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

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."