Work less for the same pay.
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, as chairman of the Senate Health, Education and Labor Committee, is promoting a bill this week to reduce weekly work hours while maintaining Americans' wage levels .
Its goal is to go from a 40-hour work week to a 32-hour week.
According to Sanders, this initiative represents a significant step forward
“to ensure that workers benefit from the massive increase in productivity driven by artificial intelligence, automation and new technologies
,” he said in a statement this Wednesday March 13.
This bill has already received the support of
4 Day Week Global
and
WorkFour
, two American associations which campaign for the four-day week.
Reduce stress
The Democratic senator insists that this proposal is not radical, pointing out that
“American workers are 400% more productive than in the 1940s
,” despite the 40-hour work week established at that time.
Yet many American workers are currently working more hours for lower wages than they were decades ago, a situation Sanders wants to change.
He asserts, in his press release, that it is time for working families to benefit from increased productivity, thus allowing them to enjoy more free time, spend time with family, seize educational and cultural opportunities and to reduce stress.
The bill also proposes reducing the maximum number of hours needed to earn overtime, as reported by NBC News.
In addition, overtime would be paid at a rate increased by 50% for workdays exceeding eight hours, and the salary of employees working more than 12 hours per day should be doubled.