S.20.3-13: Fair Workweek Act (Law'd)

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I'm inclined to support an amended version of this if it implements some sort of income support scheme to supplement lost income for workers who might struggle with this change. I agree with DTC's main argument about the need to give people more time off and the massive social benefits that come from this, including the chance to spend more time with friends, family members and to rest.

One thing that DTC mentioned is that productivity will increase. Its well documented that overworked workers are not as productive as workers who have more time off. That also means that while hours are reduced, the hourly rate of pay can go up. Add to that, union power to put pressure on employers who might use this as an excuse to massively reduce pay for their employees and most evidence I see points to a small decrease in wages but I think one small enough that we can afford to supplement. Also add to that the impact of automation, I think that a shorter working week is affordable if done right.

However, the issue of lost income is still a big concern, and something that we absolutely have to address before passing this. We could set up income support that pays employees a regular amount to make up for any lost income funded by a robot tax or some other sort of tax on automation so the benefits of that productivity can go back to people who need it.

There is also an issue of how we deal with certain sectors where adapting will be more difficult. For example, when France reduced its work week hospitals struggled to find new employees because it was more difficult to get productivity gains and because being a medical professional requires more specific qualifications so they can't just bring on a few more people to fill up gaps in working time. We'll have to provide more flexibility to sectors where the number of available workers is less or where productivity is less likely to increase.

Also, there needs to be some sort of phase in. Implementing a reduced work week immediately on the Governor's signature wouldn't give businesses or workers much time to prepare. A longer phase in would allow businesses to gradually reduce their work week over time and negotiate the terms of this with workers and unions.

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I'll propose a slower implementation. Most countries that have implemented a similar policy have allowed 2-4 years. This allows more time for businesses to prepare and for workers and unions to negotiate a fairer arrangement.

AN ACT
to give families more time to spend with their children and increase productivity

Section 1 (Title & Definitions)
i. The title of this act shall be, the “Fair Workweek Act."


Section 2 (Workweek reduction)
i. The workweek shall be reduced from 40 hours to 35 hours.
ii. Unless exempt, employees covered by the Act must receive overtime pay for hours worked over 35 in a workweek at a rate not less than time and one-half their regular rates of pay.

Section 3 (Implementation)
i. This legislation shall come into effect on January 1, 20213.

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I'm not entirely sure where we stand on this. If there's support for a version of this with a supplemental income program, I'm willing to work on that - otherwise a better use of our time would be to explore some other options. I quite like Tmth's paid lunches idea.

I will just say on the issue of income that the analyses I'm seeing point to a reduction of the monthly wage by up to 2% in the short term and 1% in the long term for affected workers, when you consider factors like increased productivity, negotations with workers plus union pressure, overtime ect., so I do think some sort of supplemental income program is realistic.

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I like the idea a lot and I've also watched this video before

I'm also not entirely sure how this amendment would work for part time workers or people with flexible or unusual work schedules. I'm also not sure how 'government employee' would be defined here - does that include public school teachers, for example?

Personally I'd prefer more flexible wording something like 'government workplaces shall work towards x with consideration for the costs, productivity changes, employee opinion ect.' It would push government agencies to adopt better work schedules while also not imposing a few specific plans which could cause issues for certain workplaces or agencies.

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Aye