A win on the UAW picket lines could mean a step in the right direction not only for American labor, but for the global community at large
Student Commentary
By Priscilla Pui Sze Chan || Edited by Alessandro Cataldi
The United Auto Workers (UAW) union is now poised to enter the fourth week of their historic strike against the “big three” car manufacturers in the United States (Ford, GM and Stellantis). As negotiations grind on, laborers at picket lines all across America are demanding the same rate of pay at an unprecedented 32-hour (or four-day) workweek, with anything beyond that claimed as overtime pay.
“Our members are working 60, 70, even 80 hours a week just to make ends meet,” said UAW President Shawn Fain during a Facebook Live event on August 1st. “That’s not a living. That’s barely surviving, and it needs to stop.” The union has stood at the forefront of labor reforms since the 1920s, and should this proposal win out, it could influence work norms and practices all over the world.
The general consensus is that Americans spend too much time on the job, with overworking becoming normalized and thus celebrated. As a matter of fact, in the last decades the phenomenon of “hustle culture” has taken hold, shaping the average worker into focusing on productivity and success at the expense of self-care. Therefore, a shorter workweek would favour a better overall work-life balance, especially an improved health and home life.
On the other hand, employers would benefit from having reduced labor burnout, given that a more motivated and better-rested workforce would likely increase productivity.
Dozens of countries have run trials of a four-day workweek, reporting overwhelmingly positive results. For example, a pilot program in the UK had nearly 3,000 employees coming from 61 different companies taking part in the trial. The result was astounding, as 56 of the latter stated that they would continue to implement the shorter workweek and, according to the Washington Post , as 15 percent of the employees involved declared that “no amount of money” would convince them to go back to the five-day workweek. Moreover, some participants even reported improvements in various sectors of their lives, including sleep quality, stress levels, mental health and revenue.
Although no country has fully adopted the 32-hour workweek, initial results already indicate this might be the solution to the high levels of employee burnout and resignation.
Why don’t we apply this to colleges and universities around the world?
Students in higher education, on the whole, report declining mental health as a result of poor work-life balance. Between studying and participating in clubs, in fact, there isn’t much more time in the day for one’s personal life — and those who work a part-time job to support themselves have even less.
A 2021 study by the American College Health Association found that 48 percent of college students describe moderate to severe psychological stress, 53 percent reported being lonely, and one in four had considered suicide. These data thus suggest that although institutions regularly urge students to utilize counseling resources, counseling can only do so much — we must treat the cause, not the symptoms.
Luckily, the four-day school week is much more common in European higher education, one example being at John Cabot University. As someone studying abroad from the United States, it initially came as a shock to me, but while adjusting, I found that this schedule was extremely forgiving of all the factors that exist outside the classroom. The extra day off, in fact, better accommodates extracurricular passions, social lives and a further preparation for classes; not to mention the time set aside for traveling and valuable firsthand learning as a citizen of the world.
If the four-day school week were to be implemented everywhere, students would likely develop a better balance between commitments both academic and otherwise. It could generate more motivation when it comes to classes, as well as improved mental and physical well-being. Who knows, maybe we might even see a decline in college dropout rates.
There is no doubt that working and chasing professional ambitions is part of what makes life fulfilling, but nonetheless, we should start taking better care of ourselves as individuals, for I believe that it could truly be the key to a more productive and well-rounded society.
Suggested readings:
More than a dozen countries testing 4-day weeks in 2023
Four-day week: Which countries have embraced it and how’s it going so far?
Labor movements are seeing historic victories this year. Can unions keep up the momentum?
thematthewrome.com 