A.I. aside, we should get 4 day work weeks regardless.

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[–] 1 point 1 year ago

How early do you guys think we were with the introduction of AI? I’d guess 5 years, at least.

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  • [–] 37 points 1 year ago (23 children)

    We are already more productive than any other time in history and we don't have a 4 day work week.

    If we did get a 4 day work week, the owners would not scale our pay to accommodate for less hours on the job. 15/hr over 50 hours would turn into 15/hr over 40 hours, not 18.75/hr over 40 hours.

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  • [–] 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

    A 4 day work week wouldn’t change anything for people working an hourly wage.

    This is talking about redefining ‘full-time’ at a legislative level from being 36 hours to something less.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    So would this not be worse for, for example, people on partial disability benefits who are allowed to retain benefits while working part time but not full time employment?

    If nothing changes for them but they are now registered as full time employees, they lose their benefits for nothing in return. Who would this help?

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago* (2 children)

    I don’t think the work requirements for disability work that way, or are tied to the same legislation.

    It would help people who work full-time. People who work hourly already don’t work M-F 8-5 most of the time.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago* (1 child)
    1. Interesting. I was under the belief that disability benefit requiments basically meant "unable obtain and maintain full time employment due to a disability". After some research it seems it's more about how much money you earn than how many hours you work.

    2. Are you not conflating Part Time/Hourly and Full time/Salary?

    70% of Americans work full time and just under 60% of American workers are paid hourly wage.

    For example, every factory I've worked in has been Full Time hours with hourly wage pay.

    It's mostly Managerial/corporate positions that are salaried afaik.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Suppose that, at a given moment, a certain number of people are engaged in the manufacture of pins. They make as many pins as the world needs, working (say) eight hours a day. Someone makes an invention by which the same number of men can make twice as many pins as before. But the world does not need twice as many pins: pins are already so cheap that hardly any more will be bought at a lower price. In a sensible world, everybody concerned in the manufacture of pins would take to working four hours instead of eight, and everything else would go on as before. But in the actual world this would be thought demoralizing. The men still work eight hours, there are too many pins, some employers go bankrupt, and half the men previously concerned in making pins are thrown out of work. There is, in the end, just as much leisure as on the other plan, but half the men are totally idle while half are still overworked. In this way, it is insured that the unavoidable leisure shall cause misery all round instead of being a universal source of happiness. Can anything more insane be imagined?

    --Bertrand Russell, In Praise of Idleness

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (15 children)

    Not what is happening in Spain, nor would it make any sense to mandate that… And you work 50 hours a week?

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (14 children)

    I'm not saying that the law would require all wages to stay the same, I'm saying that without the law specifically stating that wages MUST raise to accommodate, they will stay the same, resulting in overall less payment. We can't even get a federal minimum wage increase, certainly not a full wage increase tied to an hours reduction.

    Yes, why? The example would still ring true with a reduction from 40 to 32 hours.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (13 children)

    But… like… do you think someone would openly campaign with a plan that fucks everyone over? I… I just remembered that Trump is a thing…

    But yea, such law would necessitate that

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago* (12 children)

    how does a law force companies to scale wages instead of firing? At-will employment is a thing. How does a law also retroactively make all at-will employment subject to investigation if they dont scale wages and fire instead? What laws around the world accomodate this kind of situation?

    Lots of people advocate for things that have unforseen consequences. Its not impossible for that to happen, no?

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (11 children)

    Dude…

    Company needs x amounts of work done for which it requires y amounts of employees. An av employee is not going to take exponentially more work on its shoulders all so that the companys profit line, so the company will keep all its employees it requires plus a few ceos…

    Could some companies tittering on bankruption go up? Yes, but their and their owners/shareholders interest is to be secondary of that of the greater public

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (10 children)

    so the company will keep all its employees it requires

    Is that not the case now? Companies only have the staff the require at any time, no? So if hours get cut, they cut staff, no? I'm all for reducing work weeks to 4 days, it honestly won't bother me even if I take a pay cut, I make enough right now so a pay cut won't hurt me. I'm just wondering how in the world is my employer going to feel incentivized to pay me more an hour to work fewer hours. Let's say I make $100/hour (I don't). I work 40 hours a week. $4000 a week, cool. Now a law happens: I can only work 32 hours for full time and more than that is overtime. I'm still making $100/hr, no? Okay, $3200 a week. That's fine and dandy if you make that much, but I'm just wondering how that helps people who make minimum wage and whatnot. They can just keep working 5 days, overtime now, to keep up their bills while I, a person who makes more than them, get to enjoy the sweat off of their back on my off day?

    This already happens with weekends: poor people work them, not the rich. It's not a zero sum thing, but I'd absolutely prefer a solid UBI plan than a 32 hour work week. With a UBI, a 32 hour work week can just happen naturally as people work less. Either way, I'm just have way more questions with a 32 hour work week than a UBI, and a UBI can get much better support than a 4 day work week honestly.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (9 children)

    Its not in their interest to pay you more, tough knuckies for them as it will be mandated

    Why do you think you need their consent and support?

