• 00x0xx@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      I always vote for him when he’s at the polls, since 2 decades ago. But the oligarchy of this nation will never allow him in position of power to implement these changes.

      The reality of America is that our owners have no interest in making life better for the us, the common man, their only interest to bleed us as much as they can for their own selfish agenda. And the American people are collectively still too stupid to understand how it all works.

  • Yawweee877h444@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    We need this so fucking bad. As a species, not just America or the wealthy nations only. Everyone.

    And this should just be a transitionary period down to a 24 or less hour work week. Fuck slaving away at shit jobs just to make billionaires.

    • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      We need this so fucking bad.

      Of course we do, so do the corporations, though they don’t realize it. With happier workers you get more profits.

      Call your House of Representative member and let them know that.

      If we citizens don’t apply the pressure, nothing will happen.

      And if your cynical about doing that, try it anyway, just as an experiment, to see what happens. Hell, even make a YouTube video about your experience doing so, for content.

      Just say "Please let my representative know that I am in favor of the Bernie Sanders bill (Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act) for a 32 hour work week."

      It’s just a phone call. A 32 hour work week is worth a single phone call, right?

    • HessiaNerd@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      When COVID shut down my state (we were considered essential) we got furloughed one day a week. I was getting paid less so I was concerned, but it was honestly the best thing to happen to me. We started a garden, I got so much more done. I was healthier and happier.

      Going back to 5 days a week, and longer commute (no more COVID clear freeways), I can absolutely feel my life shortening. I’ve gained a ton of weight, and increased stress significantly.

    • bartolomeo@suppo.fi
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      8 months ago

      Yea, slaving away should be purely optional. If you love your job or you love money or you want to keep yourself distracted AND make money at the same time, by all means, knock yourself out and work 60 hour weeks.

      It’s a failure of the system if people have to work full time to scrape by with the very bare necessities and live in poverty, with all the nasties that come with it. America coined the term “working poor” (obligatory meme so we’re on the same page)

      • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
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        8 months ago

        America coined the term “working poor” (obligatory meme so we’re on the same page)

        It’s also very American to just fucking ignore most of the world while saying things like that.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Full Employment and Zero Protests go hand-in-hand.

        As soon as unemployment figures start climbing (2008, 2014, 2016, COVID-2020) people hit the streets and cops start working a lot of extra overtime.

        Imagine if people had a whole third weekend day to themselves. Imagine what they could spend their time doing that wasn’t entirely predicated on enriching their bosses?

        • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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          8 months ago

          Imagine citizens actually learning how politics work and taking civic responsibilities for their own interests, instead of being chained to a job for every waking moment, and so zombified they don’t even know what day of the week it is.

          Happy people with stake in their own community. What a nightmare for the ownership class!

    • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Looking at the productivity gains, vs income gains since 1970, I would say that we need an 8 hour work week. We are producing well over 7 times as much stuff and economic value as we were in 1970

        • Yawweee877h444@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          The amount of shit that companies produce and then just throw away because it’s cheaper than donating, is staggering. There was some report a while back about Amazon doing this. Truckloads of stuff that doesn’t sell, brand new, straight to the landfill. Stuff that could be donated to public schools or whatever. Fucking gross.

          Not to mention all the food we produce, then waste.

          • Emerald@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            A relative of mine used to work at a private school. The owner of the place wanted to throw an extra computer monitor in the trash. Literally just put it in the dumpster. That relative saved the monitor and now I am using it. Bought a DVI to HDMI cable and it works great. It’s a 1680x1050 situash.

          • PriorityMotif@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            That is on third party sellers. They have to pay for warehouse space after a certain amount of time. If something isn’t selling they can pay for Amazon to ship it back or destroy it. Most sellers don’t actually have a warehouse themselves, they have their products shipped directly from the manufacturer to an Amazon warehouse.

            • Yawweee877h444@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              Sure, but I honestly don’t care much about the logistics or details of why. The underlying concept is the unnecessary waste. Whatever the reason it’s happening, I disagree with it.

              • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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                8 months ago

                Agreed. The problem is a business like Amazon getting SO INCREDIBLY MASSIVE and yet completely neglecting the obvious problems with “Eh just destroy perfectly good stuff” being the easiest, most convenient option.

                Heck, they’re so evil I’m surprised they don’t just have a ToS that says “We sell it ourselves if you don’t wanna store it and don’t want it returned.”

                But nah, filling landfills with wrecked computers, batteries, and plastics is so much more convenient this quarter /s.

