SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Dori: 32-hour workweek is government slowly trying to gain control of your life

Jan 24, 2020, 1:46 PM

32-hour, daylight saving time, gift, Daylight Saving...

(John Davey, Flickr)

(John Davey, Flickr)

A state lawmaker has just proposed that we all go to a 32-hour workweek.

According to Senate Bill 6516, people would work for four days, then have three days off. Anything more than that would be paid as overtime, time-and-a-half.

What this means is that companies would have to pay a fortune just to keep things at the status quo. And even though every advocate for this bill claims this will make them more productive, it will mean less productivity. Four days of work is fewer days than five; that’s a fact.

If a private business wants to give a 32-hour workweek to their employees, they are free to do so. But for the government to tell businesses they have to do this?

Dori: Why socialism appeals to the ‘woke and broke’ crowd

One of the directions in which we’re heading, as things get more politically radicalized, is everybody working less, less employee productivity, and more government interference in your life. As you earn less and as your work becomes less valuable, you have to turn to government to fill the gaps and provide for you.

This is exactly what I have told you is coming. Work earns you money. Money gives you independence. The more independent you are, the less you rely on government to provide for you. The lazier the workers, the easier they are to control.

Like a typical Democrat, bill sponsor Sen. Joe Nguyen’s (D-Seattle) argument is that this bill will “help people enjoy life.” Automatically, that makes any opponents against the enjoyment of life. But this is no business of the government’s. The government should have no role in this.

Nguyen, by the way, has said he is not available to come on our show. He has done interviews with people who won’t push him that hard, but with someone like me, he is too busy for an interview.

Just like I said about Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant last week, this is a person who has no clue about economics — despite the fact that he got an economics minor at Seattle University. If a business has to pay overtime here starting at hour 33, or can move across the border to Oregon or Idaho, of course we’re going to see companies leave the state in drove — and take their jobs with them. A bill for a 32-hour work week shows no clue about what it takes to run a business or compete in the free market.

Ultimately, it’s a step toward socialism. Let’s destroy business, destroy capitalism, make our local companies not competitive, and tell the displaced workers that they will only be able to get by if they vote for government to redistribute the wealth from the high- to the low-achievers. Achievers love competition; they love to go out and get what they are worth. Socialists want government to assign their worth and give them other people’s stuff without having to work for it.

Listen to the Dori Monson Show weekday afternoons from 12-3 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

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Dori: 32-hour workweek is government slowly trying to gain control of your life