So after 32 hours would be overtime?

[u/Busy_Report4010]

[u/AutoModerator]

Hey /u/Busy_Report4010, thank you for posting to r/SipsTea! Make sure to follow all the subreddit rules.

Make sure to join our brand new Discord Server to chat with friends!

We have recently changed how posts work. Unless you are a VIP poster, your post will be queued for approval.. To become a VIP, post great engaging content. If we like it, you will be added! More information available here!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/ecw324]

Doesn’t he mean that your current 40 hour paycheck will be the same as the proposed 32 hour paycheck?

[u/Abigail716 → u/ecw324]

Yes his proposal is basically to force companies to give you an hourly rate increase and then decrease your work week by 8 hours and then have to start paying you overtime after 32 hours.

So basically a government mandated 25% raise, plus overtime after 32 hours.

Which being as the man has never managed to pass a single bill of significance in his entire political career, I wouldn't put any hope into this passing either

[u/CatBrisket → u/Abigail716]

im all for a shorter work week with the adjusted pay. just get the feeling that since businesses will have to hire additional employees to cover that lost 8 hours (or pay the overtime). im pretty sure that cost will be passed on to the consumer base. It's not like companies to just part with their earnings so easily. Plus the lobbyists (was surprised to see meta so high on the list) would heavily oppose it.

[u/EdriksAtWork → u/CatBrisket]

It happened in France (39 down to 35 hours) and the economic effects overall have been so subtle no one agrees wether it improved or not the economy. Basically a mixed bag; created jobs, but also increased hourly rate. Increased worker productivity, but might have caused some inflation.

For the average Joe tho, it was a big improvement in quality of life

[u/Important_Pear8386 → u/EdriksAtWork]

Shouldn’t improving the quality of life for the “average Joe” be the primary objective?

[u/Deep-Detective-9226 → u/Important_Pear8386]

You filthy socialist.

(yes that's what matters indeed)

[u/LibraryF33S → u/Important_Pear8386]

Fucking thank you.

[u/Vek_ved → u/Important_Pear8386]

Shut up communist or socialist or whatever 'ist' that you are. How dare you question the billionaires.

[u/soldatoj57 → u/EdriksAtWork]

That’ is the point most clowns in this thread miss or don’t care about

[u/RightLow5962 → u/EdriksAtWork]

As someone that runs a small business I just don’t know how the business would survive without jacking up the price they are charging a consumer. So you have to pay the employee the same but they work less and you only make x amount when they work 40 hours. Paying the same and they work less hours the x amount might be half of x amount of less.

[u/MalevolntCatastrophe → u/RightLow5962]

Depends on the business, if a small grocery store had to make this adjustment, they might just cut a shift one day and let their customers know. Customers will do their shopping on other days instead, workers get an extra day off, and pay stays the same.

[u/TransSapphicFurby → u/CatBrisket]

As opposed to them raising prices while giving us less money for more hours?

[u/Ponzini → u/Abigail716]

His goal is to continue bringing allies to the side of progressives. Right now he literally cant pass bills because he doesn't have the votes.

He has done a very good job at growing the progressive movement so he could have the votes soonish.

[u/Felix_Von_Doom → u/Abigail716]

He'd need to include the stipend stipulation "Companies cannot downsize operations to meet this new standard of pay and workweek"

My pay, as someone who is essentially second from the bottom, my hourly would be nearly $30/hr. The managers above me would go to 44-50, area managers to 46-55, sort managers to 82-110, and senior managers from 152 to nearly 200 an hour. At just my station alone.

Companies would rather cannibalize en masse than pay such a jump in wages.

[u/ThatRandomGuy86 → u/ecw324]

Yes. There's a few countries that already do this in Europe.

Take a guess at which ones given they're the happiest places on the planet for multiple years now.

[u/JAMESs3v3n]

Friendly reminder: Henry Ford was one of the first major industrialists to adopt the five-day workweek. He argued that workers with more leisure time would spend more money on consumer goods, like the cars he was selling.

The current weekend was created primarily to sell products. A four-day workweek is long overdue.

[u/Yardnoc → u/JAMESs3v3n]

Nixon also wanted a 4-day 32-hour work week, yeah it was so Americans could create art and conquer the world culturally but whatever I'll take it.

[u/drillgorg → u/Yardnoc]

One of the things I vaguely miss about the cold war era is both sides showcasing art and human achievement. There seems to be an attitude of "who cares" now.

[u/labe225 → u/drillgorg]

Everything will be a gray box and you'll like it!

[u/Excellent-Speaker934 → u/labe225]

Hey now, don’t forget beiges and off whites.

[u/Particular-Solid8250 → u/Excellent-Speaker934]

My wife is all in on that absolute shit that is tormenting modern fashion and home decoration they like to call "pastel colours" which is just a fancy way of saying bland shit.

[u/karmakaze → u/Particular-Solid8250]

There’s a theory that this trend is hanging on so hard because it’s a backlash to ubiquitous advertising. If you go anywhere, there are billboards and screens everywhere set to be as bright and loud as possible. Ads on your devices are similarly garish and intrusive. So in areas a person can control, they pick something bland just to get away from it.

[u/Particular-Solid8250 → u/karmakaze]

There's probably something to that. I'm a person who removed all social media accounts in 2017 except reddit, and I don't own a TV so maybe I'm not getting bombarded in the same way. Or maybe my life is just that bland that I like to have some colour in my life.