                They (amazon) need to be destroyed. We don’t want to store them here anymore.

  • NutWrench@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Bernie is an example of what a progressive politician actually looks like.

    American politicians (Republicans AND Democrats) have been moving steadily to the right for the last 40 years. So now, Democrats are where the Republicans were in the 1980s, boring corporatists and friends of banks, pharmaceutical and insurance companies.

    And the Republicans have moved all the way into an insane asylum. They long for the “good old days” of company towns, run by 19th century robber barons and worry that the six corporations that control all our news are the “liberal news media.”

  • Nobody@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Bernie: Here’s a bill that will help literally everyone. People waste less of their lives at work, and productivity goes up massively for the corporate overlords. There is no downside here for anyone.

    Everyone: Shut up, hippy.

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Everyone: Shut up, hippy.

      They’ve been telling him that since he was being arrested for protesting for civil rights and Joe Biden was fighting against school busing…

      Their stupid bullshit hasn’t stopped him yet

      • ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Bernie is still the only politician I have donated to but to be fair to Biden, bussing was met with violent protests and even black activists criticized it for weakening black communities. There were good reasons to be against that method without being against desegregation.

        • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          There were good reasons to be against that method without being against desegregation.

          That’s not a fact, it’s an opinion.

          One that Biden hasn’t been able to rationalize to Dem voters for decades.

          If you want to try, give it a shot. I legitimately believe you might do a better job at it than Biden.

          But you’re gonna have to do more than say there was “good reasons” besides people of Bidens age being completely ignorant of psychology.

          School busing sped up integration by decades, and when kids grow up in multiracial environments it changes their ingroup determination to not just be “people who look like me”.

          We can only change that at a very young age, but it sticks with you for life. Even with busing, the effects were decades away.

          If we didn’t have busing, generations of people would have suffered.

          So if you and Biden want to argue with that, you’re going to have to put in a lot of effort to throw the last 30 years of psychology

          • ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            It’s not my opinion. It is the opinion of many black civil rights activists at the time. They argued that spreading out the kids would weaken the ties to the black community. They wanted to make black schools better rather than move kids. They argued that strengthening the black community would be the most effective way to pursue civil rights. Given that black children still get inferior education to whites and black communities are impoverished, they might have been right.

            • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              Lol.

              You can’t try to defend Biden…

              So you make up hypothetical Black people and say they didn’t want their kids to go to school with white kids?

              Like, you just honestly tried to say it was the Black people being racist, and what’s the implication?

              That Biden knew that, lied about why he was against busing as a cover job?

              Why not just stop replying instead of that shit you typed?

              • ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                Black leaders were mixed on the practice. Activist Jesse Jackson, NAACP officials and U.S. Rep. Shirley Chisholm were among those who supported busing efforts and policies. But many Black nationalists argued that focus should instead be placed on strengthening schools in Black communities.

                A February 1981 Gallup Poll found 60 percent of Black Americans were in favor of busing, while 30 percent were opposed to it. Among white people surveyed, 17 percent favored busing, and 78 percent were against it.

                “It ain’t the bus, it’s us,’’ Jackson told The New York Times in 1981. ‘’Busing is absolutely a code word for desegregation. The forces that have historically been in charge of segregation are now being asked to be in charge of desegregation.’”

                https://www.history.com/news/desegregation-busing-schools

                • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  Has it been so long that you forgot which side eyounwere arguing?

                  Or do you legitimately think that backs up your opinion from almost a day ago?

    • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Everyone: Shut up, hippy.

      Don’t listen to them, when they tell you that. As far as you know, might even be an astroturfer, trying to kill this in the crib.

      Call your House of Representative member and let them know that you want this bill to become law.

      If we citizens don’t apply the pressure, nothing will happen.

      And if your cynical about doing that, try it anyway, just as an experiment, to see what happens. Hell, even make a YouTube video about your experience doing so, for content.

      Just say "Please let my representative know that I am in favor of the Bernie Sanders bill (Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act) for a 32 hour work week."

      It’s just a phone call. A 32 hour work week is worth a single phone call, right?

    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Unfortunately that’s a fairly naive take that fails to consider how most people work in the US- hourly employees would be fucked by this.

      Retail, service, anyone whose not already working 9-5 office jobs; the reality is that they won’t loose pay, but they will loose hours. And you can bet your ass that companies won’t pay more to make up for it.

        • Blooper@lemmynsfw.com
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          8 months ago

          Yup. These “free market” folks conveniently forget that competition is bolstered when there’s a floor. An impartial referee to call balls, strikes, and fouls. A set of rules everyone has to play by, or they don’t get to play at all.

