Contract negotiations: UAW strike puts the four-day workweek back in focus

Eva Rothenberg
Sun, September 17, 2023 

When the United Auto Workers called a strike last week against General Motors (GM), Ford (F) and Stellantis (STLA), one of their demands focused on an idea circulating on the periphery of labor reform circles.

In addition to calling for a 36% pay raise and increased job security, union members want a 32-hour, four-day workweek with no pay cuts.

Proposals to shorten the workweek have gained traction in recent years, with the flexibility of pandemic-era remote work fueling many of these calls. The accelerating use of artificial intelligence in the workplace has also pushed some workers to question the necessity of a 40-hour week.

United Auto Workers on the picket line at Ford Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan on September 16, 2023. Credit: DeeCee Carter/MediaPunch /IPX

Sen. Bernie Sanders has long been a vocal proponent of a shortened workweek.

“We are looking at an explosion in this country of artificial intelligence and robotics. And that means that the average worker is going to be much more productive,” the Vermont Independent told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday. “The question as a nation that we have to ask ourselves is: Who is going to benefit from this productivity? We should begin a serious discussion — and the UAW is doing that — about substantially lowering the workweek.”

Several countries have conducted trials of four-day workweeks, with the largest held in the United Kingdom last year. The trial lasted six months and encompassed about 2,900 workers across 61 companies. Participants reported better sleep, more time spent with their children and lower levels of burnout.

“It would be an extraordinary thing to see people have more time to spend with their kids, with their families, to be able to do more cultural activities, get a better education,” said Sanders. “People in America are stressed out for a dozen different reasons, and that’s one of the reasons why life expectancy in our country is actually in decline.”

A separate study conducted in Iceland between 2015 and 2019 found reducing the number of work days a week did not lower productivity. A similar program in the United States and Canada, composed of dozens of businesses, found none of the companies planned to return to the five-day standard after the trial ended.

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The United Auto Workers union has declared "war" on the Detroit Three automakers. It is demanding a 46% raise, a return to traditional pensions and a 32-hour work week.  Bloomberg's David Welch and Kailey Leinz report. …

 

Sanders: ‘Serious discussions’ should take place on 4-day workweek

Nick Robertson
Updated Sun, September 17, 2023 

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in a Sunday interview encouraged “serious discussion” on pursuing a four-day workweek.

Sanders linked the need to such conversations to the targeted strike launched at the end of last week by the United Auto Workers (UAW) union.

“As a nation, we should begin a serious discussion — and the UAW is doing that — about substantially lowering the workweek,” he said in a CNN interview Sunday.

UAW began a strike against three major automakers — Ford, General Motors and Stellantis — Friday morning. The union is demanding increased wages, shorter workweeks and better retirement benefits.

The progressive senator argued that massive increases in worker productivity may warrant a reduction in the average workweek.

“We are looking at an explosion in this country of artificial intelligence and robotics. And that means that the average worker is going to be much more productive. Worker productivity is going to increase significantly,” Sanders said.

“The question as a nation that we have got to ask ourselves is, who’s going to benefit from that increased productivity? Is all of that new income and wealth being created by worker productivity going to go to the people on top, or are workers going to benefit?” he continued.

Four-day workweeks are an innovative method to increase worker productivity by giving employees more time off, proponents claim. A study last year of 33 companies globally that tested the method resulted in all of them keeping the policy.

In June, a survey found that more than half of U.S. employers were open to the idea of a four-day workweek.

Despite promising signs in studies, most U.S. employers have been reluctant to entertain the policy. A Maryland bill officially backing the change was shelved earlier this year.

“It seems to me that, if new technology is going to make us a more productive society, the benefits should go to the workers,” Sanders said. “And it would be an extraordinary thing to see people have more time to be able to spend with their kids, with their families, to be able to do more in cultural activities, get a better education.”