[ad_1]
Sen. Bernie Sanders this week said that despite advances in technology and productivity, Americans continue to work long hours for low wages, raising the standard U.S. workweek from 40 hours a week with no reduction in pay. He announced a bill to shorten the time to 32 hours.
If passed, the law would shorten the work week over four years and lower the threshold for workers to qualify for overtime pay. The 40-hour work week has been the norm in the United States since it was established by federal law in 1940.
During Thursday’s hearing in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on the bill, Sanders, an independent from Vermont, said the benefits of decades of productivity gains have only been reaped by corporate leaders and are shared. Said it has not been done. together with the workers.
Citing statistics that show that American workers on average work hundreds of hours more each week than workers in Japan, the United Kingdom, and Germany, he said, “The sad reality is that Americans are now as wealthy as any other.” This means that they are working longer hours than the citizens of other countries.” .
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) said at the hearing that such cuts would hurt employers, send jobs overseas and cause a dramatic rise in consumer prices.
“It will threaten the millions of small businesses that cannot find enough workers and are operating on shoestring profits,” Cassidy said.
Although Sanders was not the first to propose the idea, it was originated by Richard Nixon, proposed by autoworkers, and embraced by companies ranging from Shake Shack to Kickstarter to Unilever’s New Zealand arm. It has been experimented with.
However, the concept has gained momentum in recent years as the Covid-19 pandemic caused fundamental changes in work culture and reset job expectations. California Democratic Rep. Mark Takano introduced the 32-hour work week law in the House in 2021 and reintroduced it in the Senate as a companion bill to Sanders’ bill.
In proposing the bill, Mr Sanders cited a study carried out by 61 UK companies in 2022, which found that most companies that moved to a four-day week saw stable sales and productivity. On the other hand, the number of personnel attrition has decreased significantly. The study was conducted by the nonprofit organization 4 Day Week Global in collaboration with researchers from the University of Cambridge, Boston College, and the think tank Autonomy.
The study’s lead researcher, Boston University economist Juliette Scholl, said at a public hearing Thursday that 91% of companies that switched to a four-day work week remained with the new system a year later. I testified.
“Participants are telling us that the new schedule is life-changing,” Scholl told senators.
Critics, including some who testified at this week’s hearing, say many of the pilot programs are narrowly focused on the types of companies that can offer flexibility in work schedules, and that employees are encouraged to practice They say they ignore many companies that are doing the same work.
“There is no statistical evidence to warrant a nationwide 32-hour work week,” said Liberty Bittert, a statistics professor at Washington University in St. Louis. “If it works for some companies in some sectors, that’s great, but it doesn’t apply to all sectors.”
[ad_2]
Source link
