Bernie Sanders wants U.S. to adopt a 32-hour workweek

Given advances in automation, robotics and artificial intelligence, Sanders says U.S. companies can afford to give employees more time off without cutting their pay and benefits.

Bernie ahead of the curve as usual and addressing this issue unlike many younger pols.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/17/bernie-sanders-workers-should-reap-benefits-of-ai

One of the most crucial issues facing labor and humanity, and he has long seen that productivity has been orthogonal to pay for nearly 40 years, with the lion's share of the gains going to investors and not labor.

https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/

With the real possibility of astounding gains from automation, this must change.

Yes we can! How about universal access to basic healthcare as well?

Bernie Sanders is often associated with socialist political ideology. Interestingly, it is worth noting that he has a substantial amount of wealth, having been identified as a multi-millionaire. The statement implies that he may not have advocated for certain policies if he was not in a financially secure position.

it is worth noting that he has a substantial amount of wealth, having been identified as a multi-millionaire. The statement implies that he may not have advocated for certain policies if he was not in a financially secure position.

Huh? This makes no sense. He's voting for policies that will cost him more money, being one with money. If he was voting in the interests of his money, he'd be taking polar opposite stances to what he does.

Did you not google who he was and what he's known for before posting this clearly ridiculous statement?

Bernie hasn't been young for a long time, but he also hasn't seemed to have aged much since 2016, unlike (cough) some individuals.

One of the most crucial issues facing labor and humanity, and he has long seen that productivity has been orthogonal to pay for nearly 40 years, with the lion's share of the gains going to investors and not labor.

Interesting use of the word orthogonal. I listened to CSPAN coverage of the hearings this morning and the discussions of productivity advances in industrial production and the arguments for four-day work weeks sound good in places where productivity is not dependant on manual labor. Restaurants and some service industries do not see the same increases in productivity as other areas, and these small businesses would be most impacted by shorter work weeks, as they would need to hire more workers to maintain their current workloads. I recommend the CSPAN podcasts for anyone interested in this discussion. It was a unusually useful and educational hearing.

Few realize Bernie Sanders is very rich. He's made tens of millions in real estate alone. He's also been caught in serious not-for-profit political fundraising scandals with his wife, shady stuff indeed, and ironic to put it mildly.

In the 1830s, coal miners and textile workers began pushing back against workdays of up to 14 hours. After the Civil War, the abolition of slavery caused those in the U.S. to take a fresh look at workers' rights. Unions rallied around the slogan: "Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, eight hours for what you will.”

All of the labor and human rights we take for granted now in the Western World post-slavery are due to the agitation of unions and movements labeled "socialism".

https://www.salon.com/2021/06/14/amazons-labor-exploitation-is-a-return-to-the-1920s--and-unions-are-our-best-hope-out/

It can go forward, or go back. It is up to you (to some extent).

Oh in socialist heavens people don't need to work at all. Don't you see that young people in China are lying flat? America should follow suit. 32 hours? What a bad deal.

Bernie Sanders has never run a private-sector enterprise in his life.

In fact, apart from a brief stint as a carpenter when he was a young man, he's never had a private-sector job in his life.

Almost his entire adult life has been spent in political "activism" (I prefer to call it "agitation") and holding political office.

He's never run anything in his life except his own taxpayer-supported offices.

And I'll bet dollars to donuts that his own staffers don't work 32 hours a week. They probably work more than that.

Remember that a few years ago, he called for a $15/hour minimum wage -- but was paying his own staffers only $12/hour. And it wasn't even his own money!

So it's bad enough that when it comes to running a business and meeting its payroll, he has less experience than a college freshman business major.

But he's a hypocrite on the subject, to boot.

No one with two logical brain cells to rub together should listen to anything he has to say about wages, about work weeks, or for that matter, about much of anything.

I am old enough to remember the great promises of automation and the "might micro" in the 1970s. Then it was gonna be, like, 10 hours a week - two hours a day - by 2000. A quarter-century beyond that and somehow the glorious future didn't quite seem to materialise, did it? Wonder why... Well, I know why: the benefits have not been shared around. The US worker has been cheated more than many: around US$47 trillion dollars has been scammed from the bottom 90% since the 1970s and median workers now earn $42,000 less in a year than they would have done if equality had remained as it had been in the three decades after World War II. But, hell, just wave the flag or get a plutocrat to hug it and all will be fine.

Bernie Sanders is old and obsolete.

One of the best for clarifying just how workers have been getting screwed for decades.

Politics would be a lot poorer without voices like this.

In fact, apart from a brief stint as a carpenter when he was a young man, he's never had a private-sector job in his life.

Maybe what is needed is an elate top-tanked business man who had a reality TV show to show how to bring broad-based prosperity to working Americans without being cheated out of the fruits of their labor?

https://www.news-journal.com/opinion/foster-the-case-of-trump-and-the-polish-workers/article_07a1bdf0-ec85-11e9-aaf4-cf549bb509f5.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/09/28/i-sold-trump-100000-worth-of-pianos-then-he-stiffed-me/

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/donald-trump-taj-mahal-hotel-deal-cheated-builders/

https://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/27/nyregion/judge-says-trump-tower-builders-cheated-union-on-pension-funds.html

That did not happen.

