While artificial intelligence continues to reshape the workplace, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) raises a provocative question for American technological and political establishments: if AI stimulates productivity, then why do workers not see the advantage?
In a recent appearance in the Joe Rogan experience, Sanders argued that technological progress – especially in AI – should be used so as not to reduce jobs, but to improve life by shortening the work week without reducing salary.
“Technology will work to improve us, not just people who have the technology and CEOs of large companies,” Sanders told Rogan. “You are a worker, your productivity increases because we give you AI, right? Instead of throwing you in the street, I will reduce your work week to 32 hours.”
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Sanders’ comments arise at a time when companies boast major productivity gains from AI generative tools such as Chatgpt, Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini, which can manage tasks ranging from writing and research to software development and customer service. However, these same companies have also dismissed tens of thousands of workers since 2023, citing restructuring and automation led by AI.
Disconnecting between increasing efficiency and eroding of employment safety has aroused renewed interest in labor reforms – and now, growing calls to institutionalize the four -day work week.
A legislative path to follow?
The postulation of Sanders has sparked new conversations between workers, some of whom now say that it is time for the congress to intervene and legislate a reduced work week as a means of distributing the GAINS of AI and automation equally.
The question of work of 4 days a week has been under discussion for some time. In 2021, representative Mark Takano (D-CA) presented a bill to impose a 32-hour work week. The bill proposed called the Thirty-Hours Work Week Act, has received support from many labor rights organizations.
The Takano bill would change the law on fair labor standards in order to reduce the standard work week from 40 hours to 32 while retaining overtime protections in place – essentially inciting businesses to reduce the hours or pay for a supplement for work beyond four days a week.
Although the bill has not yet been submitted to a vote, Takano and others see the growing visibility of Sanders on the issue as a chance to reach public pressure on the congress. A number of progressive legislators have expressed informal support for the experimentation of shorter work weeks, especially in the technology, education and health care sectors.
Last year, Sanders presented legislation that would establish a week of work of 32 hours in the United States without loss of salary, a change that the Vermont senator said necessary to ensure that the advantages of the working class of massive productivity and technological advances.
“Today, American workers are more than 400% more productive than they were in the 1940s. And yet millions of Americans work longer for wages lower than they were decades. This must change, “said Sanders. “Financial gains from the main progress of artificial intelligence, automation and new technologies must benefit the working class, not just CEOs of companies and rich shareholders at Wall Street.”
Real world successes strengthen the case
The evidence that supports the four -day work week rise.
In the United Kingdom, a six-month trial involving 61 companies and nearly 3,000 workers found that 92% of companies have chosen to maintain the reduced calendar after the end of the trial. Productivity has been widely maintained or improved, while workers have declared lower stress, fewer days of illness and a better balance between professional and privacy.
In the United States, companies like Kickstarter have adopted a permanent week of four days, while the 2019 Microsoft Japan pilot showed 40% of productivity, the employees saying that they were more concentrated and committed during reduced hours.
Sanders highlighted these examples as proof that the model can work without sacrificing the exit.
“Not a radical idea,” he told Rogan. “There are companies around the world that do it with some success. Let us use technology for the benefit of workers. It means giving you more time with your family, with your friends, for education – whatever you want to do. ”
Growing public support
The survey shows that a majority of Americans promote the idea. A Yougov survey in 2023 revealed that more than 60% of respondents support a four -day work week without loss of salary, especially among young workers and parents.
Unions are also starting to adopt the idea of negotiation chip. The United Auto Workers (UAW), during negotiations in 2023, included a four -day work week in his list of requests. In California, a weekly working week’s piloting proposal in state agencies has been launched but has not advanced. However, activists say that the tide turns.
What Sanders did, analysts say is the link of the economic impact of AI to labor policy, by pushing the conversation of control rooms to legislative chambers.
Although the resistance of corporate lobbies is expected, in particular in the sectors which depends on the hourly workforce – the comments of the Sanders can mark a turning point.