          Also known as regulation.

      • PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de
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        8 months ago

        they lose hours but the hourly pay goes up, just like everybody else, no? I haven’t read the bill but I would be surprised if that’s not in there.

        • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          First off, it needs to be noted that the only mechanism to do that on so large a scale is to increase the minimum wage.

          Which is how they did it in ‘38 when the work week went to 44, and in ‘40 when it when to what it is today.

          The problem is that company are absolutely going to pass that off to customers (aka, the workers… ultimately.) and so really all you’ve done, effectively, is put far more people onto minimum wage.

          Anyone who was above that mimimim? Gets the shaft.

          And people who now are on minimum? Working two jobs to pay for everything (like most people in the bottom quarter are already doing anyhow,) so they don’t really see reduced hours anyway.

          It’s well meaning and it’d be nice, but it needs to be done differently. Unions are strong now. Stronger than they have been since I’ve been working. Join a union. Make the change yourself; eventually it’ll get normalized without the above problems. (Also, better wages, healthcare, workplace safety and everything else Unions get you.)(don’t tell my boss’s boss that. He’s still buthurt from negotiating a new contract.)

          • hardaysknight@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            The problem is that company are absolutely going to pass that off to customers (aka, the workers… ultimately.)

            News flash, they’re going to be raising prices regardless.

            • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              And they won’t tack that on, too, anyhow?

              Chances are they’ll pass on the costs, increase the price, anyhow, shrink products, and raise prices even more, and then blame the last three on the first.

              Exactly like they’ve been doing.

        • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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          8 months ago

          Companies already offer part time retail positions, and they are shitty about it. 39.5 hours a week to avoid the full time line.

          So in this 32h future they’d just offer 31 hour positions at a lower rate and still yank people around

          Edit: I was off on values. Commenter below pointed out 30 is the mark

      • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        From the article…

        The Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act would also protect workers’ pay and benefits to ensure there’s no loss in pay, according to a press release.

        • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Says nothing about loss in hours.

          Remember, when you’re paid hourly, you can lose hours and not lose pay.

          Unless the employment contract already has guaranteed hours.

          • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            Says nothing about loss in hours.

            I’m assuming that’s covered as a part of this…

            ensure there’s no loss in pay

            • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              And you’d be wrong. Companies would still be paying them at whatever rate they were paid at. Most jobs don’t come with specifically guaranteed hours, however.

              It’s a technicality, yes, but it’s also a very important distinction. They’re not losing pay. They’re losing hours. The consequence is the same; but short of minimum wage increases; there’s no mechanism for the US Government to dictate wages to individual companies. Particularly when they were never party to that contract in the first place.

              • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                If you are correct, then the bill won’t work, because it won’t have the support of all the hourly workers.

                I’m assuming that Bernie and Co are smart enough to realize that, so they would make sure any bill that they wrote would cover that scenario that you’re describing, and not just waste all of our time.

                That’s why I believe the part of the article I quoted earlier is factual, and covers what you’re speaking about.

      • radiohead37@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        I have no idea why you’re being downvoted. How would the government mandate a pay raise across the board? The government only has the federal minimum wage lever to play with. Somehow the law would have to say: all hourly workers must be paid 25% more. Would companies just increase prices by 25%?

        Now, I’m all for reducing the work week to 32 hours. I’m tired of spending most of the week working and only having to 2 free days (of which one is usually spent doing home chores). But I’m genuinely curious about how this would be implemented without causing massive inflation.

          • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            Which has little to do with a 32 hour workweek, and can’t be done on its own even though it really should be done.

            Personally the minimum wage should be tied to the cost of living or increased along side CPI or some other useful inflation metric

            Simply a one-time jump isn’t going to accomplish all that much in the long run.

            Bring it up even to where it was along side inflation, (big jump,) and have an annual little jump baked in each year.

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              I agree, it has little to do with it. I was just addressing the idea that the federal minimum wage being the only lever to play would not have a massive positive effect on a huge percentage of workers.

              The AFL-CIO, which is only demanding a $15/hour minimum wage says that if it kept up with inflation, it would be $24/hour.

              https://aflcio.org/what-unions-do/social-economic-justice/minimum-wage

              Based on that, the bare minimum someone working full-time should be making is a little less than $50,000 a year. And if the government used that ‘only lever to play,’ and it would still be less than the $68k that is needed to ‘live comfortably.’

              https://thehill.com/business/4059025-an-average-american-income-may-no-longer-cut-it/

              • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                ive been reading a few things by the AFL-CIO, older stuff, I’d pay attention, though. (And 24 sounds about right.)

