Republican Sen Bill Cassidy slams Bernie Sanders' 32-hour workweek proposal as job-killer
Cassidy said a 32-hour workweek mandate would force employers to ship jobs overseas
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Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy is warning that a proposed 32-hour workweek with no loss in pay would kill jobs or dramatically increase inflation.
Cassidy, the Republican ranking member on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), torched the proposal from his colleague, Chairman Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., at a hearing on Thursday.
"The government mandating a 32-hour workweek while requiring businesses to increase pay at least an extra 25 percent per hour of labor will destroy employers, forcing them to either ship jobs overseas or dramatically increase prices to try and stay afloat," Cassidy argued. "The Biden administration has been dumping gasoline on his inflation fire. This would be napalm."
BERNIE SANDERS MOVES TO REDUCE WORK HOURS FOR MILLIONS OF AMERICANS
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., ranking Member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, participates in a hearing on prescription drug costs at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 8. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, this week introduced the Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act, which would reduce the standard workweek from 40 hours to 32 hours over four years by lowering the threshold for overtime pay for non-exempt employees.
The legislation would require overtime compensation at time and a half for workdays longer than eight hours, and overtime pay at double a worker's regular pay for workdays longer than 12 hours.
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Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee ranking member Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., left, and Chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., listen to witnesses during a hearing about working hours in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images / Getty Images)
It also contains language that would protect workers' pay and benefits to ensure that the shorter workweek would not result in reduced income.
"Moving to a 32-hour workweek with no loss of pay is not a radical idea," Sanders said in a press release. "Today, American workers are over 400 percent more productive than they were in the 1940s. And yet, millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages than they were decades ago. That has got to change."
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Cassidy sees things differently. At Thursday's hearing, he argued that a government mandate shortening work hours without reducing pay would be a death sentence for small businesses.
"If this policy is implemented, it would threaten the millions of small businesses already operating on razor-thin margins, in part because they are unable to find enough workers. Employers would be forced to eliminate full-time positions in favor of part-time ones," the Louisiana lawmaker said.
He punctuated his criticisms in an interview with FOX Business host Stuart Varney on Thursday, calling Sanders' proposal another example of "the federal government trying to promise free money as if there's no consequences."
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"There's incredible consequences of paying workers the exact same amount of money for working 32 hours instead of 40 hours. So, for example, you increase the cost of labor, which means that companies are more likely to automate. They're more likely to move overseas their operations for cheaper labor costs. And lastly, it contributes to inflation," Cassidy said.
"It is a bad deal for workers … Nothing's free."