[u/Throwaway3751029 → u/Particular-Solid8250]

Wait, I though pastel colours were anything but bland. Like if I painted a room in a "pastel colour", I would be choosing something of a lighter version of a bright colour, like a light blue, light green, etc. Colour but not overwhelmingly so.

[u/That_Dad_David → u/Particular-Solid8250]

https://giphy.com/gifs/de0xIgxhZgAXJbKGNd
Pastels are beautiful! How dare you!

[u/epileptic_pancake → u/drillgorg]

I mean, it's less "who cares now" and more "how to achieve maximum monetization". Which is terrible and kills all the interesting stuff about art.

It's why Disney keeps shitting out live action remakes instead of doing something interesting. Less and less entertainment is about doing something interesting or thought provoking, and more and more its about amassing a giant pile of cash at the end

[u/tommypatties → u/drillgorg]

The cold war era needed a middle class to stymie socialist sentiments.

The post-cold war era does not.

This is what it all boils down to.

[u/RelativeAnxious9796 → u/tommypatties]

the great tragedy is that the generation who gave us the new deal, and the generation who benefited the most from it, are both about to shuffle off this mortal coil and leave us to contend with the 50 years of ronald reagan they have left us with as the tiny window of actual working class improvements are taken off the legal books, erased from history, and usher us right back into the new gilded age.

[u/MisterGreen7 → u/drillgorg]

It’s not really about “who cares”, it’s now more about AI. Even if most of the people don’t like want it, the major powers do and, including drones, are racing each other to have the superior automation force

[u/drillgorg → u/MisterGreen7]

I felt this way long before AI.

[u/Obant → u/MisterGreen7]

Has zero to do with AI and more to do with money and them no longer being a need to appease the masses. This has been happening since at least the 80s and Raegan.

[u/Rocketbrothers → u/Yardnoc]

What a true cultural victory kind of player he was.

[u/chystatrsoup → u/Rocketbrothers]

If only he'd used his spies to steal great works instead of offensive domestic operations

[u/Zisthebest1235 → u/Yardnoc]

Also pushed for universal healthcare if I’m not mistaken

[u/BrittanyBrie → u/Zisthebest1235]

And vetoed the war powers act allowing the president to declare war, congress voted it in via a supermajority after the veto.

[u/mainman879 → u/BrittanyBrie]

You are misconstruing the War Powers Act. It was not meant to increase the President's power but rather limit it. It put into law more clearly the limits on how and when the President could intervene, and for how long. Some limits put in place by the Act:

• The President must inform Congress within 48 hours of any armed forces being used.

• Forces cannot be deployed for more than 60 days without explicit Congressional approval.

• The President can only use armed forces when Congress explicitly allows them, or when the US is facing a national emergency because of an attack.

This Act was put forward because of the Vietnam War, where the President deployed the armed forces for an extended time without a declaration of war. Nixon and Gerald Ford opposed the act because they thought it unconstitutionally limited the president.

Only Congress can declare war. The War Powers Act never changed that, and put more limits in place.

[u/BrittanyBrie → u/mainman879]

In practice, this allowed the president to declare war by allowing them to enter a conflict for 60 days without authorization, and by then congress is stuck between a rock and a hard place, so theyve always voted in favor of continuing the war budget. It did not put more limits in place for the president, it allowed the president to begin wars without congressional approval for spending for 60 days. They opposed the act because they knew what shit hole the country would be in if we allowed the president to essentially declare war through loopholes.

There's a reason why congress has not declared war since the act was enacted, congress did not want the power to declare war anymore and wanted more loopholes so they didnt get stuck with a political hot potato. Now they just wait for a 60 day conflict before they even have to lift a finger.

[u/SeniorAlfaOmega → u/BrittanyBrie]

136 days and counting

[u/Steve_but_different → u/Yardnoc]

Yeah I'll make some art if you give me more time away from work.

[u/rc_ym → u/Yardnoc]

Nixon is one of those examples of how liberal GOP polcies were before the Reagan take over.

(Not ignoring Nixon was a racist, evil, human, but still EPA is cool. YMMV)

[u/RevelArchitect → u/Yardnoc]

Nixon had an incredible bipartisan track record. His achievements from a liberal perspective are honestly impressive. He created the EPA, for fuck’s sake. He won 96.65% of the electoral college (third highest in history) and over 60% of the popular vote.

But then he fucked it all up by being paranoid and crooked.

[u/IamElylikeEli → u/Yardnoc]

Nixon was surprisingly forward thinking sometimes, he actually had a few good policies. he WAS a racist and a horrible human being.

its funny, we now know he wasn’t involved in planning or carrying out Watergate, only in the cover up.

not to make up a new conspiracy theory, but its almost like his own party put him between a rock and a hard place…

Ford Pardoning him is why we’re where we are today.

[u/Laringar → u/IamElylikeEli]

Roger Stone has a lot to do with why we're where we are today also, and he was at least tangentially connected to Watergate, with it giving him part of his political start and reputation for dirty tricks. He was also heavily involved in both the 2000 and 2020 coups that centered around delaying the counting of ballots so that the Republican candidate could be declared the winner. In 2000, it worked, and I personally think that has a lot to do with why the climate is so screwed now. If not for him, Gore would have been President, and Gore made fighting climate change the centerpiece of his campaign. Bush, otoh, did a lot to dismantle the effort to fight emissions, and now here we are.