                I was chatting with the union’s negotiator (technically the enemy, but, whatever. We have a good relationship for that.) now that the new contract is ratified; he’s disappointed because he thought they could get more.

                I’m glad the bigwig negotiated they sent out fucked it up every which way. Got my people a much deserved pay raise and stuff.

                Seriously, corporations are freaking scared of unions just now. I hope this momentum lasts.

  • CaptPretentious@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    While a small tangent, I agree. I used to work 4x10 each week. Had done that for over a decade. Having a 3 day weekend really helped. When I got my current position I was moved to 5x8. I’m now endlessly tired, I can’t get the weekend projects done, etc. Because you’re just getting out of work, or getting ready to start work again, there’s no break. So if this ends up being 4x8, that would be great! Keep my hours and get my weekend back. Though I assume corporate USA will find some way to muck it up, like the RTO bullshit.

    • LifeOfChance@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      I totally feel you! I did 12h shifts 4 days a week the absolute difference with 5x8 in crazy! I’ve never been so tired and that’s including my night time stint doing that as well!

  • neomachino@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    I’ve noticed that I get the same amount of work done working 5 days a week as if I plan to only work 3/4 days and know I’ll have some free time to enjoy life. My work is really project based so as long as it gets done no one cares.

    My wife has also noticed that I’m a lot more stressed when I work 5 days a week and need pretty much the whole weekend to recover.

    • lennybird@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      It’s LONG overdue. Been saying this for years. Reducing the stress, increasing free time (and therefore things like family time, innovation time, etc.) would vastly overhaul our society. Productivity has risen for decades while wages remain stagnant and work-life balance, if anything, has worsened.

      • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
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        8 months ago

        Productivity has risen for decades while wages remain stagnant and work-life balance, if anything, has worsened.

        Wages are determined by balance of power.

      • aidan@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        work-life balance, if anything, has worsened.

        I don’t believe that(but that’s just my gut feeling). I think its fair to say that demand of work-life balance has increased though.

        • Knoxvomica@lemmy.ca
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          8 months ago

          Depends on the field but since the pandemic I see folks being"connected" to work in unimaginable ways where they are constantly answering emails or working from home to complete work in their evenings and weekends. Just logging into teams at anytime on a weekend I can see at least a few people online working. This wasn’t the case pre pandemic.

          • Anise (they/she)@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            8 months ago

            Logging in on the weekend reinforces this norm. If people see you are online, it lessens any cognitive dissonance they have with the voice in the back of their head saying “this is some bullshit, this is my day off.”

        • NotAtWork@startrek.website
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          8 months ago

          There was a time when if someone wanted to reach you after hours they had to call your house and leave a message on your answering machine. now you have “bosses” that get pissy if you take 5 minutes to respond to a text in the middle of the night.

  • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Nonono don’t do it!!
    Just look how it went in Germany, they went from 40 to 35 and then last year they overtook Japan as the 3rd largest economy in the world.
    But if they had kept 40 hour work week, they might have done that a year earlier.

    I tell you 32 hour work week will be an absolute disaster, marriages will break because people will have time to spend together. This is why the christian right will oppose this tooth and nail, and you should too.

    /s

    • socksy@discuss.tchncs.de
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      8 months ago

      I am in Germany, how do I get a 35 hour work week without working part time? Every contact I’ve ever had has said 40 hours, not including breaks, with an expectation of overtime going up to 50 hours (legal maximum) unpaid.

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        OK now I’m confused, because I was pretty sure Germany introduced 35 hour work week already in the 90’s, just like Denmark reduced to 37.5 hours.
        Here the 37.5 is actually the norm for full time work. I thought it was 35 in Germany, but I can’t even find anything on the introduction of 35 hours in the 90’s ???

        But apparently the AVERAGE which is a completely different measure, is 34.2 in 2020.

        https://blog.emerald-technology.com/working-hours-germany

        34.2 hours as of 2020

        I apologize if I misrepresented the situation in Germany.

    • Patches@sh.itjust.works
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      8 months ago

      Inb4 Fox News later today

      I’ll tell you hwat. 32 hour work week will be an absolute disaster, marriages will break because people will have time to spend together. This is why the christian right will oppose this tooth and nail, and you should too.

