Germany: towards 32 hour week - "It represents a fairer distribution of the wealth created by productivity gains in the industry created by the workers"
Germany: towards 32 hour week - "It represents a fairer distribution of the wealth created by productivity gains in the industry created by the workers"
An 8.5 per cent wage increase and a reduction in working hours from 35 hours to 32 hours per week with full wage compensation are part of IndustriALL affiliate IG Metall’s, collective bargaining package.
"For far too long, the lion's share of the benefits from our increased efficiency has gone to the top, sidelining those who are at the very heart of this production. It's time to level the playing field, ensuring that our workers directly benefit from these advancements by offering them improved working conditions and an enhanced quality of life."
When will we, as a class, gain back the wealth we created?
this is the kind of liberalism I can get behind
I wanna move there. Anyone have any odea how to get started? I'm a software developer.
While the 4 day week is undeniably great for employees, I do wonder how it can be translated into some businesses or industries.
Restaurants for example who have mostly part time staff - do they just suddenly get paid more?
Or self employed professionals ...
I'm no expert but I get a sense that Germany still revolves very much around their auto industry. So if you work in that world everything is tailor made for your situation, if not, well easiest would be to get an expert that can navigate the exceptions.
we could also work way less if we haven't had to pay for rent. build social housing and gov sell appartements for 50k€. people retire at 50. profit. also make highschool graduation at 15, and joining professional life at 18-20. 30 years of work, pay 700€ per month for a 70m², then after 7 years appartement is all yours. building complex should last 2 generations, then renovation. rinse and repeat.
And how about the industries who have been maximally efficient this whole time making full use of 40+ hour weeks? Do they get the extra 25% pay boost?
There are plenty of studies proving people working less hours still do the same or even more and/or better work then those doing more hours. If pay was linked to efficiency gains over the last decades our pay would be considerably higher.
Instead we're still stuck at back breaking jobs with long hours and get looked at funny for wanting to work less and live a little more by people thinking anyone working less than 40+ hours is slacking for no other reason than tradition.
Personally, I'd still work the same amount if I worked part time instead of full time. I just stare into the void for most of the day atm.
In these posts I mostly refer to truck drivers. At least in the US there hasn't been much improvement in efficiency since it all works just the same as ever. Can't move more in a truck than max gross, and yet it's still 70 hours a week. It's all based on the legal limits on time for drivers. 14 hours from when you start until you need to take 10 hours off. 11 of those hours can be spent driving. 70 hours in 8 days, or take 34 hours off and get them all back.
Truck drivers work this schedule and are payed not by the hour but by "production" ie miles driven. The more it costs to pay these drivers the more most things people consume will cost by proxy, so most people wouldn't be happy if drivers got a decent pay bump.