[u/IamElylikeEli → u/Laringar]

when the whole Enron financial scam collapse happened and there was very little legal punishment for any of the top level figures I remember there was an news story about how one of the people who lost their life savings was Al Gores Mother, I feel like he, as President, might have had a more… intense reaction, that could have dissuaded some of the corporate greed we see today.

[u/Playful-Ad8851 → u/Yardnoc]

Give me 3 day weekends and I will create art and conquer the world culturally.

[u/Wind388 → u/JAMESs3v3n]

It wasn't Henry Ford. It was the unions and the strikes. This propaganda needs to be quenched.

[u/snake7752 → u/Wind388]

Absolutely correct. In fact, he was sending dudes to threaten and beat people up that were trying to form Unions. FDR essentially forced guys like Ford, DuPont, and JP Morgan to allow them.

Look up the Battle of the Overpass

[u/EquipLordBritish → u/snake7752]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Overpass

[u/snake7752 → u/EquipLordBritish]

Also check out "The men that built America" (2012) and "The Titans that built America" (2021) if you want something interesting to watch that covers some of the UAW vs Ford stuff. Good series from the History channel considering they don't really put anything actually history related out anymore.

[u/Extension-Land-390 → u/Wind388]

100%. Ford ordered strikers to be shot dead in the street, and the national guard complied.

[u/lumpialarry → u/Wind388]

Five day work week was adopted in 1926, ford didn't unionize in 1941.

[u/burratna → u/lumpialarry]

Adopted by Ford in 1926.

It's funny when it was not Ford, nor unions forcing Ford's hand that first adopted a 5 day work week. Ford takes all the credit for it like he does so many things. Then people rightfully shit on Ford while wrongfully lying as a means to do so.

It took decades for Saturday to change from a half-day to a full day’s rest. In 1908, a New England mill became the first American factory to institute the five-day week. It did so to accommodate Jewish workers, whose observance of a Saturday sabbath forced them to make up their work on Sundays, offending some in the Christian majority. The mill granted these Jewish workers a two-day weekend, and other factories followed this example. The Great Depression cemented the two-day weekend into the economy, as shorter hours were considered a remedy to underemployment.

Where the Five-Day Workweek Came From, The Atlantic

[u/zzen11223344 → u/JAMESs3v3n]

We will see how far this will go in US 😄

[u/JeffersonsHat → u/zzen11223344]

Straight into the garbage 🗑

[u/neckbass → u/JeffersonsHat]

yup! these greedy ceo’s will work you to the bone. even if we get pushed to a 4 day work week they will figure out a way to make it shitty.

at my old job, they cut our hours (and pay) to 32 hours a week because we were slow and instead of giving us all a day off they made us work 6.4 hours per day. they also said we could get a second job if we needed to make up the pay.

how the hell can i get an extra job where i work 1.6 hours per day to make up the time and don’t even get a day off of work. at least if you gave me four 8-hr shifts i might be able to find a part time job working on my day off

[u/Steve_but_different → u/neckbass]

Yeah I would 100% quit that day. If your employer is cutting your hours and pay by that much, the ship is sinking anyway.

[u/SpiderHack → u/zzen11223344]

You'd be surprised, quite far, since it already exists for a large percent of employees, just not officially.

So many people take PTO on fridays. My company has 9/9/9/9/4 hour weeks during the summer, so we can take 2 fridays off for a single day of PTO, etc.

[u/Expert-Upstairs-4502 → u/SpiderHack]

Yeah but thats PTO youre being essentially forced to use when at your max, 4 day work week would give you double the time off that PTO does and then youd still have PTO to use on top of it

[u/Alarming-Inspector86 → u/zzen11223344]

4 10s is the best schedule

[u/Maybewearedreaming → u/Alarming-Inspector86]

I’m an Amazon driver and that’s what I do

4 10s and if we want overtime(I do) we can do 5 10s

Plus we get paid the whole 10 hours everyday

So I work 5 days a week / 40-42 hours and get paid for all 50

I love it, gives a lot of flexibility with kids and planning things

[u/CitronTraining2114 → u/Maybewearedreaming]

Gotta admit, it's kinda refreshing to hear from someone who isn't bitching about Amazon.

[u/Maybewearedreaming → u/CitronTraining2114]

Ya I mean i have it good with a good DSP but it’s a good job for people who just need some work, pays more than any other entry level labor job by a good bit. I’d even prefer to mow lawns all day but I’d be taking like a 5 dollar pay cut & benefits to do it

I’d sign a union card tomorrow though and wish I could make a career out of this job. I genuinely love and enjoy the work itself, but there’s just a hard ceiling in terms of advancement and pay opportunity

[u/AlanBumin → u/Alarming-Inspector86]

So close. 4 8’s

[u/wanna_meet_that_dad → u/Alarming-Inspector86]

I recently did 4 days for about 6 months but went back to 5 days. The 10s just killed my day. I never felt like I had time on my work days to do stuff and then my extra day off used to catch up on sleep and work around the house.

[u/Cynical_Thinker → u/wanna_meet_that_dad]

If you can handle 4x10, you probably don't have a long commute or a lot of demands.

A 10 hour day becomes a 12 after traffic for me and then I can't really do much except eat and crap out. And you're right about the exhaustion after the fact, I'm fucking beat and I have to do all the chores I've been neglecting during the week.

