None of this is the business of the federal government to regulate, but, that doesn’t stop people like Bernie Sanders from pushing it. Probably for votes
Bernie Sanders pushes bill to establish a four-day workweek
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., held a hearing Thursday on a bill he introduced to reduce the standard U.S. workweek to four days without loss of pay.
The bill, titled the “Thirty-Two Hour Work Week Act,” would reduce the standard workweek from 40 to 32 hours over the span of four years, including lowering the maximum hours required for overtime compensation for nonexempt employees. It would also require overtime pay at time and a half for workdays that last more than eight hours and overtime pay that would pay workers double their regular pay if their workday is longer than 12 hours.
A press release on the bill described it as an “important step toward ensuring workers share in increasing productivity and economic growth driven by technological advancements.”
“Moving to a 32-hour workweek with no loss of pay is not a radical idea,” Sanders said in a statement. “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. That has got to change.”
This is the Joe Biden Work Week: work 30 hours a week or so and then take the weekend off. Unless the Democrats take over Congress and control the White House, this has zero chance of passing. Democrats might not even vote for it if they do have control. Businesses would need more employees to be able to make it through the week. They aren’t going to go for that. And businesses will invest even more on automation to replace employees.
This is not the 1940s, and I’m pretty sure many were working long hours to defeat Germany, Italy, and Japan. And here’s what you could be looking at
1. Fewer Hours Means Less Time to Get Things Done
While studies have shown that a 4-day workweek can enhance productivity, it also presents a challenge. With fewer hours in the week, there may be limited time to accomplish all necessary tasks.
This makes the 4-day workweek impractical for certain industries, including:
Healthcare and emergency services that require 24/7 coverage
Retail and hospitality businesses that have direct client interactions
Large enterprises with complex operations
There would be the stress of working harder than before to get things done in the shortened time frame. Things like training, trust, team bonding, and others would crop up. Customer satisfaction could take a big hit.
And if Comrade Sanders thinks the pay and benefits will stay the same, it won’t. There are many who work 50+ hours a week to be able to get things done. No company will be paying overtime when people hit 33 hours a week. Small businesses which cannot afford to do the workarounds will go out of business, meaning more out of work. Slackers will not get jobs. Automation will skyrocket. In some cases, those 4 days may be 10-12 hour mandatory shifts, not 8 hours.
It really is not the government’s business, and, again, how much of this is a patronizing idea to get the younger folks to vote Democrat? Even though they were going to vote D anyhow?
Read: Comrade Sanders Pimps Bill For Joe Biden Work Week »