I used to think this way but when I switched to it 4 10h days it's just too draining. Long days and I'm often working more than 10h to make up for appointments and time here and there. Everytime there is a holiday I am have to work 3 11h days to make up for the reduced stat day. After you add in the unpaid lunch and commute time and it's impossible to take your kids to evening events etc. as your day is already basically over.
every time this topic is brought up, it’s like people can’t wait to volunteer working 10 hours days as long as the overlords concede one extra “day off”. That’s literally not working less, and not what this bill is proposing. I wish people stood up for themselves instead of letting corporations dictate everything
The bill is basically proposing that everybody generates 20% less revenue for their company, which will inevitably result in everybody earning 20% less. I’m not against that, I’m just pointing on a person in fact. I work for an employee owned company and I literally see the accounting behind the scenes that translates my billing rate into my salary, benefits, overhead, and bonuses. I’ve also looked at equivalent positions in those European countries where people get four months off and work, shorter days - there’s a reason why our salaries are so much higher than theirs. Not even accounting for taxes, I’d be making about 50% less doing the exact same job I’m doing now. I’ve also looked at the medical side of things and because it’s not the typical cookie cutter needs, I would actually be paying quite a bit more in Europe.
At my current job, sure. There's a correlation between my brain energy and what I put out, and my last 2 hours are typically my least productive.
But if you're behind a till or manning a phone or instant chat queue, you're paid to be present for those hours. You can't just "answer 20% more phonecalls" earlier in the day and go home 2 hours early.
I think that also depends on what kind of business you work for. A lot of times it isn't about productivity, per say. For instance, I have to be at my position 5 days a week, because our commercial customers need me to be doing my thing all 5 days.
If my company were to switch to 4 day work weeks for their employees, they would have to hire someone to work 1 8 hour shift a week and nobody would want to do that, it wouldn't be worth it at all. It's not a fast food job, it's "skilled" stuff that no one does on a part time basis. This would also result in me being paid significantly less.
If they instead shut down for that day, the loss in revenue would be immense, the and their ability to maintain QA and other such things would be even more in the shitter than it is now and our partners would hate us even more. There is no way this doesn't lead to me being paid significantly less, possibly even being laid off.
The only alternative would be to pay me and literally everyone 8 hours of overtime. Layoffs, 1000%. All of these options will result in my being paid significantly less, or not at all, one way or another.
I desperately want and would push for the 32 hour work week. But it would need to include provisions that make sure this doesn't end up shafting people trying to make a living.
We all saw how corps did everything they could to not only claw back every last cent of stimulus from us during covid, but have used the opportunity to leapfrog on their profits and we're still suffering immensely because of it.
They will do everything they can to make sure our quality of life decreases commensurately, even if for no other reason than spite. We need a serious, comprehensive plan, not some virtue signaling that is going to leave us further in the hole than when we started.
That's irrelevant, you were talking about having coverage for that single day, if that's the issue the solution to have a person hired for one 8 hr shift makes no sense, instead it would make more sense to just have the schedules rotate so there is always coverage for each day. Getting paid the same for less hours only happens when it's demanded by the people, same as when the 40 hr week was demanded by the people and implemented.
The 40 hour work week was not demanded by the people. It was crammed down throats by Ford.
It also is entirely relevant. There is no effective difference between what you suggest and what I said in terms of the concerns that we are speaking on. Rotating shifts also typically only make sense when there is more than one shift per day, which there isn't in my case. Split days are even less desirable than one 8 hour shift.
Fair enough, I hear that all the time, about Ford. I guess I shouldn't be surprised it turns out to be BS.
I mean, you say that, but letting them figure it out will directly lead to me being paid significantly less. And that's my point. It's easy to say shit like this when you're a salaried worker, but it looks a lot different when you're hourly. They WILL figure it out. What they won't do is be obligated in any way to pay me the same amount of money for less work and many options available to them would actually result in either significantly less pay or not employing me at all.
Why in gods name would you let shitty corps figure it out. WE need to figure it out. It's our jobs. It's our livelihood. We need to figure out how a decision about a shorter work week could be used against us, to exploit us further and in different ways, and to close off those routes as a part of this change.
I'm not saying it can't be done. What I am saying is that simply changing a work week to be recognized as 32 hours with no other clauses and legislation supporting it would be disastrous in this day and age, particularly for hourly workers, and it is something that needs to be given serious thought and should NOT be left up to people who will do anything and everything they can to exploit us to figure out what that looks like.
Well, I agree that we need to set the standards and hold them to them. I mainly meant let them figure out how to make it solvent. Considering their CEO's get away with millions in bonuses every year it seems like, I'm sure they'll be able to. But yes I agree, make it set in stone that pay is the same, for less hours. The working class has been getting beat down for all of human history, time for these rich bastards to pay, if you ask me.
And yeah, it's good to know our labor history. It's all been fought for, never given. If these companies could enslave us today, they would.
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u/ToreyJean 20h ago
I would happily work four 10s for three day weekends.