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

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.”