Sanders Pushes 4 Day Workweek Citing European Trial on Company Productivity

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. speaks during a hearing on Capitol Hill examining wages at large profitable corporations in Washington on Feb. 25, 2021. Susan Walsh-Pool/Getty Images

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) promoted the idea of a four-day workweek in a social media post.

“With exploding technology and increased worker productivity, it’s time to move toward a four-day work week with no loss of pay. Workers must benefit from technology, not just corporate CEOs,” Sanders said in a tweet on Feb. 21.

Sanders referred to the most recent findings from the United Kingdom on the four-day workweek. The large-scale trial involved over 3,000 employees and discovered that workers slept better, businesses made more money, and employees were less likely to complain about not having enough time to care for loved ones.

According to The Washington Post, the majority of the organizations that participated in the experiment want to continue using a four-day workweek.

The report stated that the idea of a four-day workweek has gained traction in recent years, with companies and researchers trying out reduced hours without reduced income.

Kirk Clements, founder and Chief Legal Counsel for Sovereignty Legal Foundation, told The Epoch Times his organization is opposed to such government regulation of business.

“Having the government regulate the work week is an absurdity,” Clements said. “The free market and individuals will decide the need for the hours worked, not the government.”

The attorney, whose foundation focuses on the deregulation of businesses as part of the principle of freedom, said that the current regulations surrounding a 40-hour work week, dictated by overtime laws, are already damaging to the economy.

“Most people do not work 40 hours, but more importantly, the worker is put at a disadvantage already as an employer will hire another employee instead of giving the current worker more time,” Clements said. “This effect will be compounded if the work week is shortened, whether by hours or days by government fiat.”

The attorney attributed Sanders’s proposal to the lawmaker’s socialist ideals, but said it “would be a dangerous step down the road we are already on toward European socialism.”

“If he really wants to help the workers of America, he would support the idea of smaller government; less regulation and less of a tax burden on businesses mean a cheaper product or service, which would be a real-time economic assistance to the average American who lives paycheck to paycheck.”

Lawmakers have approached the idea of a shorter work week in the past. The Congressional Progressive Caucus proposed the “32-Hour Workweek Act,” in July of 2021.

This measure would reduce the regular workweek under federal law from 40 to 32 hours during a three-year phase-in period, according to the bill’s synopsis. It also mandates specific overtime compensation for workdays that exceed eight hours.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), stated in a press release about the bill that he thought a 32-hour work week would help Americans establish the new work norm many have been requesting.

Sanders’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.