Switching to a four-day work week hides low wages

Yves is here. Like author Sonali Kolhatkar, your humble blogger is skeptical about a four-day, or better yet, 32-hour work week without pay increases.

Sonali Kolhatkar is an award-winning multimedia journalist. She is the founder, host and executive producer of “Climbing from Sonali”, a weekly TV and radio show that airs on Free Speech TV and Pacifica. Her upcoming book Rising Up: The power of storytelling in the pursuit of racial justice (Books of City Lights, 2023). She is a writer for Economy for all project at the Independent Media Institute and editor for racial justice and civil liberties Yes! Magazine. She is co-director of the non-profit organization Solidarity. Afghan Women’s Mission and is a co-author Bleeding Afghanistan. She is also on the board of directors Justice Action Centerorganization for the protection of the rights of immigrants.

Produced Economy for allproject of the Independent Media Institute

Dolly Parton’s signature song “9 to 5” and 1980s sitcom of the same name reflects the typical American hustle culture of working 40-hour weeks in thankless jobs. Even though many people work even harder, for which the USA received the title of “the most overworked developed nation in the world“Our expectations of an ideal working scenario are based on a hard-fought labor victory that still wasn’t enough to curb labor exploitation.

In 1926 Henry Ford introduced a 40-hour workweek for employees in his car factory, perhaps because he sincerely believed that workers needed more time for rest and leisure, but also because he expected them to be more productive if they worked less. The move paid off for Ford and also helped change the national culture towards shorter working hours.

Ten years later, workers at the General Motors car company in Flint, Michigan, went on strikeprotesting the terrible working conditions. The labor action of 1936 became known as “the strike heard around the world”, and in February 1937 General Motors caved in to workers’ demands, sending a powerful signal across the country that worker-led strikes could win. In 1937 about 1.9 million Americans participated in almost 5,000 strikes, which is considered the most significant year in US labor history.

Not surprisingly, a year later, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Fair Labor Standards Act 1938, establishing a minimum wage of 25 cents an hour and a 44-hour workweek, as well as overtime pay. Two years later, in 1940, this law was amended to further reduce working hours to 40 hours per week. This was to be the beginning, not the end, of improving working conditions. Biggest refusal of the Fair Labor Standards Act is that it does not link the minimum wage to inflation.

Now, more than 80 years later, Congress is considering introducing a 32-hour workweek. Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA), backed by major unions such as the SEIU, introduced a bill in the House of Representatives to reduce the workweek to four days.

While on the surface this is a welcome move for labor rights, the problem is that unless corporate employers are forced to pay people the same (or more) annual wages and keep benefits, the move to a four-day workweek may not have much values. . Based on 2018 data Economic Policy Institute Report, as wage growth stagnated: “For most workers … annual wage growth was driven by their ability to work more hours.” Why would workers want shorter working hours if that meant lower wages?

Recent Washington Post-Ipsos Poll found that three-quarters of those surveyed prefer to work 40 hours over four days, i.e. a 10-hour work day, rather than work 40 hours over five days. And nearly as many said they would rather work 40 hours a day for five days than lose a fifth of their salary. This is hardly surprising.

Ironically, the survey did not ask whether workers would rather work 32 hours instead of four days without a pay cut. Is it because sociologists knew that shortening the working day without lowering wages would be so popular that it wasn’t worth asking? Or would corporate employers consider such a question the height of work pride? By omitting the question, sociologists tacitly supported profit-oriented corporate values.

Considering the idea of ​​reducing work for the same pay as a new idea, Washington Post said, “[S]Some advocacy groups are promoting pilot projects for a 32-hour, four-day work week with no pay cuts.” This was immediately followed by a paper with corporate discussion topics: “Obstacles, including staffing issues, declining productivity, cost increases, and complex operational changes, prevent widespread adoption of the shorter work week.” There was no mention of who sees the increase in spending as an “obstacle”.