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (8 children)

    Thats what I was asking, will there be laws to ensure a raise in wages? What are those actual policies being proposed? Is the FCC going to enforce it? The trump FCC is gonna do it or what happens when the next republican president happens?

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (7 children)

    …. Yes, something being mandated means that it is change brought by law; a law is not a law if its not enforced

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago* (6 children)

    But what laws are being proposed by which lawmakers? You understand we need congress for this proposal, right? You say Bernie wants 32 hours, but is he for raising wages forcing all corporations and small businesses to raise their wages by 20%, or just raising the minimum wage? Who else in congress is on board with the laws he's proposing? Is there a bill? Until any of that happens it's all talk.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (5 children)

    You do know this is not the fun kind of trolling? I don’t mimd you taking 30 seconds of my time

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago* (4 children)

    I dont find trolling potential leftists fun, so Im not sure what the fun kind of trolling is in this context. I dont benefit from trolling you because you might have information I want: The names of lawmakers and what policies or laws or bills they support to bring about fairer labor laws. You either have that information and are willing to part with it, or you arent willing to part with it, or you dont have the information. Im not sure which one is you since you remain deliberately obtuse.

    So far you have given me: Bernie Sanders wants 32 hour work weeks for full time benefits. Very cool, but thats not legislation. Bernie is a legislator, he has done much better than creating a bill that says "32 hours for full time. Increase wages or else we will... be mad?" and he has made a lot of good bills and amendments in the past with much better language. I was hoping for a bit more from you is all. My bad.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (3 children)

    You either have cognitive issues or you think wasting my time is funny

    -What is the name of a politician that was mentioned in the post? You have the guy who promised to do the thing -While I cannot physically imagine why you are expecting hundreds of pages of a political program on lemmy instead of taking your lil hands and looking it up yourself, which I won’tbe doing for you, you know whats the supposed endgoal is! And then you can look up your preferrred analyst and choose to believe them or not!

    And I am being obtuse…

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  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

    Thanks for suggesting I look it up, I found this:

    https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/1332/text

    This is a great example of something that addresses the concerns I have, I assumed you already saw this since you seem to be informed on the issue. Are there any more like it that can potentially address any other concerns I mentioned before?

    Bare in mind, the amendment proposed in that house bill does not address any of the following:

    • It does not require employers to pay workers the same weekly pay for fewer hours (i.e., no guaranteed wage preservation).
    • It does not require employers to adjust hourly wages upward to compensate for lost hours.
    • It does not establish a new minimum wage or cost-of-living adjustment.

    None of the current FLSA text mandates any kind of salary or wage calculation, so the amendment has to include it if that's the solution proposed, which it seemingly is not. Again, you say I can look this stuff up and it's all available and this is all I could find. Surely you know more than me, right?

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    Look at how much time you saved and look how much better info you got…

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago*

    I would have saved so much more time if you just answered my questions, and now all I am left with is obviously you have no clue about 32 hour work weeks. You also don't seem to be capable of expressing why you think this is a good idea. You are the obtuse one, in my finding. You think I'm the one trolling when obviously you are the one who is just saying things to argue for no reason. You contributed zero to this discussion. I was asking the questions. I found the information. I came up with the conclusions. All you did was say "I like bernie sanders her dur"

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  • [–] 28 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I think the plan is to lay us off altogether.

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  • [–] 22 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Improved efficiencies should mean we all benefit across all sectors and ways of life.

    But improved efficiencies actually mean none of us benefit except those at the top. We should all of us be paid more, have more time off, and have more excess - but at a high level we are all paid no extra, we get no extra time off, we get no excess - that all gets enjoyed by those at the top.

    This is one of many reasons this should be a class war, not a culture war.

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  • [–] 21 points 1 year ago

    I don't disagree. Few people are better positioned to help make that a reality, however.

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  • [–] 17 points 1 year ago

    He doesn't get it at all. AI making people more productive means they can work more and you don't have to pay them as much.

    Sincerely, billionaires

    😒

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  • [–] 16 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Thw American workers productivity has gone astronomically high without AI. We should have 4 day week yes but we need the money from all this productivity first.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    We as a species could have arranged any kind of leisure society when we started using fossil fuels. The energy bonanza that allowed us to reach 8 billion people with chemically-boosted and machine-harvested food allows it.

    Of course, this means a flattening of the lifestyle, no more McMansions but also no more squalor.

