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Why a California Congressman Has Proposed a Four-Day Workweek

Published

2 years ago

March 21, 2022

The coronavirus pandemic has modified many issues about work, with hundreds of thousands of individuals doing their jobs from residence, others quitting altogether, and a few — as they lastly return to the workplace after two lengthy years — anticipating a larger diploma of flexibility.

However one California congressman, Mark Takano, needs to see an much more main change: a four-day workweek enshrined into laws.

“There’s financial, political, social upheaval,” Takano, a Democrat who represents the Inland Empire, advised me by cellphone lately. People, he mentioned, don’t “wish to return to the identical previous regular.”

Since Takano launched the 32-Hour Workweek Act in July, a number of teams, together with the Financial Coverage Institute and the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which has near 100 members, have endorsed the measure, which would cut back the usual workweek by eight hours.

The change wouldn’t drive employers to shift to a four-day workweek mannequin, however relatively, to start paying their staff extra time after 32 hours.

“As People have turn into extra productive, their incomes actually haven’t moved,” Takano mentioned, including that he hoped the invoice would make hiring extra aggressive and provides staff a greater work-life stability. He added: “What collective alternative will we wish to make about how we work?”

To make certain, the notion of a four-day workweek is hardly new.

In 1970, The New York Instances reported that the development was “accelerating.” Later protection means that the concept periodically gathered steam. However although the proposal continues to resurface, and has been adopted in some corners, it has by no means turn into mainstream. It might be unimaginable, critics say, in some client-facing industries. Others counsel it may turn into too expensive for companies.

The invoice has but to be heard by the Home, however Takano says if there’s any time that such a proposition may lastly succeed, it’s now, following the collective trauma of the pandemic. “The social reminiscence of the final two years,” he mentioned, is what makes this second “totally different.”

Throughout america, the disruption attributable to the coronavirus has given staff new leverage, contributing to an increase in calls for, strikes and unionization efforts in industries together with hospitality, training, and movie and tv. Staff have additionally give up in report numbers: In November, greater than 4.5 million folks left their jobs, based on the Labor Division, the very best determine recorded in 20 years of monitoring.

In different components of the world, the concept of the four-day workweek has already taken maintain.

In March 2021, the Spanish authorities mentioned it could supply 200 firms the possibility to use for subsidies to introduce four-day workweeks with out wage reductions. Unilever in New Zealand additionally examined the concept. It delivered a stunning outcome: Staff have been extra productive.

There’s “no correlation between working extra hours and higher productiveness,” mentioned Joe O’Connor, the chief government of 4 Day Week World, a nonprofit group.

This yr, the group is operating trials all over the world with dozens of firms, together with a number of in america. In keeping with O’Connor, it’s “pie within the sky” to consider work may return to the way it was earlier than the onset of the pandemic. “That’s not going to be the case.”

In California, a number of tech firms have made the change, an element that Takano says he hopes will bode nicely for the invoice’s reputation. In January, the corporate Bolt, based mostly in San Francisco, determined to completely supply its staff a 32-hour week, citing increased effectivity among the many majority of its staff after a three-month trial.

Basecamp, one other tech firm that works remotely, has supplied its staff a four-day week over the summer time for greater than a decade. “We don’t get fairly as a lot stuff carried out, however I believe it’s nonetheless price it,” Jason Fried, the corporate’s chief government and co-founder, advised me.

He added: “This obsession with getting as a lot carried out as you possibly can is unhealthy.”

Livia Albeck-Ripka is a reporter for The New York Instances, based mostly in California.

What we’re consuming

Eshkeneh, one of many oldest dishes in Iranian delicacies.

The place we’re touring

Right now’s tip comes from Alison Rose, who recommends the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens:

“The assorted floral collections appear virtually countless and odor like a dozen sorts of heaven. The situation on the shoreline gives some wonderful views, and the store and cafe are cozy and great, too. It’s a peaceable and awe-inspiring solution to spend a day, particularly should you want a peaceful escape from metropolis life!”

Inform us about your favourite locations to go to in California. E-mail your ideas to CAtoday@nytimes.com. We’ll be sharing extra in upcoming editions of the publication.

What we’re recommending

The ultimate works of Kaari Upson.

And earlier than you go, some excellent news

Kyra Friedell and Alexander Fernandez disagree about what constituted their very first date.

However the couple can pinpoint with certainty once they fell in love. It was Presidents’ Day weekend in 2018, most of which Friedell spent with chipped entrance tooth as a result of hers have been hit by a bottle whereas the 2 have been at a bar.

News

Atos crisis deepens as biggest shareholder ditches rescue plan

Published

3 hours ago

June 26, 2024

Press Room

Atos crisis deepens as biggest shareholder ditches rescue plan

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A rescue bid for French IT services group Atos led by its largest shareholder has collapsed, casting the future of the troubled group into doubt once again.

