Bernie Sanders has introduced a new act that can benefit working people.
The “Thirty Two Hour Work Week Act” is designed to change the standard of a 40-hour work week, that will allow people to work four days a week for a least eight hours a day. In the proposal, Sanders also included that the overtime pay will be 1.5 times the normal pay rate for anyone who works over 8 hours a day. That rate will double for days worked longer than 12 hours.
“Today, American workers are over 400% 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,” Sanders said. “That has got to change. The financial gains from the major advancements in artificial intelligence, automation, and new technology must benefit the working class, not just corporate CEOs and wealthy stockholders on Wall Street.”
However, those who are opposing this proposal believe that cutting the workweek will hurt employers. Louisiana Republican Senator, Bill Cassidy said, “It would threaten millions of small businesses operating on a razor-thin margin because they are unable to find enough workers.”
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in 2019, “over half of US workers surpassed a 40-hor workweek, with 39% working at least 50 hours weekly.” They added that in 2023 eight million Americans began working a second job and half of that are juggling part-time and full time jobs.
Will you be opened to work at 32 hour workweek opposed to a 40 hour workweek?