“How the hell is it that when you’re talking about financial workers or white-collar workers, this is acceptable?” said Fain at a recent strike preparation conference. Noting that many corporate leaders are still working remotely, he added, “It’s okay for them but goddammit, when we ask for the same thing, for some fair treatment and some fucking work-life balance, what do they say to us? They say, ‘You don’t deserve it.’”
I like this guy
Unions seem like the most viable way for us to organize.
100%. Strong unions make strong businesses.
Man, a 32 hour week would be a godsent gift. Two days fly by in a jiffy. A 3rd is a rejuvenation day. I hope this happens in my life time.
My shift is 4x10, usually work 4x12, and even with that the 3-day weekends are amazing, better than when I worked 5-day weeks. And I’m okay with the overtime, but I definitely think we as a society should be pushing for shorter weeks and more full days off. The puritanical ideal of work being good for the soul needs to die, and the benefits of automation and industrialization need to be more evenly distributed between classes.
The best work schedule I ever had was a Navy watch schedule that was 4x12’, 3 days off, 3x 12’, 4 days off before a switch to night schedule. Aside from switching from days to nights every 2 weeks, I absolutely loved it.
I have pushed for this where I work. Apparently there are people who greatly value their time off after work, even moreso than having yet another day off every other weekend. I get almost nothing done after work, so it would be nothing but good for me.
If Biden would campaign on this….
He campaigned on public option for healthcare, and he never even mentioned it once after he was elected, he even said he’d veto a M4A bill if it came to his desk. Don’t get me wrong, he actually has exceeded my expectations and done some cool things, but I still want his campaign promise. So…
It might be that Biden kinda sucks in some aspects but something tells me it’s mostly republicans… and Biden is not some authoritarian figure who can just implement whatever he wants. We need less republicans in congress and then maybe we can get shit done.
Healthcare bills need 60 votes in the Senate to overcome a filibuster. Most democrats and even Biden now is for filibuster reform. However, there are currently not 50 democratic senators who support this. So thank the republicans plus Joe Manchin for not having this.
As someone who just saw his work week go from 40 hours to 45 hours with no additional pay, I wouldn’t mind this. It’s not as simple as people think, but it’s surely manageable if companies wanted it to work.
I don’t think I would even be less productive if I had to work only 3 or 4 days. I could focus / crunch more because I know that I have more time to rest.
We had this situation during covid where we could only work 3 days a week, and it was kinda nice since nobody was slacking and it was satisfying to just get things done… and then enjoy the long weekends.
Ever read Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber.
Read the original article to get the basics of the idea. But I also recommend all of his books.
Thanks for the original
I’ve heard on the radio this mentioned as part of the negotiations for the new contract with the auto companies and thought this was a sort of tactic to ask for more so they can settle higher, but I’d love to see this be a sincere goal. Given all the productivity gains over the decades, we should actually be at 3-day work weeks of 24 hours, but 32-hour 4-day work weeks would still be a lot better than the awful situation we’re in right now.