Atos said on Wednesday that the consortium led by Onepoint, an IT consultancy founded by David Layani, had withdrawn a proposal that would have converted €2.9bn of Atos debt into equity and injected €250mn of fresh funds into the struggling company.

“The conditions were not met to conclude an agreement paving the way for a lasting solution for financial restructuring,” Onepoint said in a statement on Wednesday.

The decision by Onepoint comes less than a month after Atos had picked its restructuring proposal over a competing plan from Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínsky. Atos said on Wednesday that Křetínsky had already indicated he wanted to restart talks.

Once a star of France’s tech scene, Atos is racing to strike a restructuring deal by next month as it struggles under its €4.8bn debt burden. It has cycled through multiple chief executives over the past three years and its shares have collapsed. They were down 12 per cent in early trading on Wednesday.

Atos also said it had received a revised restructuring proposal from a group of its bondholders.

“Discussions are continuing with the representative committee of creditors and certain banks on the basis of this proposal with a view to reaching an agreement as soon as possible,” the company said.

Jean-Pierre Mustier, former chief executive of Italian lender UniCredit, was installed as chair in October 2023 and given the task of putting Atos on a stable footing for the future. Since his appointment, several efforts to stabilise Atos through asset sales have fallen apart.

If talks with Křetínsky do restart, it will mark the Czech businessman’s third attempt to do a deal with Atos after an earlier plan to buy its lossmaking legacy business unravelled.

One of the people close to the talks said creditors had not necessarily become more receptive to Kretinsky’s plan given it cutting a larger chunk of the group’s debt.

The crisis at Atos has prompted the French government to intervene. It is currently seeking to acquire three parts of Atos that are deemed of importance to national security for up to €1bn.

Atos said on Wednesday it had concluded a deal with the French state that would give it so-called “golden shares” in a key Atos subsidiary, Bull SA. The agreement also gives the government the right to acquire “sensitive sovereign activities” in the event a third party acquired 10 per cent of the shares — or a multiple thereof — in either Atos or Bull.

News

New Jersey gamer flew to Florida and beat fellow player with hammer, say police

Published

3 hours ago

June 26, 2024

Press Room

New Jersey gamer flew to Florida and beat fellow player with hammer, say police

An online gamer from New Jersey recently flew to Florida, broke into the home of a fellow player with whom he had feuded digitally but never met in person, and tried to beat him to death with a hammer, according to authorities.

The allegations leveled by the Nassau county, Florida, sheriff’s office against 20-year-old Edward Kang constitute an extreme example of a phenomenon that academics call “internet banging” – which involves online arguments, often between young people, that escalate into physical violence.

As Bill Leeper, the local sheriff, told it, Kang and the man he is suspected of attacking became familiar with each other playing the massively multiplayer online role-playing game ArcheAge.

The Korean game is supposed to no longer be available beginning Thursday, its publisher announced in April, citing a “declining number of active players”, as ABC News reported. But prior to the cancellation, Kang and the other player became locked in some sort of “online altercation”, Leeper said at a news briefing Monday.

Kang then informed his family that he was headed out of town to meet a friend he had made through gaming, Leeper recounted. The sheriff said Kang flew from Newark, New Jersey, to Jacksonville, Florida, and booked himself into a hotel near his fellow gamer’s home early Friday morning.

He had allegedly bought a hammer and a flashlight at a local hardware store, receipts for which deputies later found in Kang’s hotel room.

By early Sunday, Kang purportedly had put on black clothes, gloves and a mask, and he went into his target’s home through an unlocked door. He waited for the victim to get up to take a bathroom break from gaming – and then battered him with the hammer, Leeper said.

The alleged victim managed to wrestle Kang to the ground while screaming for help. The victim’s stepfather woke up after hearing the screams, rushed to his stepson’s side, helped take Kang’s hammer away and restrained him until deputies were called and they arrived, according to Leeper.

Deputies found blood at the home’s entrance and in the bedroom of the victim, Leeper added. The sheriff said the victim was brought to a hospital to be treated for “severe” head wounds while deputies jailed Kang on counts of attempted second-degree murder and armed burglary.

Leeper accused Kang of telling deputies that he carried out the violent home invasion because he believed the target to be “a bad person online”. Kang also allegedly asked investigators how much prison time was associated with breaking and entering as well as assault.

Attempted second-degree murder alone can carry up to 15 years. Leeper quipped that his only answer to Kang was: “It will be a long time before you play video games.”

Striking a more serious tone, Leeper urged people to be vigilant about and report to authorities any suspicious online behavior aimed at them. He also mentioned the importance of locking one’s home.

“This … serves as a stark reminder of the potential real-world consequences of online interaction,” Leeper said.