>> How would you like get paid the same amount of work or get paid the same amount but work fewer hours.

That's the idea behind a new bill that was introduced in Congress last week by Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Mark Takano.

The 32 hour workweek act would reduce the standard workweek by 8 hours while keeping wages and benefits the same.

The sponsors say AI has increased productivity and allowed workers to need less time to be successful at work.

But others say it's too good to be true.

Joining us to weigh the pros and the cons are J Albert chief growth officer at International Services Incorporated a business development and management consulting company, Andy Challenger, chief revenue officer at Challenger, Gray and Christmas, an outplacement and executive coaching firm and Richard Rodriguez, state director for Illinois Service Workers United and National policy director with the one Fair Wage campaign.

Thanks to all of you for joining us.

Thank you.

So, Richard, explain this bill for us.

What would it change?

>> So the bill is a phase-in period.

So would you go down periodically over 4 years?

What it would do is it give an opportunity for people to live a good quality life?

>> Ok, say than it would go down from 40 to 32 hours over the 4 years over span of 4 innocent.

Really what it would be doing is changing the overtime rules.

So right now, anything over 40 hours is time and a half.

What are we doing is reducing that down to 32 hours with time in a sounds good for everybody.

And if this bill does get passed, though companies would pay more for labor.

>> Could we see prices go up as businesses attempt to make up for those increased costs?

>> Yeah, certainly some of those costs like increase labor costs effects companies, which would certainly would.

It's going to passed on in higher prices to consumers.

in some ways is paid for by workers themselves in the form of lower raises over time after that that new law goes into effect.

It's something we've seen a couple of countries try.

We've seen this in some real-world experiments.

Wow, absolutely desperately need to address real wealth inequality in the country.

My worry is this would be a bill that's not.

The most effective way to do that and would have some real costs for employers that could damage companies in a way that damages overall economy.

>> Jay, this bill would change the threshold as we've discussed for overtime pay from 40 hours a week down to 32 hours a week over the course of 4 years.

So this mostly impacts hourly workers, then where would could what impact there be for salaried employees?

>> It's going there's sides of this bill.

One is obviously the 32, our reduction in the work week.

Therefore, obviously, if they go into Friday, timing out the other side is maintaining their salary and maintaining benefits but only working.

32 hours.

So on that both sides actually, I find this kind of somewhat devastating for the small medium-sized business owner because there is a increase in costs overall.

But where is the production?

We're reducing the production time specifically.

And that would assuming we have 100% production time and those 4 days.

That's the biggest impact that we're going to >> Richard, what do you say to that?

Would you say to some of those concerns about the impact to productivity and to businesses?

I mean, anytime we've talked about wage increases, you hear about the cost of goods and materials and >> we are going to go up and I don't know.

I had stagnation for quite sometime myself as well as many other workers that have been working very diligently and hard over there, you know, like worker the price of everything continuously still rises, right?

The cost of goods continuously rise.

I don't forever see the cost of good ever going down.

So why should we not be having serious conversations about raising wages for all workers, livable wages and really thinking about the quality of life as people Biden has.

How AI is coming in and transforming our economy.

We should have serious conversations about what that means and what will work work week in work.

They should look like.

>> Are there concerns that employers might not be as willing to provide that over time because it that over time as more expensive with the workers that we represent are tipped workers.

One fair wage, national advocacy group that has been fighting for tipped workers already.

They don't work of typical 40 hour work week.

We have workers working 20 or 32 hours, 30 hours a week now.

>> So this bill necessarily affect them at all.

And in most cases, most people are ready carrying 2 or 3 jobs.

So there are ready, not working, you know, full-time jobs.

So our our members predominantly see that cost of living significantly impacting them and they want they want real wages.

>> A comment on that.

So, Richard, I gotta get your position as it relates to obviously fair wage in a vacuum.

That's absolutely perfect.

I agree with you.

The the position I come from his business owners themselves.

We get should start where they come from.

They have a dream.

They have a vision you know, obviously have a passion for their industry.

They don't have a financial background.

They don't understand accounting all these aspects and they're getting hit with a lot of different things right now.

You look at the tariff side of things.

You look at the the Fed, you look at possibly this bill, they don't really know what all the true costs are and they don't have a mechanism even in the counting to be able to actually see that on and a proactive manner.

Therefore, these things big issue.

And so the question that I have to ask is where does where does the makeup for this come and people's you said, raise prices.

If I may come onto that, raising prices at some point, going to price yourself the marketplace, right?

There is a market price that people will bear in the marketplace.

So it kind of has a reverse Dragic or effect as you raise prices, losing sales so can have a double.

And I my cars are raised and I raise my prices.

Nobody's buying my Small businesses face these challenges with the cost of the rent going up or the cost of the materials going up.

So it is a single mother, you know, worried about the cost of groceries continuously rising.

>> So it is the single mother with the cost of rent being able to go up.

Our members are facing food.

Insecurity.

Our members are facing housing insecurity and they need they need real wages in order to be able to sustain their life.

So it's important that as we're talking about being able to have a good quality of life and time.

We also really have to have that conversation about those inequities that exist in our society today.

Jay, let's talk about the impact on the job market and hiring patterns.

What impact might a 32 hour work week have on those?

>> Yeah.

When we saw this same type of policy rolled out in France.

We actually saw and this is in the year 2000, some of >> the actual workers were >> able to make more money because of those those changes.

But there were other workers that were left out.

They weren't able enter the labor market at those high new wages that were set by the policy and they were really left behind.

So there's some worry that this is a little bit of a blunt instrument and well, there's a lot good things about the bill and being able to raise people's wages and helping them exist economy where prices keep rising.

I think this bill could really use find point pen to go and change some of that in France when they rolled it out, the government actually back Broll paid the payroll taxes for companies to make that a little bit more.

Digestible, recent Ocon invested in a study of that period said that when out those payroll taxes, companies probably would have let go a lot of people with those significant costs changes.

And so there might be a different way to achieve this.

Adjusting the bill in a few different Sorry about that.

You're you're J you, Randi.

So but Jane, mean, and then sandwich.

And you'd like to stay that perspective of the business community.

How could a 32 hour work What impact you think it would have on?

>> Hiring?

So doing the math.

You can take wage, right?

You're literally looking at a 10% increase if you get to that time and a half Friday, right?

>> So there's that aspect.

A 10% increase.

When you look at the aspect of reducing the number of hours in common sending same, it's actually a 25% increase.

So the hiring side of it?

If if it's a 10% increase overall, 5.10, essentially paying for 11.

So now I hired an individual that doesn't exist.

That obviously is producing nothing for me and that becomes the issue and hiring is I've just took taking on another individual and no production.

So I see that impacting hiring heavily.

>> Andy, this is the 4th time that this bill has been proposed to Congress since 2021, what are the odds that it gets past this time?

>> I don't think there's a very serious effort to be able to get this through.

Republicans both houses of Congress.

This is a pretty progressive bell that hasn't gotten support from the other side.

So I think it is more of a statement, Bill.

They're bringing it for a reason.

They want to point out right now that families and individuals are suffering in the country and wages aren't keeping up with inflation.

So I get it as a political statement, but I don't actually get it so much as an economic policy which are going to give you the last word here.

30 seconds, DC This is progress.

I do see it as progress.

I think this is one step in a you know, trail that we're facing.

>> I believe that we need a living wage from.

There's a bill right now and the House that our own Congresswoman, do your mirrors here, the state of Illinois and reduce for a $25 minimum wage?

I think we need to move that bill first.

And then as time we adapt and then we moved to 32 hour work week.

Okay.

Time will tell.