I trust Bernie Sanders more to enrich the case of labor, as anyone not beholden to a papist pre-logical would.

Bernie hasn't been young for a long time, but he also hasn't seemed to have aged much since 2016, unlike (cough) some individuals

Why the cough?

The plural ‘individuals’ is correct.

Biden and Trump are clearly on the slide. Sanders is far sharper than either.

Oh in socialist heavens people don't need to work at all. Don't you see that young people in China are lying flat? America should follow suit.

Chinese labor is being drained by oligarchs and Marxists are being vilified in China just like the US, so you are paradoxically right.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/12/ten-student-activists-detained-in-china-for-supporting-workers-rights

Strange for the shills how Sanders can be in opposition to capitalist oligarchs defrauding labor East and West, That is why he is exceptional for his integrity, full stop.

Sorry, that was "mighty micro" - it referred to the microprocessor (integrated circuits); what are now basically microchips.

It's baffling how we, as a labor force, are reaching levels of productivity never imagined, never getting to experience the fruits of that labor, yet we continue advocating for the status quo. Meanwhile, those at the top who aren't an active part in that labor get to earn hundreds to thousands times more than those below them. It's depressing and I hope we see some drastic changes in our lifetimes.

Until people get used to 32 hours then they will stop working harder and expect 24 hour work week at same pay.

Never ends.

Until people get used to 32 hours then they will stop working harder and expect 24 hour work week at same pay.

Never ends.

Yeah all those greedy , acquisitive laborers have been getting a free ride for too long while the virtuous investor class have been working overtime to provide a living wage and prosperity for all!

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/19/walmart-and-mcdonalds-among-top-employers-of-medicaid-and-food-stamp-beneficiaries.html

It is nice to see the arguments against Sanders basically amount to the same tired corporate shillery nil.

Until people get used to 32 hours then they will stop working harder and expect 24 hour work week at same pay.

Yeah, good idea; let's skip the 32 and jump straight to 24.

Siesta time in the US, just like Spain.

Bernie Sanders heart is in right place.

Bless

However the devastating pandemic, killed off any future of a 32-hour workweek.

That "P" word, productivity is inescapable.

Flexible hours can produce a competitive 36.5 hours.

However monetarily, fiscally would need to be structured over seven days.

Few realize Bernie Sanders is very rich. He's made tens of millions in real estate alone.

That makes him even more respectable for putting his money where his mouth is.

Until people get used to 32 hours then they will stop working harder and expect 24 hour work week at same pay.

Never ends.

If the work can get done at less hours, and still be profitable, where is the problem here? What exactly are you manufacturing anger about this time?

However the devastating pandemic, killed off any future of a 32-hour workweek

Why?

The key is productivity. Why did the pandemic kill off the idea of a 32-hour workweek?

Jimizo,

Supply chain, isolation environment home working.

Mentally this prevented/presented additional health service challenges.

The business attempted close colleague work together practices.

The UK is a premier productivity system work space.

It was the closed unseen unmonitored environment.

All family members out of our control, forced to work from home, locked down, all in an emotional pressure cooker.

The UK handicapped itself by sanctioning itself with Brexit.

That's unique to the UK.

32 hours? That's even less than the lazy French were asking for.

If the work can get done at less hours, and still be profitable

because it won’t be.

you are telling me workers can do the same amount of work in 32 hours that they are doing now in 40, plus OT?

some jobs such as service are also based on availability and time slots not productivity.

Strangerland, yes Brexit meant unpresented change. for better and worse.

Brexit also gave businesses the ability to employ across a global community. every level.

Britain never detached from Europe, our business employs every walk life, tech development staff from Russia to Liverpool and all towns and cities between.

The pandemic, lockdowns, dislocation, isolation, the unseen mental ambiguity, school closures ,child care at home 24/7. week months.

China was always on hand to provide supply chains, offering flexible credit faculties.

Family welfare was the deal breaker.

If the work can get done at less hours, and still be profitable

because it won’t be.

Why not? Productivity has only been increasing, meaning people need to work less, to produce the same. What has brought you to conclude that it's impossible that humans will stop becoming more productive?

Your comment seems more like a comment based in ideology, rather than fact, reason, or logic...

Strangerland, yes Brexit meant unpresented change. for better and worse.

I've yet to see any 'better'.

Just a lot of self-imposed sanctions.

Your comment seems more like a comment based in ideology, rather than fact, reason, or logic...

could definitely say the same about you wanting to get paid the same for less hours.

if productivity is so great are companies getting 50 hours of work for 40 hours of pay now? Nope, especially not as “work from home” (biggest scam ever)

And what about hourly workers? You will get paid for 40 hours of your English lessons when you only do 32 that the company can charge students for?

nope, you will have to learn to live with 32 hours of pay as “full time”. nobody paying you OT they hiring someone else to work “your” 8 hours you just gave away.