An 8 would be much more beneficial because I'd be reaching that 10 with the commute and have two more hours each day, plus the extra day off.

[u/Spazero → u/JAMESs3v3n]

Important to note it says 32 hours not 4 day work week. I already work 4 10 hr days. Sometimes more.

[u/oddlyescapingsouls → u/JAMESs3v3n]

True! He was a racist POS but at least he understood how economies work, unlike all the current racist POS in charge now🙄

[u/MeretrixDominum → u/oddlyescapingsouls]

A racist Point of Sale system might actually be a great financial idea. Thanks, you'll see me a billionaire in a few years now.

[u/mobilonity]

Wtf, you want me to spend more time with my family? You nuts?

[u/Alone-Areaa → u/mobilonity]

So you are telling me I could have Fridays off and still pay rent? Sign me up.

[u/MrNobody_0 → u/Alone-Areaa]

Honestly, even with a 40 hour work week, 10 hour days with three day weekends is awesome, it's what I use to work.

Now my shift is 10hr on Friday, 12hr on Saturday and Sunday, Sunday is time and a half, so I'm working 34 hour week but getting paid for 40 hours. And I get a four day weekend.

Edit: to add, it's a union sawmill.

[u/amzwC137 → u/MrNobody_0]

Yeah. I used to work 4x10s. Best thing fucking ever! Fortunately I loved my job.

When I had a normal 5x8, I would stay after my shift and use the computer to do research and learn more about what I was doing. I'd often leave hours after my shift ended. When I moved over to 4x10, staying the extra 2 hours felt like nothing.

I miss that.

[u/BruceInc → u/amzwC137]

I own a metal fab shop. Have a crew of about 15 people. We offered 4/10s instead of 5/8s to them and everybody unanimously said no thank you. Was a surprise to me as well because I thought they would be thrilled about it. Our work is pretty physically demanding so I guess that’s why.

[u/arequipapi → u/BruceInc]

Try offering 4 10s on an alternating schedule like M-Th week A, week B Tu-F. That way every other weekend is a 4 day weekend. I had a job like that once and absolutely loved it. Every other weekend I got to go camping/hunting/take a road trip/whatever. 4 days off in a row, even if only every other week, is a dream

[u/yoskinna → u/arequipapi]

I just started a job working Friday, Saturday, Sunday. 3 12’s, 6-630pm. Not too much time after work but every week is a 4 day weekend and I love it. Plus helps being home during the week to be able to avoid daycare for the kids

[u/lamebrainmcgee → u/yoskinna]

I did 3 12s like that and it eventually went 6-6 with a 20 minute lunch. I loved it for all the free days. Though friends with normal schedules you almost never see. Great for college courses though.

[u/MidtownFrown → u/BruceInc]

I used to be a machinist. I hate 4, 10s. I like having a little time at the end of the day, to work on the stuff I need to do around the house. With 4, 10s. That extra day off was just another work day at home, to get all the things done I couldn't do during the work week.

[u/BruceInc → u/MidtownFrown]

Yeah, with 4/10s you’re basically coming home and going straight to bed. And then your Friday is just spent on all the deferred chores.

[u/FILTHBOT4000 → u/BruceInc]

Four 10s works great, if you live near your work. That's the key, the commute.

If you live 5-10 minutes away from work, then working 10 hours is NBD. Feels fine. Feels like a regular 8 with an average commute. But if you have to commute a half hour, 45 minutes or more... then it sucks.

[u/Whompadelic → u/FILTHBOT4000]

That’s funny, I feel the exact opposite. My hour to work and hour an a half back is 2.5 hours lost for the same pay if I work 5 8’s instead of 4 10’s. So a shorter commute would be the only way I’d go back to 5’s

[u/miami13dol → u/Whompadelic]

Agreed. I'm spending around 10hrs commuting a week. I would gladly work 4 10's to save 2 hrs a week and fuel.

[u/Taitosoku → u/BruceInc]

This is not specific to your comment but a response to it and the others in the thread above. We should not NEED 4 / 10s to have a 3 day weekend. (That you all most certainly deserve!)
It has been shown that your productivity starts to rapidly fall off after 6hrs so adding an additional 2 hrs to your day just makes you less productive and more exhausted. We should have enough people in the force to allow us to work less and have more time off. We should be working shorter weeks to allow us to do OTHER THINGS. Unfortunately our current system was built to do the most work with the fewest workers possible. And then ties our worth to those hours we sacrifice. All that to say that i agree with the og post in that we should work less and still have a basic living wage that covers all our human rights until we are able to implement a system that guarantees those rights and work becomes less of a work to live and more of a work to make the community better.

[u/TompallGlaser → u/BruceInc]

I work four 10s, 5 to 3. Still a lot
Of daylight when I get home. Usually go to bed around 9:30/10, get up around 4:15. Works for me.

[u/DaRealBSleazy → u/amzwC137]

My place makes me work 2 12's and 3 10's every week

[u/Teguoracle → u/MrNobody_0]

Part of getting my dream job was having to go back to five 8s from four 10s and it was almost a deal breaker... I wish four 10s was the standard

[u/Pasta4ever13 → u/Teguoracle]

Yeah, I think 4 8s is definitely better considering the workforce is absurdly more productive than it was when the 40hr workweek was established, and wages+benefits have not kept up with the pace of productivity.

Basically, the issue we have is that people kept getting more productive, and capital owners just pocketed the increase in productivity and gave the workers absolutely jack fucking squat.