      • Economist who chose to remain anonymous due to fear of liberal cancel culture.
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        8 months ago

        Them being cancelled because they said something dumb doesn’t mean they weren’t cancelled. But I’m convinced economists can’t be cancelled, Jonathan Gruber and Paul Krugman proved that.

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      8 months ago

      The drones might have time to think and get ideas above their station. Next thing you know, they’ll start objecting to being maximally exploited at every turn! Letting them off the leash, even a little, will have disastrous effects for their owners, I tell you!

    • Fat Tony@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      I agree with the sentiment. But the case with Germany and Japan wasn’t so much Germany overtaking but rather Japan sloping down (Japan’s strict working hours/culture probably played a part in this though).

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        What I’m saying is that there are other factors than work hours that determine productivity. Job satisfaction is a major factor too.

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        8 months ago

        Let’s make a point that has nothing whatsoever to do with the original point so i can maintain my bullshit opinion.

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        8 months ago

        Absolutely, wood pellets and stoker furnaces are brilliant, as they work very well, and is a near CO2 neutral source of heat.
        We do that too here in Denmark 7th richest country in the world, and I bet they also do in Norway and Switzerland, the 2nd and 3rd richest countries in the world.
        We have both stoker furnace for central heating and a windowed stove in the living room for traditional firewood. The brilliance with the stove is that it has higher energy utilization than any other heat source. And it creates hygge in the living room in the long cold winter evenings.

  • bloom_of_rakes@lemm.ee
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    8 months ago

    The only way that we can remain competitive in the global marketplace is to squeeze the workers to the greatest extent that biology will allow. If that means slavery, mind control and death-at-30 then so be it. We must remain competitive

    • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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      8 months ago

      “But look! Asia’s doing it! We gotta compete! Think of the GDP!”

      [Completely ignoring people dying at their desks unnoticed, jumping from factory windows, suffering heart attacks at 25 years old]

      Pure malicious insanity.

    • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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      8 months ago

      If it’s a sliding scale of leisure to labor seeing time as a resource or currency, perhaps even negative hours!

      It’s offset to a ridiculous degree by all those who do the labor for them, and not only alleviate their burden to contribute to society, but elevate them to lives of seeking hedonism and pleasure.

      The only real work they seem to do is seeking more power…but they probably hire people for that, too.

  • Coskii@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    8 months ago

    I’m not opposed to a 4 day work week, but I am always curious as to what jobs the studies have looked at to conclude that people with 4 work days instead of 5 do the same amount or more work.

    I’m a construction worker. Despite the jokes about standing around, we work hard. I do not think that a 4 day work week would produce better results than a 5 day in my field.

    Just for reference I’ve been doing home rehabilitations for lower income families. There’s not a ton of heavy lifting, there’s just a lot to do.

    Also, a lot of guys in my line of work also work side jobs on their days off.

    • apocalypticat@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      You don’t think there’s a chance that working 4 days instead of 5 reduces the physical toll to keep you going longer and working better? Wouldn’t working 4 days a week reduce your stress, allow you to recover from all that heavy lifting you mentioned, and improve your physical and mental health on the long-run?

      Besides, as I understand it, if your company still wants you to work 5 days, you would still have the option. This bill would require them to pay you overtime for that extra day.

      • Coskii@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        8 months ago

        I specifically mentioned not much heavy lifting. The most taxing work I’ve had to do in the past few months was yesterday, lifting a solid core exterior for into place. And the entire second half the day was recovery while I finger painted with wood putty on all the doors and trim.

        Regardless of my personal work situation, I can’t deny that there would be mental and health benefits for shorter work weeks. I just really don’t think that more work would get done in less time, which is what a lot of studies on “office” work seem to say.

        • drcabbage@lemmy.ml
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          8 months ago

          For your line of work, maybe not. But who cares? They can hire more employees or pay them overtime.

          We aren’t machines. What’s the point of life if all we ever do is work? Are we working to live, or living to work? A 32 hour work week makes it a 4/3 day split instead of a 5/2 day split. Seems a lot more balanced if you ask me.

          • jj4211@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            They can hire more employees

            I’m much in favor of this, but it requires the regulated overhead of an employee to be reduced.

            Instead of employer insurance, public health service.

            Unemployment insurance should be reworked, because that also penalizes per-employee (extremely low wage caps, that start from fresh per person).

            Probably various other taxes similar to unemployment insurance.

            Generally speaking, there should be no difference to hire an employee for 12 hours versus 32 versus 40 hours. Currently a lot of positions get their hours capped to avoid incurring the overhead of a ‘full time’ employee.

          • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
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            8 months ago

            Yeah, this construction worker guy doesn’t get it. There were plenty of people who said a 40-hour work week was not a good idea. People were used to working 6 or 6.5 days per week.

            As a construction worker, it shouldn’t matter to you how quickly the work gets done. Why do you care? If you’re doing it for yourself, then work as much as you want. This limitation is just on how many hours you work before overtime pay.

        • DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe
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          8 months ago

          Ultimately speaking, it’s not really about that anyways. It’s about shrinking the ever growing wage gap.

          The productivity angle is interesting but just a justification that even the capital has to either agree with or admit it’s about control, not efficiency.

          • Coskii@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            8 months ago

            My base comment was more about the 32 hour work week studies which usually coincide with bills of this nature, showing improved productivity and so the lobbyists overlords had nothing to worry about from the change.

            As much as I enjoy my work, making end meet isn’t ever a simple task.

        • diannetea@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          I think something people are missing when thinking less work overall will happen is that this gives opportunities for new job openings for at least part time (if not just more full time position) people to fill in the gaps, or the people already working will just get paid much better. Both are wins imo

    • Churbleyimyam@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      It looks like it’s about overtime - people getting paid more when they work more than 32 hours.

  • archomrade [he/him]@midwest.social
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    8 months ago

    I like this as a concept, and since it has a low likelihood of passing, let a lone being bought up for a vote, i feel comfortable casting this critique:

    We need a long-term solution that addresses the power imbalance of employer-employee relations, and all this does is places a temporary and incremental improvement on something that will inevitably be undermined.

    I have a similar critique on minimum wage laws - while undeniably better for working class people, they fail to address the broader inequity and end up needing to be updated every couple years (which never happens).

    This is one of those moments where I really wish Bernie would put a finer point on it - this is an issue driven by capital. The federal government wouldn’t need to spell out labor laws if they could strengthen the working-class’s position against capital more broadly. I would almost rather him propose a bill that strengthens union laws and the NLRB, since those are currently under attack.

    • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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      8 months ago

      I’d like to think this actually gets some consideration though. Totally agree with your points, but let’s be honest: Once you start calling it like it is and openly blaming Capital, your career in American politics is dust.

      Somehow Bernie has managed to have quite a career, in spite of constant opposition by the status quo machine.

      • Son_of_dad@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Tbf they ignore him on everything and that’s why I do too. He’s been in politics forever and can’t get anything done ever. Sure it’s the fault of the party for ignoring his good ideas, but it’s also his for being so bad at politics that he can’t even get the backing of his own party. How was he ever going to beat Trump if not even the Democrats like him? He says nice things but he’s ineffectual

        • jorp@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Bernie Sanders is an Independent, he runs in the Democratic primaries for the Democratic Presidential nomination but he sits in Congress as an Independent.

              • Son_of_dad@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                I mean they have to be good enough to win right? And Bernie can’t, he’s proven he can’t win. So what’s the point of him but words?

                In any case Bernie is old as shit, that’s why I don’t want him. I honestly laugh at the hypocrisy of his supporters calling out the age of Biden, Trump, Pelosi and McConnell, while asking for Bernie.

                • stoly@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  You misunderstand. Nobody would be good enough for YOU. You will find something else to be angry over and will project it there.

  • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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    8 months ago

    This sounds awesome. Here’s what I wanna know though:

    What stops your boss from then saying “You better stop at 31.95 hours or you’re in trouble.” Because they don’t wanna pay overtime? They already do this in a lot of jobs.

    So, you’d need additional pay to compensate for less hours, but now you have a two-pronged battle because that just sounds way too lovely.

    And I’m guessing a lot of the “exempt” office workers that grind themselves into dust the hardest won’t be affected?

    I mean hey, I’d rather it just passes and we see what happens, and keep fixing it as it goes, at least it’s something! But the hardest part is blocking your bosses from weaseling around laws and screwing you anyway.

      • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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        8 months ago

        Correct. But that’s the issue right now. People look at the equation all wrong and say “I just wish I could get more hours!” instead of fighting for reasonable pay. If hours go down but pay doesn’t go up to compensate, a ton of people will actually get hit really hard by this and their lives will get worse instead of better.

        Companies can use that tired, stupid line that “Washington says you don’t have the eagle-screeching-freedom-right to WORK! How dare they!” and people will buy it.

        We don’t want that, because it’ll turn workers against worker-friendly politics, and that would be a Very Bad Thing, given the level of job-simp-indoctrination we’re already combating! :O