Bernie sanders, multi-millionaire public servant, but a socialist too.

of course it’s a stupid idea.

Brexit could present unity, if the political toxicity is replaced with consensus.

The war in Ukraine offers the EU a platform to rise above member states selfish agendas.

UK can offer, at the same time create a more flexible yet solid political/economic relationship.

I believe 35/36 hours over a flexible seven day work pattern is achievable.

Also a competitive bonus schedule plan. The carrot.

But social mental health HR monitored safeguards need to be built in

Brexit could present unity, if the political toxicity is replaced with consensus.

Too late, the people have already seen that the whole thing was a lie, and ended up being self sanctions.

Trying to pretend anything else is putting lipstick on a pig.

Yeah just wait until 32 hours isn’t considered “full time” anymore so you now get zero benefits.

socialist millionaire grandpa really thinks that regular people are gonna outsmart corporations and their legal teams? Or that career politicians who already get full benefits by barely work at all will support this against their donors? Come on, man.

i am for a 4 day x 10 hour week, that’s doable.

could definitely say the same about you wanting to get paid the same for less hours.

I'm the one doing the paying thank you.

And that said, our people work 35 hour work weeks. So 32 hours really isn't far off.

if productivity is so great are companies getting 50 hours of work for 40 hours of pay now? Nope, especially not as “work from home” (biggest scam ever)

No, they're paying CEOs 300 times as much as employees. All gains in productivity have gone only to the executives and share holders, the worker has been sucked dry. It's why Biden looks so good for standing with unions like the UAW - the worker has been shafted by the extreme capitalists.

socialist millionaire grandpa really thinks that regular people are gonna outsmart corporations and their legal teams? Or that career politicians who already get full benefits by barely work at all will support this against their donors? Come on, man.

You're getting very angry about the ideology, and ignoring logic.

Humans have been automating since society. It's starting to become exponential - the more we automate, the more the automation can handle its own automation. AI will increase productivity even further, as will advances in robotics.

The only reason humans should need to continue working the same number of hours, when they don't need to while still maintaining the same productivity, is if the people at the bottom are getting financially raped by the people at the top.

That's just logic, not ideology.

Blacklabel

If the work can get done at less hours, and still be profitable

> because it won’t be.

> you are telling me workers can do the same amount of work in 32 hours that they are doing now in 40, plus OT?

> some jobs such as service are also based on availability and time slots not productivity.

How many employees do you have?

Better would be a 28-hour working week.

Companies that stopped work at 5 pm and banned weekend work saw an increase in productivity and employee satisfaction.

That's pure theory. Look, even if you would then work with quite a needed higher productivity in less hours and would generate enough to receive the same wages as before, then you have luckily that same amount as before but for example have to share it now on 50% or whatever higher percentage of one more free day or leisure time, which is the decisive time span when you usually need the money and spend it. That continued, you would already need double the former income when the reduction would be another day or would be a 24 hrs working week, needing now money for four free days, but only hove three working days to generate it, and so on.

Maybe it is not even about future productivity gains, maybe shorter hours should be reward or reparations for the denied benefits of 50 years of past productivity gains.

Bernie ahead of the curve as usual and addressing this issue unlike many younger pols. 

Useless and impractical idea. This country was built on the backs of hard working men and women. My career was no less that 50 hrs a week. Usually more. This last generation just doesn't want to work. And alot of companies had rather not hire that generation. And then you have people like Burney who should be in hospice trying to help them from working. Makes no sense. Less work production means less production for our country. Then we fall behind China and Russia along with other countries. 

One of the most crucial issues facing labor and humanity, and he has long seen that productivity has been orthogonal to pay for nearly 40 years, with the lion's share of the gains going to investors and not labor.

Go ahead Bernie, raise the taxes on the rich, and watch how much wealth moves offshore, how much more manufacturing goes overseas, how much money will get legally put in non-taxable structures. It's been tried before, and the IRS says they actually get less when you try it. Read Thomas Sowell. Oh, I and bet Congress will be exempt from that tax???? 

With the real possibility of astounding gains from automation, this must change.

Thanks, but I’ll take the advice from someone who has created millions of jobs vs someone who hasn’t worked, created a job or met a payroll in his life.

Bernie Sanders proposal to adopt a 32-hour workweek, is simply unworkable.

Small/mediums sized business could never financially sustain such a policy.

The only reason humans should need to continue working the same number of hours

so I’m going to pay humans 8 more hours a week to not work because automation does that work now?

what about hourly jobs or jobs that are not or cannot be automated? They just get screwed?

In the UK I worked for 20 hours per week for 10 years earning more than a living wage and the client made a profit. I wasn't paid by the hour. I was paid for what I achieved.

There is a Japanese textile company that stops work at 3 pm.

In the UK I worked for 20 hours per week for 10 years earning more than a living wage and the client made a profit. I wasn't paid by the hour. I was paid for what I achieved.

This is exactly what Bernie is promulgating and what oligarchic capitalists do not like.

Contractors et al should all be in favor of this.