that.
""Twenty-eight-and-a-half million Americans, 18 percent of our workforce, now work over 60 hours a week, and 40 percent of employees in America now work at least 50 hours a week," Sanders said during the hearing."
Then American politics has worked. We've all been brought back to the design and ethics of the 1870's - heck, a few years ago they were trying to bring back child labor under the guise of "Freedom to work!".
I'm...pleased...that I am much closer to the end of my days than to [my] beginning. It isn't worth being here any more.