Democratic Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced new legislation Thursday that would establish a four-day work week for employees across the country without any loss in pay.
The 32-Hour Workweek Act, which is backed by California Sen. Laphonza Butler and California Rep. Mark Takano, would reduce the standard work week from 40 hours to 32 hours.
In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the Fair Labor Standards Act, which regulated standard working hours and conditions across the United States for the first time. In 1940, the FLSA established the 40-hour work week as the federal standard.
Though the FLSA drastically improved working conditions for U.S. employees, the act is outdated, Sanders said in a statement Wednesday Consequently, he is campaigning for a shorter work week to compensate for the surge in productivity driven by the recent surge in technological developments.
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"Today, American workers are over 400 percent more productive than they were in the 1940. And yet, millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages than they were decades ago. That has got to change," Sanders said in the statement. "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."
As of 2019, the statement said, nearly 40% of workers in the U.S. work at least 50 hours a week, while 18% — of 28.5 million employees — are on the job at least 60 hours a week. More than 8 million U.S. workers report working multiple jobs.
Sanders ran two presidential campaigns in 2016 and 2020 on the promise to improve workplace conditions and create more stable jobs. Since January 2023, he has served as the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
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Takano announced a companion bill in the House. Sanders held a HELP committee hearing Thursday morning to discuss the act with witness testimony from sociology experts and those campaigning for a shortened work week, including Shawn Fain, the international president of United Auto Workers, an American labor union that represents employees in the United States and southern Ontario, Canada.