[u/RamBoSkiLLz → u/Pasta4ever13]

And they call it margin and give themselves the credit for the work you have done on time or earlier. Then turn around and blame you for being so expensive and cutting into their margins that you helped create for them in the first place. But fuck you for being so expensive! You greedy fuck you!!!

[u/Pasta4ever13 → u/RamBoSkiLLz]

It's ok, we will have a 32hr workweek soon enough. The olds are leaving this plane of existence at a rapid clip and socialist ideals are wildly popular with both millennials and Gen z.

The absolute meltdown gen x is going to have when mild social democratic reforms start getting implemented is going to be chefs kiss.

[u/CoffeeChocolateBoth → u/Teguoracle]

32 sounds better with same pay!

[u/dysfunkti0n → u/MrNobody_0]

Expertly done

[u/DJEkis → u/MrNobody_0]

God I miss having to work 4-10's or 3-12's and getting the full 40.

Being on my feet for so long was rough but having 3 or 4-day weekends? That shit was irreplaceable. I'd gladly go back to it, hell it felt like I was more productive when I knew I had a short week lol

[u/PMPKNpounder → u/MrNobody_0]

I'm so envious of you and this schedule. I used to run my kitchen this way pre COVID.

[u/Few_Argument3981 → u/Alone-Areaa]

I do 4x10s so i still work 40hrs but i have fridays off already and its so damn nice to have a 3 day weekend.

[u/10000Didgeridoos → u/Alone-Areaa]

I've been doing this for 3 years now. 36 hour job Monday to Thursday. It will have to be pried from my cold dead hands.

5 day workweek needs to die.

[u/OutrageousLenny → u/mobilonity]

32 hours with full pay and I might actually have time to do laundry and be depressed on the weekend.

[u/CoffeeChocolateBoth → u/OutrageousLenny]

OR, you might rest up some and feel less depressed?

[u/modsguzzlehivekum → u/mobilonity]

You sound like a lot of managers I’ve worked with. So many times I’ve just sat in the office bsing for 3-4 hours getting nothing accomplished because there’s nothing to do but listen to them talk about politics and sports. They’re not happy at home so they just want to hang out at work

[u/Rustybeeverlicker → u/modsguzzlehivekum]

Literally It will be hilarious all the work wives and husbands are going to be upset

[u/Bonk_No_Horni → u/mobilonity]

What family? I work so I don't have to be with my own thoughts so now what the hell am I going to do? 2nd job? Then I'll have too.much money!

[u/SatinHeartt → u/mobilonity]

32 hours of work, 100% pay.

CEOs : this is violence.

[u/MEPSY84 → u/mobilonity]

No, he's trying to ensure Americans get the opportunity to start other families....you know, like they did in the 1950s or what was shaken out during COVID. 

This is your chance to start over!

[u/AromaticSpot → u/mobilonity]

I’m open to the idea

[u/Ok_Drop3803]

I'm a road service technician who bills by the hour at like $200. So if I go to a 32 hour week from 40, does my employer just have to eat the lost $1600 per week, per tech? How would this work for us?

[u/Phill_is_Legend → u/Ok_Drop3803]

Theoretically yes. In reality, no. They just charge us more for your services lol none of this works unless you regulate pricing.

[u/SenseiTano → u/Phill_is_Legend]

It worked when we got a two day weekend in the first place. Short term would be chaotic in certain sectors but long term it would adjust.

[u/JoshAllentown → u/Ok_Drop3803]

Yes, but no. They would raise the hourly rate on those 32 hours, and if such a thing exists in your industry they would buy some technology to help you be more productive, service more cars per hour. Maybe some sort of AI to file paperwork for you or something. And they would hire more 32hr workers so they could still get to the same volume.

It means inflation to some degree, productivity gains to some degree, increased hiring to some degree possibly supplemented by technology...really hard to calculate out how individuals would end up financially. I'd suspect a bit worse off financially but 8 extra hours in your week too, might still be worth it.

[u/BlueClovr → u/Ok_Drop3803]

It doesn’t work, it’s a fantasy concept

[u/Mr-Pickles-123 → u/Ok_Drop3803]

It’s more about vibes than math

[u/archtopfanatic123]

There was the post about Finland's past prime minister I think suggesting this? One guy brought up a good point that if you cut work hours down it means you need more people to do the same amount of work which means more people can get hired which means lower unemployment which sounds like a good thing right?

Edit: I don't know almost anything about this because frankly I don't care but thought that this might be relevant to some capacity to the discussion here so do with that what you will

Second edit: This isn't to say I don't care about the folks responding, it's to say I probably won't have much to say in response other than I don't know much because I never cared to learn much, so that much I guess.

[u/Solid_Snark → u/archtopfanatic123]

Also some jobs don’t need to work that long. I can literally do my entire day’s work in 4-5 hours. But I have to work 7.5 hours. Thus I either finish work and then pretend to look busy. Or I just drag my feet and make the work last longer than necessary.

Mandatory work hours is the enemy of efficiency. Shit, if you allowed me to leave early I’d be so motivated I could probably finish in 3 hours.

[u/Kaedryl → u/Solid_Snark]

"If you can do a day's work in 4-5 hours, then you need more work daily."

