Credit: Jack Gruber-USA TODAY NETWORK
(Washington, D.C.) — Senator Bernie Sanders has introduced a bill that would establish a four-day work week in the U.S. If passed, the bill would lower the threshold required for overtime pay from 40 hours a week to 32 over the course of a four-year period. The Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act would also protect employee wages and benefits to ensure there’s no loss in pay. In a press release, Sanders says a 32-hour work week is not a radical idea, and he says American workers are over 400-percent more productive than they were in the 1940s.
The Vermont Independent says financial gains from the major advancements in artificial intelligence, and automation should benefit the working class, not just corporate CEOs and wealthy stockholders on Wall Street. The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, will hear from a number of bill supporters including, United Auto Workers President Shaw Fain who is applauding the legislation.
A number of studies show that productivity actually improves when there is a four day work week, because workers are happier. France has a 35-hour workweek. The UK has experimented with a four day work week.
