Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) became upset when a reporter with Fox Business questioned him on his proposed legislation that would establish a 32-hour workweek.
“May I discuss the 32-hour workweek with you?” Fox Business reporter Hillary Vaughn inquired of Sanders, prompting him to ask her which media company she worked for.
Vaughn then commented that it appears that Democrats want businesses to be taxed more. Sanders interrupted, stating, “Really? Is this how we handle things?” The two continued to talk at the same time, with Sanders saying “excuse me” and Vaughn informing him she didn’t get to ask her question.
The Senator then looked directly at the camera, advocating for the proposal of a four-day working week without a decrease in pay for employees.
“We held a hearing on a 32-hour workweek because what we have seen is that over the last 50 years, despite a huge increase in worker productivity, almost all of the wealth has gone to the top 1 percent, while 60 percent of the people [are] living paycheck to paycheck,” Sanders said, as highlighted by Mediaite.
“Many of our people are exhausted,” he continued. “We work the longest hours of any people in the industrialized world. I think it’s time for a shortened workweek.”
Vaughn attempted to ask the same question for a second time and Sanders cut her off again, waving his hand in front of her face. Vaughn asked the senator how businesses would survive a shortened workweek, and Sanders argued that Amazon owner Jeff Bezos pays a lower tax rate than the average worker, which shows “we have a real problem with our tax system.”
“I think that billionaires have got to start paying their fair share of taxes,” he said.
Sanders introduced the bill, which would lower the threshold required for overtime pay from 40 hours to 32, on Wednesday. It would also require overtime pay at a rate of 1.5 times an employee’s regular salary for workdays that are longer than eight hours and overtime pay at a rate of 2 times an employee’s regular salary for workdays longer than 12 hours.
In a press release Wednesday, Sanders argued that his proposed legislation is not “a radical idea.” Employees today are more than 400 times more productive than they were in the 1940s, yet they still work longer hours and earn lower wages than they did decades ago, he said.
In his release, Sanders pointed to several pilot programs and studies that showed an increase in productivity with a 32-hour workweek. The studies found that because employees were happier, they were more productive at their jobs.