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  • [–] 15 points 1 year ago (1 child)
  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    employees in some sectors could easily make do with a 3 day work week, 4 hours per day, no payment reduction. all the rest is just surplus value being generated. however we know that the capitalists will never allow that, and that's the reason we need to, while pushing for work week reductions, agitate the working class today in order to build the revolution of tomorrow.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Meanwhile my job as a phone jockey went from 500 employees to no hiring for 4 years to now 212 employees and calls are back to back with no hope of new job openings... also makes seniority rough as everyone is a veteran at this point.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    Shit drives me nuts. I work for a service delivery organization and the last few years have seen us adopting a new platform that likes to talk up automation and efficiencies. Making things work is my job, but I don't hesitate to tell folks that while we can help improve and change the jobs they do, they still have to have call center and field resources.

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  • [–] 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    If I had to guess, the approach by corporate would be (if forced to give a 4 day work week) to drop hours to just below what is required for benefits. So, they would only agree if it meant they could get out of paying for healthcare and whatnot while at the same time having more authority for non compete agreements. I would absolutely trust whatever plan Bernie comes up with but I think there are very few additional politicians that have our best interests at heart.

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  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago

    If the government would skim a little off the top of its absurd military budget, corporate would have no hold over the healthcare aspect. Their heads would explode if that ever came to fruition. It won’t, but the US government never fully prioritizes the best interest for its citizens.

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  • [–] 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

    I recall one of the ways to enforce a 4 day workweek was to enforce OT starting at 32 hours.

    You could keep working 40+ hrs a week but it would hit the owners wallets.

    Combine that with raising minimum wage and you're getting closer to UBI.

    Neither one would help me I think being salary and around medium working class.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    That'll just make employers hire more employees with less hours.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago

    Based Bernie

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago

    that’s nice marketing for bernie but we all know that won’t happen. not without the kind of revolutionary action that inspired our 8 hour working day, and the original “labor day.”

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago

    Just like the industrial revolution and introduction of computers, right?

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago

    *20 hour work week.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago

    The replacement of human workers begins with bipartisan support.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    But who's going to make my fart and Trump dancing with Musk videos!??

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    bernie is the best ever bernie 2028

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    All the productivity gains in the past have helped us reduced the work load so much, there's no reason AI shouldn't...
    Wait, that never happened, only people forcefully getting reductions in work time have ever gotten results.

    Also it's still not clear whether AI makes any sense or not. Yes, I know it is useful to some, but once you consider all the externalities (which nobody ever does, because "not my problem"), it might not be such a great deal.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    Something you should understand about the 4-day workweek.

    From the studies conducted so far we know it seems to increase overall productivity. Which means companies, or at least some, would make more money if they implemented a 4-day workweek. So then you may ask yourself: why haven't they? Don't they want to make more money?

    Not necessarily. It all comes down to relative wealth. A 4-day workweek would benefit them, but it would benefit regular people more. And so the divide in wealth/power/quality of life would shrink. So technically they'd be richer, but they'd feel poorer, because we'd get closer to their level, even if by just a bit.

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  • Corporate will do anything but. Part time pay, no full time benefits, no pay raise, and now you need a second job.

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  • and if extruded proof of work was meaningful work, something interesting would have happened by now

    if their little genies were real there'd be a good novel by now

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    Been having a 4 day workweek for a decade now, can heavily recommend it. (Work 4x9 hours, every Wednesday of)

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    they’ll all just convince us we need to purchase more, thereby lowering “productivity”

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    There's still too much work to be done.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)

    Bernie the sheepdog says a lot. Ask him to say GENOCIDE

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  • [–] [S] 4 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    True, and he refuses to call it genocide, even when pressured.

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  • [–] -2 points 1 year ago

    Not a speech from him without the obligatory 'Hamas bad' and 'Pissrahell has the right to defend itself'.
    Voted against a ceasefire, etc...
    Has been a snake since forever yet the libs can't seem to notice.
    And they call the Magats dumb.
    Really that banana republic is a lost cause. Time for it to go.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    Bernie always has terrible solutions to his valid criticisms of oligarchism. It should be illegal to work 5 days? Or more hours no matter the pay?

    UBI is only empowering of people solution to US empire/oligarchism. Work as much as you want, with the power to say fuck you if conditions are not good enough for you. Cheer on AI/Robot productivity gains as it increases your UBI.

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  • [–] -3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

    As a non American can I say, does bernie ever actually propose plans or ideas or does he just go around shitting on bad ones?

    Edit: why am I getting downvoted as an outside observer asking a question. It’s concerning that Americans have this NEED to be part of a cult. The right has Trump and many on the left have Bernie. If you dare to question Bernie even a little, or simply ask an unbiased question, and you get piled on.

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  • [–] -2 points 1 year ago*

    He says a lot and want some progressive social stuff but his main function is sheepdog to keep the left in the horriblyright democratic party.
    He tows the Uniparty imperialist warmongering line every time and only proposes good bills or votes for them when it's absolutely certain they wont pass anyway.
    He's a snake, and so is his astroturfed "waitress" successor AOC by the way.
    Now Bernie is past his date and more people finally get what he does.

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