What if you could work just four days a week but get paid for five?
That’s essentially what Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers, has been agitating for in ongoing labor talks in Detroit.
The reform-minded union leader envisions a 32-hour work week for 40 hours of pay, and overtime for anything more.
As wild as that might sound, he’s leaning on a concept that has captured the imagination of workers all over the world, thanks to widely publicized trials. Microsoft ran a month-long pilot in Japan in 2019 and reported hugely positive results, including a 40% increase in productivity. More recently, dozens of companies in the U.S., Canada, and Europe have participated in ongoing trials that have likewise been deemed successful.
But Fain’s push — alongside other “audacious demands” (Fain’s own words) the UAW has laid on the table — is noteworthy because of how radical a change it would represent.
“Our members are working 60, 70, even 80 hours a week just to make ends meet,” Fain said on a Facebook Live event last month. “That’s not a living. That’s barely surviving, and it needs to stop.”
I hope it sticks and grows. We all need this. 😔
Most office jobs do less than 30 hours of actual work per week. This is way overdue.
Shit, I’d take four 10-hour workdays and a day off over five 8-hour workdays. It’s not about the hours per week, but about being able to enjoy a full day to myself.
I wouldn’t. That’s four days of hell for 3 days of catching up on everything. That’s you essentially having 4 days of doing nothing but work, getting to work, and managing family, with no time to do really anything else. All of your chores, all of your preparation, everything have to be done during those 3 days. That would be brutal.
Any office worker who tells you they do 40 hours of work a week is lying. There’s so much time wasting, gossip, water cooler talk, or just staring at the wall. People are burned out after 30 hours. Everyone feels more rejuvenated after a three day weekend, 2 days just isn’t enough to come back feeling refreshed, so Monday is usually a wash anyway as we get back in the zone
You’ve been in the office mines.
As much as I support this, I’d be shocked if they were able to reproduce what Microsoft experienced in a white collar environment. White collar engineering gigs are VERY different than a factory line that has been optimized for efficiency for decades.
4x10 hour work weeks are nice. I had negotiated for that at one location I worked at. I had Wednesday off. This had me working only 2 days in a row and with that Wednesday off I could get errands done that are normally difficult on weekends.
That said I do not think they should only have to work 32 hours for 40 hours of pay. Maybe that is their way of asking for too much and allowing the company to feel like they negotiated a little.
The argument is that the 40 hour standard was introduced when we were much less efficient with our labour, thanks to technology our productivity has skyrocketed while wages and working hours remain largely the same. The companies have been enjoying all the success while the workers who actually produce the value of the companies get scraps
