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Why autoworkers' leader is calling for a 4-day work week from Big 3 car makers

www.npr.org /2023/09/11/1198394085/uaw-big-3-automakers-4-day-work-week-shawn-fain-detroit

What if you could work just four days a week but get paid for five?

That's essentially what Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers, has been agitating for in ongoing labor talks in Detroit.

The reform-minded union leader envisions a 32-hour work week for 40 hours of pay, and overtime for anything more.

As wild as that might sound, he's leaning on a concept that has captured the imagination of workers all over the world, thanks to widely publicized trials. Microsoft ran a month-long pilot in Japan in 2019 and reported hugely positive results, including a 40% increase in productivity. More recently, dozens of companies in the U.S., Canada, and Europe have participated in ongoing trials that have likewise been deemed successful.

But Fain's push — alongside other "audacious demands" (Fain's own words) the UAW has laid on the table — is noteworthy because of how radical a change it would represent.

"Our members are working 60, 70, even 80 hours a week just to make ends meet," Fain said on a Facebook Live event last month. "That's not a living. That's barely surviving, and it needs to stop."

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  • As much as I support this, I’d be shocked if they were able to reproduce what Microsoft experienced in a white collar environment. White collar engineering gigs are VERY different than a factory line that has been optimized for efficiency for decades.

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