Of all the things Congress chooses to devote its time to....

[BOP]

... this is the most important issue. I realize that this bill is 3 years old, but it came up on the rotation this week.

Introduced in House (07/27/2021)

Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act


This bill shortens the standard workweek under federal law from 40 hours to 32 hours over a three-year phase in period. It also requires specified overtime pay for workdays longer than eight hours.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/4728

Could the Senate pass federal bill for shorter workweek? Here's what to know​

WASHINGTON − There's a revived effort on Capitol Hill to make a shorter workweek the new norm.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., announced Wednesday he will introduce a bill to establish a standard 32-hour workweek that would result in no loss in pay.

Sanders, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, will introduce the legislation Thursday during a hearing on the need for a shorter workweek.

“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."

Could the Senate pass federal bill for shorter workweek? Here's what to know

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., plans to introduce legislation that would reduce the standard workweek from 40 hours per week to 32 hours per week.

www.usatoday.com

 

[vraiblonde]

So cut 8 hours a week - also cutting 8 hours of pay?



Young people are so freaking lazy. You see them all over Reddit whining that working a 40 hour week leaves no time for their social life and fun. It's like, dude, we all managed to do it, you're just a lazy tweaker.

 

[WingsOfGold]

Introducing the 32 dollar Big Mac!

 

[TPD]

So for every 4 employees I have now, I will have to hire 1 more to make up the difference in hours. It’s hard enough now to find people to fill positions- can’t see how this benefits anyone.

 

[SamSpade]

So for every 4 employees I have now, I will have to hire 1 more to make up the difference in hours. It’s hard enough now to find people to fill positions- can’t see how this benefits anyone.

And THERE is the problem - the work hours STILL need to be completed - OR stores close earlier - OR there's less accomplished, because everyone goes home earlier (if it is done with shorter shifts rather than days off).

I will go out on a limb here - SOMEHOW other developed nations manage to keep up with American productivity and yet we work far more hours a year than they do. They manage to grant their population more time off, more vacation, more leisure time and yet manage to keep up with us. Germany is near the bottom of the list with 1353 annual hours worked (an 8 hour work week would yield 2040 with no time off). Americans average around 1800.

And it also follows a pattern of the last 70 years - DEVELOPED nations work fewer hours as automation and developments in technology allow people to work fewer hours. EVEN nations like Japan, whom we tend to think of working furiously, now work on average 200 hours LESS a year, than Americans.

There ARE a few nations that still grind out a lot more hours - these TEND to be poorer or developing nations.

The shorter work week is being TRIED around the world for the past few years - most of them, since the pandemic, and that makes sense.

For the record - I am not in favor of it.

 

[GURPS]

Meh

No decrease in productivity .... now much time is taken up with office ' chit chat '

 

[OccamsRazor]

Meh

No decrease in productivity .... now much time is taken up with office ' chit chat '

If this is true, then why are many companies and corporations pushing for a return to the office? Why would a business want to open up office space, pay to heat them, pay for electricity, supplies, etc. if production from at-home workers is booming?
I am not saying the at-home workers aren't producing. I am saying that the overall "So much more is getting done by work-from-home employees" narrative is simply not true in the larger sense.

 

[Hijinx]

Just more commie sht from Bernie Sanders.

 

[HemiHauler]

If this is the same bill that was introduced in 2021, the aim is to make it so that overtime, for eligible staff, starts after 32 hours. This is a way of (ostensibly) bolstering employment rolls.

Much like the discussion around minimum wage (exempt vs. non-exempt), this too takes place at the low end of the skill scale. The easiest way to insulate oneself from these sorts of problems is to upgrade your marketable skillset.

Not everyone will learn to code or how to be an engineer, but if you have IDEAS, this is the easiest country in human history where one can achieve success. Whether it be in business for oneself or doing it for someone else. ….. You’ve gotta have ideas and know how to shuttle them to fruition.

That could take 20 hours a week or it could take 120. And no one will care because maybe your work punches far above its weight class. And you’ll be earning an income commensurate with what the market will bear and bonuses to better reflect your value.

But when one is paid hourly for flipping burgers …… you’re paid hourly. No worky, no pay. Sorry, no one is innovating in burger flipping. You are paid to be a machine.