- Every employer ever

[u/TheTacoInquisition → u/Kaedryl]

What they don't factor in is that I CAN do the same work in 4-5 hours today, BUT tomorrow I'm doing it in 4.5-5.5 hours because it was more effort and I'm tired, and the next day I'm doing it in 5-6 and the day after it's taking 7-8 and so on. Giving more time off means I can work more effectively because I'm not burning out.

I worked for a place that trialled a 9 day fortnight (every other Friday off), and found not only no loss of productivity, but higher retention as it's a good perk. The trial was months long, but after official adoption they revisited the results after a further 6 months to try and remove the bias from people just making sure it stuck. Just one data point, but it was interesting to see that it can actually work.

I would LOVE a 4 day week. Treating the Friday as a "get stuff done" day was awesome and let me use my Saturday for fun and/or just recharging.

[u/archtopfanatic123 → u/Solid_Snark]

I'm guessing you work a job that has a limited amount of work that can be done per day and can't just be doubled to fill the day right?

[u/Solid_Snark → u/archtopfanatic123]

Basically, yeah, there’s an “overnight” process to our computer system so it’s kind of a “hard stop”. You have to wait on the overnight before you can continue working on it.

Although their are seasonal grinds where work pics up, but I am then dependent on others submitting their work to me, and others don’t work very hard so they usually procrastinate until the final deadline it all gets dumped at my desk lol

[u/HAIL_LUMPUS → u/Solid_Snark]

So I have a production based job and it fucks me. Im super fast and efficient. It took the guy before me 50 hours to get the job done, takes me around 32. I literally get paid less to be better. Luckily my current boss rewarded that with a 50% raise lol no other business owner has seen that, and let me get frustrated and quit and then acted surprised and mad I quit 😂

[u/eW4GJMqscYtbBkw9 → u/Solid_Snark]

It's the minority, but would need to take into account emergency services that may not have 8 hours of work per shift but need to be on "standby": doctors, police, firefighters, etc.

[u/plummbob → u/archtopfanatic123]

 One guy brought up a good point that if you cut work hours down it means you need more people to do the same amount of work which means more people can get hired which means lower unemployment which sounds like a good thing right?

Thats not how the math works in theory and not how business works in practice. The business will have a wage-budget that is equated to the revenue product of that wage. Administrative costs go up with additional workers, so in reality firms will probably scale production back in keeping with 32 hours worth of productivity.

Taken to the extreme, the logic can't possible really work -- its not like we'd double employment if we mandated a work week of 20 hours, or quadruple it if we had only 10 hours, etc.

[u/archtopfanatic123 → u/plummbob]

Ah I see

[u/empty_graph → u/archtopfanatic123]

It also means every business now has to spend an additional 20% on labor which it going to result in massive price increases.

[u/bonghitsforbeelzebub → u/empty_graph]

This is what I keep saying. I own a small business with four employees. In. 40 hour week we are probably productive for 38 of those hours. If everyone went to 32 hours I would need to charge a lot more or pay my employees less.

I get some jobs have a lot of downtime and could still get all their tasks done in 32 hours. But lots of people like electricians plumber even doctors simply could not get the same amount of work done. And they would need to be paid less, or charge the customer more.

[u/ReturnOfSeq]

*and significantly better protections against companies taking advantage of salaried positions.

[u/Anim4L53]

I don’t see how this will work for construction.

[u/MrGrumpyFace5 → u/Anim4L53]

We will start every job behind schedule, so business as usual.

[u/joesphisbestjojo]

I'm all for shortee work weeks, but that means we'l need an increase in pay, which I'm also fine with

EDIT: maybe I misinterpreted "no cut to pay"

[u/HalvdanTheHero → u/joesphisbestjojo]

That is what is being called for. Your take home pay not changing but you work fewer hours, and if you work the same schedule as you do now (presuming 40hrs per week) then you would be getting overtime for the last 8hrs. 

Edit: added "take home" to clarify that I'm talking about your total income instead of hourly rate.

[u/secondphase → u/HalvdanTheHero]

Sort of...

Salaried employees the pay would not change, but salaried employees are overtie exempt.

Hourly employees would require a pay raise... 40 hours @ $20 is $800... would require $25 an hour at 32 hours to get to $800.

It's a minor thing, but the question is HOW this would work, so its relevant.

[u/OddMammoth1 → u/secondphase]

Maybe I'm pessimistic, but what would be stopping people from creating salaried positions and requiring unpaid overtime? There is nothing worse than overtime on a low salaried position. 

[u/RightOnManYouBetcha → u/HalvdanTheHero]

And how will the government force private business to achieve that?

[u/Mr_CarTheBOSS → u/HalvdanTheHero]

Which will result in companies refusing to give that OT meaning you’ll be taking a cut

[u/NoWay6818 → u/joesphisbestjojo]

Let’s add on call pay should be a thing if they’re gonna call us in randomly.

[u/Oraxy51 → u/joesphisbestjojo]

The idea is 32 hour work weeks without cutting compensation. Just to be clear.

[u/alloran988]

I’m all for this but what happens to the school day? Teachers work greater than this every week and I’m not so sure people are ready to accept shortening the school day

[u/hbhunk63 → u/alloran988]

And how about surgeons lol

[u/vao71]

Picture of politician with text underneath and no source. This sub is so unemployed.

