For a brief moment around 2023 the 4 day work week almost seemed like a real possibility but then something happened and the issue just died out.
I am creating this post as a way to collect information and research on the topic. Do you know of any research done on the subject? Do you have personal experience? Share them in the comments all engagement is welcome! Let’s bring that issue back to life!
A four day work week is against the interest of capitalists. The labor market like any other market is governed by supply and demand. A four day work week would reduce the supply of work by 20%. So unemployment would have to go down, which leads to higher wages, which again lower capitalists profits. That is not to say that it is impossible and obviously a number of companies tried it successfully. However to actually do it at scale you need unions or other ways of large scale mobilization of workers. To be quite frank, workers are not organized well enough to get this done today.
I do agree, unions have played and I think will play a large role in the push for workers rights.