Bernie Sanders leads bill to reduce 40-hour work week: Report

If Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has his way, a new bill will reduce the traditional 40-hour U.S. work week to four days without a change in pay, NBC News is reporting.

The “Thirty-Two Hour Work Week Act,” would reduce the typical work week from 40 hours to 32 hours over the course of four years, the report said.

“Moving to a 32-hour work week with no loss of pay is not a radical idea,” Sanders said in a statement. “Today, American workers are over 400% more productive than they were in the 1940s. And yet, millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages than they were decades ago. That has got to change.”

Sanders explained that countries, including France, Norway and Denmark, practice a four-day work week and he pointed to studies that found shortened work week pilot programs increased productivity and satisfaction among workers, the report said.

“It’s time that working families — not just CEOs and wealthy shareholders — are able to benefit from increased productivity so that they can enjoy more leisure time, family time, education and cultural opportunities, and less stress,” Sanders said.