(Gray News) – Two lawmakers have introduced a bill that would reduce the standard workweek to 32 hours without a loss in pay or benefits.

Rep. Mark Takano of California and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont reintroduced the “Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act” last week.

EN ESPAÑOL | Proponen ley para reducir la semana laboral a 32 horas

The proposal, which was first introduced by Takano in 2021, would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Under the proposal, employees who worked more than 32 hours in a workweek would be eligible for overtime pay.

The standard 40-hour workweek was established in law nearly 90 years ago, according to Takano.

“Since then, cellphones, the internet and now AI have increased worker productivity, but the profits have been largely concentrated at the top by billionaires and corporations. Work has fundamentally changed. It’s time that labor standards caught up,” Takano said.

Sanders and Takano argue that changes in wages are not equivalent to the increase in labor production.

“A 32-hour workweek is not a radical idea. What’s radical is that, despite an explosion in technology and productivity over the last 50 years, millions of workers are working longer hours for lower wages while nearly $80 trillion in wealth has been redistributed from the bottom 90 percent to the top 1 percent. That has got to change,” Sanders said.

Takano said the bill has been endorsed by numerous groups, including the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, National Nurses United and United Auto Workers.

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