4 Days A Week Summary

As Samuel Gompers notes, “I maintain that this is a true proposition- that men under the short-hour system not only have opportunity to improve themselves, but to make a greater degree of prosperity for their employers”(2). Men who are overworked have “lives to work instead of working to live” (2) which is accurate. They do the same thing every day having a routine and no time devoted into bettering themselves and having thoughts on ideas or anything. The author is Samuel Gompers and the intended audience is working men, more specifically those who hire the working men. To make them realize what they are doing by assigning so many hours to men. This is a primary document as it may have been composed during the midst of a time when men were constantly overworked.

He criticizes the proponents that say the working conditions are improving. The rate of pay increase is very insignificant to the cost of living. And he compares the working hours to the dark ages in which the people of the dark ages worked less. One thing people feared to disturb labor and production of sustenance was famine. He also brings to

“There is barely sufficient work for the regular employment of half of our labourers, so that only 1,500,000 are fully and constantly employed, while 1,500,000 more are employed only half their time, and the remaining 1,500,000 wholly unemployed” (Thompson cited in 250)

Before introducing the workplace issues related to the development of four-day workweek, a clear definition of this schedule is needed. According to Department of Labor (n.d.), “A workweek is a fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours, or seven consecutive 24-hour periods. The workweek does not have to coincide with the calendar week, but instead it may begin on any day of the week and at any hour of the day.” It might be the “four-day, 32-hour workweek – more leisure, less work” (Wernette 1), or the “three-day, 40 hour, compressed work week” that Vega

also says that all who complain about the work days being too long are lazy and that real

But what he isn’t advertising is the fact that it comes at a price. Other elements of the pay package are to be limited, including what constitutes unsociable hours. Day shifts on a Saturday will be paid at a standard rate, while extra premiums that are being offered for night and the rest of the weekend are lower than what is currently paid. In other words we are being cheated, and our long hours and possibly the busiest weekend shifts are being overlooked. On top of that, most of us are annoyed as our guaranteed pay increases related to time in the job are also going to be scrapped and replaced with a system linked to advancement through set training periods. It’s

The author speaks a lot about productivity and how this is what drives wages, and how when productivity is increased our income per capita grows and unemployment is lowered. In Chapter 10, Reducing Labor Restrictions: From School Choice to Right to Work, productivity and economic growth is the primary focus. Some of the ideals he presented here seemed really good in concept, but lack in terms of how they would be put into motion. Labor Restrictions was the first thing discussed, in this he talks about how costly it is for new businesses to open up here in WV, due to all the labor restrictions we impose compared to our neighboring states, thus leading employers to seek labor elsewhere, where it doesn’t cost as much. He even goes as far as comparing them as shoppers in a market. I do agree with the fact that if they

* Employees might decrease rate of production as demand decreases to create an impression of need and to preserve jobs

Strain’s other solution, “make it easier to hire workers” was another intriguing government back proposition based on tax exemption for employers and a lower minimum wage for the short-term employed. Four dollars an hour was the proposed wage, in most state that is barely sufficient to support a single person let alone a family. This method made little sense to me when I reviewed it, the only benefits I could comprehend was self-gratification from working and the employers seemed to receive a better deal that the people seeking employment. In addition, Strain had a complementary plan to “keep workers working” by proposing that id a company should need to conserve twenty percent of its revenue to survive it is advised to cut the wages of the

The 4 day work week is not a new idea. It is one that has had its share of controversies over the years. Introduced in the 1970’s the idea of the 4 days work week has been making a comeback as of lately. There are several issues to look at here. One of the main statements in regards to it is that productivity will decrease because of fatigue. A 10 hour work day is too long. On the flipside, another of the main issues pointed out by proponents is that productivity will increase because you will have a workforce with higher morale. In this paper, we will discuss

Do you always feel like you are rushed for time? Working your whole day away and never having time to yourself? Do you wish you could set your own schedule each week? Well, the time has come where many companies human resources departments have changed their ways of thinking about the 40 hour work week. Many human resource departments have now began giving their employees a more flexible work schedule as long as their work is being completed.

Secondly, the reading passage claims that offering employees this option will reduce the unemployment rates. However , the lecture tells that the company excepts the employees who used to work for five days a week to work overtime

First, the reading passage claims that ,a four day work scheme will benefit the companies economy. It gives the idea that the company can recruit other employee and get other benefit from them with the same money. But the professor refutes the point by saying that it will be more costly. Because to recruit other employee it needs more office spaces, more training , more computers and more medical facilities for the newly recruited employees. So it will be more costly to manage

In his opinion he believes that the minimum wage going up to fifteen dollars an hour will harm the smaller businesses here in Porterville. Which I agree with, and it’s also something business owners and future business owners have to take into consideration. Another key idea he brought into mind was, what about the people who already make fifteen dollars an hour for more stressful jobs that require more out of someone. They are going to expect a raise to do their job since they would be getting paid a set minimum just like everyone else. Therefor In my opinion I agree with him too it’s something that’s going to effect small businesses in the central valley

This implies that all workers that desire jobs will have them, and those who are unemployed voluntarily choose to be so.