To: The California State House and The California State Senate
create a 35 hour work week
Change California labor code 515(c) to create a 35 hour work week.
Why is this important?
35 hour work-week
Tools were/are invented and used to save time and energy. They allow us to do more things, including having more “free” time to engage in other perhaps more enjoyable aspects of life. Industrialization did that to a great extent for civilization. So is our continuing advances in automation. The idea behind these advances is, or should be, to reduce the number of hours an average worker must put in on the job to accomplish the same feat. The average workweek in America did decline over the decades to reach 40 hours a week around World war II. Since then, automation and efficiency have increased dramatically, but we are still stuck with a 40-hour workweek. This has been one of the reasons that we currently have such high unemployment-people still working 40 hours + a week while others are completely unemployed. We are long overdue for a legal reduction to a 35-hour workweek. If we did this, employers, especially corporations employing a large number of people, will be encouraged to hire more people to fill the gap rather then pay current employees time and a half overtime for that extra 5 hours needed to do the job. This would save parents some money reducing the amount of after school day care needed. The ultimate goal (in America) would be the 30-hour week. This would match America’s current school day. Some parents could then eliminate after school daycare altogether and allow some other families to become 2 earner families.
Tools were/are invented and used to save time and energy. They allow us to do more things, including having more “free” time to engage in other perhaps more enjoyable aspects of life. Industrialization did that to a great extent for civilization. So is our continuing advances in automation. The idea behind these advances is, or should be, to reduce the number of hours an average worker must put in on the job to accomplish the same feat. The average workweek in America did decline over the decades to reach 40 hours a week around World war II. Since then, automation and efficiency have increased dramatically, but we are still stuck with a 40-hour workweek. This has been one of the reasons that we currently have such high unemployment-people still working 40 hours + a week while others are completely unemployed. We are long overdue for a legal reduction to a 35-hour workweek. If we did this, employers, especially corporations employing a large number of people, will be encouraged to hire more people to fill the gap rather then pay current employees time and a half overtime for that extra 5 hours needed to do the job. This would save parents some money reducing the amount of after school day care needed. The ultimate goal (in America) would be the 30-hour week. This would match America’s current school day. Some parents could then eliminate after school daycare altogether and allow some other families to become 2 earner families.