The U.S. economy, which puts productivity at the service of corporate profits above all else, has continued to push cultural attitudes toward violet work, no less, with newspapers like the Washington Post doing their part. While 40 hours a week may be part of the cultural fabric, the unwritten rule of corporate America is that in exchange for job security, a person must work 60 or more hours a week.

List of Pros and Cons of Indeed.com The 60-Hour Workweek begins with the sentence: “Working 60 hours a week can be one way to earn a higher salary and also prove your dedication to your job and company.” In addition, with the growth of the gig economy, a significant number of low-paid workers have had to rely on precarious hours, low wages and lack of benefits. They can work from 9 to 5, p. 5 to 9.

This economic status quo also fuels a persistent gender pay gap. This year Equal Pay Day fell on March 14, meaning that women would have to work an additional three and a half months to earn as much money as men in 2022. black womenit falls much later, on September 21, 2023. New study published by the American Sociological Association concluded that male overwork contributes significantly to this gap. “The impact of overwork on gender pay gap trends was most pronounced in professional and managerial occupations,” the study authors say, “where work hours are particularly common and the norm of overwork is deeply ingrained in organizational practices and professional culture. “

Simply reducing working hours will not eliminate the gender pay gap. This may even increase if women take on additional housework on their day off and men take on extra work. In my new book Pretty good job, author Simone Stoltzoff noted that “Despite rising wealth and productivity, many college-educated Americans—and especially college-educated men—worked harder than ever. Instead of trading wealth for vacations, American professionals began trading vacations for extra work.”

There is a drive to change the culture of the US in order to abandon our attachment to work. Stoltsov’s book is one of several urging Americans to work less. In my new book Saving time: discovering life beyond the clock, best-selling author Jenny Odell believes that the current economic structures in which we operate emerged as a result of European colonial culture. She encourages people to rethink our relationship with our time.

But is it that we are all conditioned to want to work, or do we not have the luxury of choosing our leisure time? The problem is that overall wages are still so low relative to the cost of living that those who Maybe work more, perhaps because they partners willing to do more childcare and housework— do this by being paid for working overtime to ensure that the needs of their household are met. A four-day work week would likely do the same, freeing up an extra day just to work more at a second job or do more childcare or housework.

Four-day work week trials some companies have shown that this is exactly what happens. Some corporate executives like the idea of ​​cutting hours and wages, and are happy that their employees take on part-time jobs to make up for lost wages on the day off. “[W]and believe we deliver value through agility,” one startup CEO told Business Insider as an excuse for lower salaries. Another CEO revealed that one of her employees now has free time to do part-time work, such as a Spanish translator or a bartender.

If a four-day work week comes with pay that is still not enough to live well, then it simply gives workers the freedom to work less so they can work more elsewhere. What’s the point? federal minimum wage still stuck at a terribly low $7.25 an hour, with tipped workers surviving in serfdom at $2.13 an hour.

I’m writing this weekly column on the weekend at a four-day job that pays decently but still isn’t enough to cover all my household expenses, and certainly not as much as my male spouse earns. To be honest, my main employer cut my working hours without cutting my salary – a wonderful step in the right direction. But the problem again and again is low wages. While I love writing a weekly column, I do it for the meaningful joy it brings. And for compensation. This is a side job.

When Takano’s representative was asked Regarding the obstacles to the implementation of his 32-hour week bill, he addressed the potential loss of wages, saying: “We also need to look at the ability of workers to organize into unions to negotiate higher wages.” In other words, workers and their unions (that is, if they happen to be among the minority of Americans represented by unions) must stand up for themselves in securing a living wage.

Senator Bernie Sanders joined the call for a 32-hour work week, stressing that such a move should be accompanied by “no loss of wages”. But even if that were to happen, wages are still far too low to live on, and most workers could spend their free time on part-time jobs, as I did.

If workers were paid a minimum of $100 an hour (which is not much different from most corporate executives are paid) and had the choice to work 32 hours a week instead of 40 hours a week, I believe most would choose the former.

“It’s a game for the rich, whatever they call it.” blood Dolly Parton. The real problem with overwork is underpayment.

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