[u/WolferineYT → u/vao71]

This has been a major talking point for Bernie over a decade. His opponents don't even contest it they just make up bullshit about how it would be bad for some unknowable reason. Like shit is common knowledge to anyone who keeps up with politics

[u/BungleBums → u/vao71]

They're the source. It's been a major campaigning point of theirs for years. Maybe you're less informed than you think you are 🤷‍♂️

[u/MInclined → u/vao71]

I’m not sure if one needs to cite that the sky is blue.

[u/Imaginary-River136]

I don’t get it, if I work 32 instead of 40 and I get paid hourly. Unless I’m salaried this sucks for me.

[u/Owww_My_Ovaries]

And half the people here will complain when retail places have even less people there to take their complaints

[u/ricksterr90]

I can foresee many company’s only offering 28 hour work weeks and just paying you the hourly rate . Unless he makes it so every person gets paid a salary , there’s always going to be a workaround

[u/Due-Sheepherder-218]

More time to work our 2nd and 3rd jobs

[u/Beastabuelos]

Make it 24. 6 hours, 4 days.

[u/Downtown_Zebra_266]

What are the logistics around hourly employees? This is great for salaried people but if you're hourly this will hit your bottom dollar. Unless the goal is to give them a higher hourly wage to equal out to 40 hours. Is that it?

[u/MechanicalGodzilla → u/Downtown_Zebra_266]

There is no actual plan, this is just populist harangue and sloganeering by text over a photo, entirely for the purposes of getting upvotes and karma farming

[u/Jamesk2895]

I'd love to understand the logic on this, like how would it work for salaried vs hourly people?

[u/weekedipie1]

we have politicians like this in the uk,will never be in power so basically say what they want while taking the taxpayers money

[u/Asiantight_whitepipe]

That would be amazing, but then you pass the price increases onto your boss. Which they have to supplement that increase from somewhere. Means cut from somewhere else.
Not to mention, would increase every single services timeline to get something done from ordering food to getting deliveries

[u/dietdrpepper6000 → u/Asiantight_whitepipe]

This is important to keep in mind, but it is also important to remember that not every job is manufacturing. Actual white collar work is almost never 40 hours of raw concentration. Actual blue collar work involves a good amount of chilling in the van zyning & playing phone games. In reality, the most expensive labor is project based, and won’t be that sensitive to a shortened work week.

[u/Mountain_rage → u/Asiantight_whitepipe]

Cuts could be to profit margins for once, but who am I kidding. The paper pushers at the top wont allow that to happen. Trickle down economics must continue at all costs!!!

[u/Dolphin_Spotter]

I worked a 36 hour week for 40 years in the UK. With 32 days paid time off per year. Unions are great organisations.

[u/Beligard]

I've been working 4X10 work weeks for years. Having 3 days off is just way better than two.

[u/BlackberryNice7390]

Poland is in the middle of testing 32-35 hour work weeks. It may be implemented in the next few years.

[u/ApprehensiveZebra156]

Good for me as a government worker I'll work 2 days but get paid for 5.

[u/iguessma → u/ApprehensiveZebra156]

so you're saying your job is redundant

[u/joppe00 → u/ApprehensiveZebra156]

The avg office worker as well

[u/LughCrow]

Pretty sure my factory would cut one person from each line if this happened. Just increasing the work load

[u/IndependenceMurky850]

He's saying what he thinks people want to hear but he's an idiot if he thinks things will be different, think about it alot of jobs already try to rush people off the clock so they don't have to pay overtime,so with a 32 hour workweek we'll be losing 8 hours a week which at minimum wage is $58 in lost wages

Now imagine if you're already working two jobs to barely stay afloat and you then lose time from both of them,you know what that means? Time to look for a third job buddy

[u/Fanfare4Rabble → u/IndependenceMurky850]

Agreed. Employers (retail) already keep a lot of people under the benefits required hours. So people will just have 3 McJobs instead of two.

[u/Obviouslynameless]

He is just a snake-oil salesman telling people what they want to hear.

[u/Complete_Insurance24]

Sure. I bet that will work well.

[u/DarkWater693]

If this were to happen. Not every business would follow this or even reinforce it. I worked all through covid my life DID NOT change. When covid prices dropped, business did not change their prices. I work at 24/7 type business. We get fucked on holidays, I know damn well nothing would change for me.

[u/GroundbreakingAd8310]

I also wanna genie.

[u/Necessary_Screen_673 → u/GroundbreakingAd8310]

32 hour workweek is absolutely within our capabilities as a society

[u/Accurate_Outcome_510 → u/GroundbreakingAd8310]

You realize that the 40 hour workweek only came to be because of political and popular support for it, right?

This exact process is exactly why you're not regularly working 7-day workweeks.

[u/CompetitiveAutorun → u/Accurate_Outcome_510]

Also I need to bring it up, 5 days working for 8 hours is literally made up, it's not science, it's just someone vibes.

We should be working less, that's the true progress. People died in the past for less work and now people are like "but what about companies profits?!?"

[u/HumorTurbulent8070]

I can see no one here owns a small business. Try paying people the same for 20% less work and you’ll go out of business. Starbucks will be ok. The Indy coffee shop will close.

This is the sort of short term, socialist thinking that leads to disaster.

[u/jimmyjohn2018 → u/HumorTurbulent8070]

In their infinite wisdom they will simply force more capital into the largest businesses than can bear the costs and price increases. I guess if their real goal is actually communism this would mean fewer companies to take over. Which is probably why the USSR grocery stores looked like they did - with almost no variability in product. These people have no concept of consequence and that should scare everyone.

