{"id":21466,"date":"2022-04-13T20:44:05","date_gmt":"2022-04-13T20:44:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2022\/04\/13\/california-lawmaker-explains-why-shes-pushing-for-a-4-day-workweek\/"},"modified":"2022-04-13T20:44:05","modified_gmt":"2022-04-13T20:44:05","slug":"california-lawmaker-explains-why-shes-pushing-for-a-4-day-workweek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2022\/04\/13\/california-lawmaker-explains-why-shes-pushing-for-a-4-day-workweek\/","title":{"rendered":"California lawmaker explains why she’s pushing for a 4-day workweek"},"content":{"rendered":"
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With millions of Americans changing jobs, a California politician wants to use the “Great Restoration” to create a better work-life balance for workers.<\/p>\n

Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia has co-sponsored a bill to turn the state’s official work week into 32 hours for companies with 500 or more employees. Any work done beyond this cut would come with a significant increase: employers would have to pay time and a half to workers who have more than 32 hours a week. And work more than 12 hours a day or seven days a week would be paid twice the normal wage.<\/p>\n

Employers subject to the law, which would apply to 20% of California’s workforce, would also be banned from reducing people’s wages if they work less than their standard work week, Garcia told CBS News. The bill would not apply to workers represented by a union and covered by a collective agreement.
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\u201cAfter two years of being in the pandemic, we\u2019ve had more than 47 million employees quit their jobs in search of better opportunities,\u201d Garcia said. “They send a clear message that they want a better work-life balance: they want better emotional and mental health, and that’s part of that discussion.”<\/p>\n

California’s economy is the fifth largest in the world and the largest among the United States, making it a benchmark for many aspects of the work culture. <\/p>\n

Job killer?<\/h2>\n

The proposed law covers about 2,600 businesses in California, according to the Department of Employment Development. <\/p>\n

The California Chamber of Commerce called it a “job killer,” saying it would make hiring more expensive and cause jobs to fall in California. <\/p>\n

“Labor costs are often one of the highest costs a business faces,” House Advocate Ashley Hoffman wrote to co-sponsor Bill Evan Low last week.<\/p>\n

“[B]Companies often operate with thin profit margins and … the number of employees you have does not determine your financial success, “he wrote. <\/p>\n

Evidence from other countries suggests that a four-day work week can have positive effects, increasing employee productivity while reducing stress. A comprehensive rehearsal in Iceland last summer concluded that a shorter working week was a “overwhelming success<\/span>Since then, 8 out of 10 employees in the country have gone to work four days a week. Other countries included <\/strong>Scotland<\/strong>Spain and even the famous Japan, a workaholic, have tried shorter work weeks.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Garcia argues that large companies, which have had theirs most profitable quarter since the 1950s<\/span>you can afford to pay more to workers.<\/p>\n

“We want to see them share part of this better life with their employees as well,” he told CBS News. <\/p>\n

Working more than farmers<\/h2>\n

In the US, a handful of companies have started experimenting with a four-day week. Kickstarter officially launches its reduced work week this month. “[M]The expectation and my wish is that we can achieve the same results or greater results as a result of changing the way we work, “CEO Aziz Hasan told Time about the change.<\/p>\n

D’Youville College, a small private school in Buffalo, New York, began testing a four-day week in January. President Lorrie Clemo said the measure would “improve the overall well-being of our employees and the competitiveness of our institution.”<\/p>\n

But in general, the shortened working week has been a relative rarity in a nation where workers work longer hours than in most other industrialized countries. <\/p>\n

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