Republican says Bernie Sanders’ four-day workweek will threaten ‘millions’ of small businesses, forcing them to pay staff 25% extra an hour and could ship jobs overseas
- Senator Bernie Sanders introduced the ‘Thirty-Two-Hour Workweek Act’ on Thursday
- The bill would reduce the standard workweek from 40 to 32 hours, without any loss of pay
- However, Republican Senator Bill Cassidy claims the measure could threaten small businesses across the country
Top Republicans are sounding enthusiastic about a proposal from Sen. Bernie Sanders that would mandate a four-day work week, saying the measure could threaten millions of small businesses across the country.
The Vermont progressive – and self-proclaimed “Democratic Socialist” – introduced his “Thirty-Two-Hour Workweek Act” at a hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee on Thursday.
His plan would reduce the standard workweek from 40 to 32 hours, with no loss of pay for employees. The bill would also reduce the maximum number of hours required for overtime pay for non-exempt employees.
Sanders has said the bill is “not a radical idea,” but the top Republican on the HELP committee, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., warns that workers will be the real losers if it is introduced.
“The government imposing a 32-hour work week and requiring companies to increase wages by at least 25 percent per hour would, quite frankly, destroy some employers,” Cassidy said at Thursday’s hearing.
Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders introduced the “Thirty-Two Hour Work Week Act” on Thursday, which would reduce the standard workweek from 40 to 32 hours with no loss of pay
The top Republican on the Senate HELP Committee, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said the measure could threaten millions of small businesses and force them to pay more for less.
“If implemented, this policy would threaten millions of small businesses that operate on razor-thin margins because they are unable to find enough workers.”
“It’s free money, if you like. No loss of wages, but you work a lot less.’
Cassidy said the proposal would be “napalm on the flames of inflation.”
The bill also includes provisions requiring that overtime, time and a half, be paid to employees who work more than eight hours per day.
It also stipulates that employees will receive double their normal wages if they work more than 12 hours a day.
Yet Sanders argues that workers today are more efficient than in 1940, when the standard 40-hour work week was introduced.
“Today, American workers are more than 400 percent more productive than they were in the 1940s,” Sanders said in a press release announcing the bill.
“And yet millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages than they did decades ago.”
“It’s time to reduce stress levels in our country and help Americans enjoy a better quality of life.”
Republicans argue the bill would force employers to hire workers to keep their businesses adequately staffed
But members of the Republican Party say Americans’ quality of life would decline if Sanders were to take the measure.
“Employees would be the ones paying, not getting paid extra,” Cassidy said.
“They would ship those jobs overseas or they would automate them to replace the workers for whom they have higher costs.”
“Or they would raise prices dramatically to stay afloat.”
Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., also opposed Sanders’ proposal during Thursday’s hearing.
“I don’t agree that we’re trying to do anything from (the Senate) that would impose corporate supremacy.”
“I just don’t think they’re going to survive,” he said.