[u/Popular_Monitor_8383]

I mean sure a lot of people would love that but I genuinely can’t see how you would enforce this.

[u/Lopsided_Run663 → u/Popular_Monitor_8383]

Just like how the 40hr workweek is enforced

[u/CertifiablySilly → u/Popular_Monitor_8383]

Same way we enforced the 40 hour work week in the 1930s. We pass a law.

[u/RaccoonSamson → u/CertifiablySilly]

That solves the 32 hour issue but not the money. New hires would be screwed because they have no "current 40 hour paycheck"

And if a job is paying people $12 an hour for 40 hours and is forced to raise that to $15 for 32 hours, they'd be incentivesed to fire their current staff and hire new employees for $12 an hour for 32 hours. Everybody loses

Unless the federal minimum wage skyrockets this whole idea is dumb as hell

[u/Popular_Monitor_8383 → u/RaccoonSamson]

It’s like some people have never taken an economics

“what if we just paid people the same but to work less”

Like yeah it sounds awesome but it’s not really feasible, and would really destroy small businesses while empowering big businesses.

[u/That_OneOstrich → u/Popular_Monitor_8383]

With legistlation. Let the lawmakers figure out how to word it.

[u/RedApple655321 → u/That_OneOstrich]

I'm not sure it'd be enforceable at all though, and/or that it'd hold up in court. Let's say you own a company, and employ me at $25 per hour. At 40 hours, that's currently $1k per week. So legislation would have to stipulate that you have to 1) pay me a different wage ($31.25) AND anything over 32 hours is considered OT. Second part is doable. There's no precedent for the first part. Might not hold up in court. If it did, would be very difficult to enforce. And even it went into effect, there's zero way to ensure that wages don't just stagnant such that there's then just no wage growth until inflation catches up with that $31.25 wage.

[u/Sea_Watercress_1982]

Four 10 hour days. That’s the dream right there.

[u/Hitman_acho → u/Sea_Watercress_1982]

the moment my job let me choose that, i hopped on it asap

[u/Sea_Watercress_1982 → u/Hitman_acho]

Has a buddy that works that schedule. Has the weekends and Wednesday off. Brags about how he only has to work two days in a row.

Fucking unicorn.

[u/Valor_X → u/Sea_Watercress_1982]

Used to do "4 10's" and while it was nice to have 3 days off, the days you did work you literally had no time for anything else. Wake up, Work all day, Sleep.

If you take 1hr lunch which you should for such a long shift, that's 11hrs at work, then you have to add the time if you have to drive to and from work.

So errands that you would normally have time to do before/after work with a regular 8hr shift you really have no time with 4 10's and have to use one of your off days for them instead. Like mowing the lawn before or after work, grocery store runs, going to the gym/park, etc. That's just my experience

[u/milljer]

Yeah sounds great. I think this guy should stop getting credit for ideas he never executes on. For all his ranting, he has not moved the ball an inch in the direction of his so-called policies. I was a big supporter of his campaign against Clinton but I am done with nice words. Do something substantive

[u/jimmyjohn2018 → u/milljer]

Saying these things get him book deals and $100k speech fees at colleges. Doing these things loses him the support of the people that actually fund his campaigns.

[u/No-Market425]

He's an unserious person and anyone who still buys this in 2026 is an unserious person too.

[u/TheDancinD918]

For the many of us who get paid hourly, would see a cut in pay,

[u/Jane_D0ughh]

Never going to happen. Bernie just be talking

[u/LarealConspirasteve]

Posturing for mid-terms. We're hearing a lot of these guys proposing things they have no intention of getting passed. Oldest trick in the book.

[u/Nikolaibr]

Bernie really has a knack for taking an idea that is practiced elsewhere, and then proposing the most extreme example of it. 32 hours is officially the lowest average amount of hours per week of any developed country .

Just propose 36 hours like most of Western Europe. It's much more rational, and wouldn't massively disrupt the entire economy.

[u/Hairy_Technology_213]

Bernie busy thinking the big thoughts. Thats probably why he didn’t have time to research whether he was endorsing a Nazi rapist in Maine.

[u/Neat_Carob_3490]

Must be nice having a job where you produce nothing and still get paid...even if you just sit around.

[u/buckeyemike1974]

I will take ideas from people that never owned a business for 1000 Alex...

[u/Wolfatthedoor11b]

Pretty easy to say from a multimillionaire who barely works as it is.

[u/Ye_Yuan]

Does this include truck drivers or are we still working 70hrs a week for cents per mile pay?

[u/OkIndividual4909]

Who's gonna pay for this?

[u/merlinn2u]

how many people does comrade bernie pay out of his own pocket? how many hours a week do they work?

[u/Chaz28o]

He’s hellbent on either bankrupting companies (employers) or inflation. Or both

[u/ApatureSilence]

I love this, but would accelerate the rise of the 1099 to ungodly levels unless regulated.

[u/No-Concentrate-6049]

Bernie is an idiot.

[u/Enigma_xplorer]

Yeah same pay less hours! Ok well we're going to have layoffs. The good news is we have some new job openings but it's about a 20% paycut..... This is the thing with these socialist Democrats, they are totally delusional when it comes to economic realities.

[u/Knoblicker]

Ummm then that means businesses are going to lower salaries. Duh.

[u/UniqueLog8386]

That's a stupid idea. There are tons of jobs that have overtime specifically because they have too much to get done.