Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-VT) questions witnesses with Ranking Member Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) during a hearing on building work hours of Senate Dirksen’s offices on Capitol Hill on March 14, 2024 in Washington, DC.
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Sen. Bernie Sanders and Senate Democrats cited advances in artificial intelligence and automation Thursday in arguing for a bill that would mandate a 32-hour federal work week.
“Despite massive growth in technology and worker productivity, millions of workers in our country are working longer hours for lower wages,” Sanders said after his open hearing. Senate Committee for Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
“The sad reality is that Americans now work longer hours than people in any other wealthy nation,” the committee chairman and Vermont independent later said.
The bill introduced by Sanders and Sen. Laphonza Butler, D-Calif., would reduce the typical work week from 40 hours to 32 hours over a four-year period.
Employers would have to pay overtime pay to non-exempt employees at 1.5 times the hourly rate for each hour worked in the last eight hours in a day and twice the hourly rate for each hour worked in the last 12 hours.
The bill would also guarantee that total weekly wages would not decrease as a result of a reduction in total hours worked.
Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., has introduced a similar bill in the House of Representatives.
The bills come months after business leaders such as JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates predicted that people could within decades work just three days a week due to innovations in artificial intelligence and automation.
Sanders and Democrats at Thursday’s hearing said shortening the work week would allow people to spend more time with their families and hobbies.
“A lot of people find value in work, and I’m glad they do, but a lot of people find more value in the foundations and social clubs and churches they work with and spend time outside of work,” Sen said. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.
Republicans criticized the plan, saying the mandate would hurt small businesses and hurt industries like retail stores, which must be open six or more days a week.
“That would be napalm on the inflationary fire,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, the ranking Republican on the committee.
Another Republican on the panel, Sen. Mike Brown of Indiana, said, “I’m opposed to trying to do anything from this place that would impose on the hundreds of businesses out there that I just don’t think could survive.”
In testimony to the committee, Boston College sociology professor Juliet Schor said her research shows that the hourly productivity of both workers and management would increase as a result of a four-day, 32-hour work week. Schor said her research also found that workers experienced increases in well-being outside the office.
Jon Leland, chief strategist at crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, testified that his company saw its goal attainment rate and employee retention skyrocket after instituting a four-day work week.
“People want to work, but they want to work in a way that’s balanced with the rest of their lives,” Leland told the panel.
But another witness, Liberty Vittert, disputed studies that found higher productivity with a shorter work week. Vittert said these productivity gains disappear over time.
“We don’t yet know what capabilities artificial intelligence is going to give us,” said Wittert, who is a professor of the practice of data science at Washington University in St. Louis.
Cassidy proposed holding a hearing on the impact of artificial intelligence on the economy.
But he also said it was unlikely that advances in this technology would allow most workers to cut their hours.
“A mom-and-pop restaurant doesn’t really see increased productivity from AI,” Cassidy said.
“They’re having a hard time finding enough people to cover the shifts.”