WHEREAS, the fight for the shorter workweek has been an ongoing struggle, with the 40-hour workweek becoming the “norm” in the 1950s, and
WHEREAS, U.S. workers often work far beyond the 40-hour workweek with mandatory overtime and/or second jobs to make ends meet, and
WHEREAS, increases in automation over many decades and now “robotization” and artificial intelligence are replacing workers throughout many industries and occupations, and
WHEREAS, there has been much discussion within the AFL-CIO regarding the future of work, and the 2019 AFL-CIO Commission on the Future of Work and Unions recommended mobilizing working people around the issue of shorter work days and weeks, including through bargaining or legislating a four-day workweek or earlier retirement, with no reduction in pay for workers, and
WHEREAS, shorter workweeks with no loss of pay creates more jobs and liberates individual workers to engage more fully in family, community and political life, and
WHEREAS, a shorter working life with earlier full retirement also creates more employment for younger workers and enables workers to better enjoy the fruits of hard-earned retirement, therefore be it
RESOLVED, that the AFL-CIO will aggressively take up the fight for a shorter workweek and earlier retirement in the arena of education, collective bargaining and legislative initiatives, and will work with like-minded allies in these efforts.