Of course no one is doing that. I work on throughput, not salary. A lot of people are in the same position, whether they are flat-rate or hourly. If I cut my schedule down to four days, I simply will not make enough money to sustain myself. There is a hard limit to how much work I can complete in a single day, and I cannot compress six days of output into four.
That is the point I was making, a four-day workweek does not benefit workers whose income is tied to throughput or hours worked. It primarily benefits salaried employees whose pay is disconnected from daily output
Did you actually read what I wrote?
The real question is: who actually benefits without losing income? The answer is: a minority. Roughly 25-35% of workers, mostly salaried, white-collar, outcome-based roles, can compress or rearrange work without taking a pay hit. For them, four days is mostly a scheduling change.
That is the work I do. I am paid per job completion because I am in the repair industry. My income is entirely self-generated; I make my own salary based on output. That is how this business functions, and there is no alternative model that actually works. To remain competitive, I have to work six days a week. We cannot raise prices beyond a minimum threshold without losing work.
It sounds great to say people should work less and live more. Unfortunately, in certain sectors of the economy, that idea is completely disconnected from reality. In industries driven by throughput and competition, working less directly means earning less, and for many of us, that is simply not an option
You’re not charging enough. You need to reevaluate your costs with your own labor cost included. Don’t ignore yourself just because you’re doing gig work.
We have competition in the business. We have to offer lower prices to stay in business to be competitive. You can’t just charge more… People are going to use cheaper services than expensive ones. That’s basic economics.
yes, we do. you are talking about how it works now, and we are talking about how it needs to change.
if no one will provide the kind of cheap labour that can only provide living for you if you do it 6 days per week, then your customers will not run away from you, because the others will do the same. also, your customers also work somewhere, and they will be in the same position.
the solution is not to work seven days a week, the solution is to take back the wealth they are stealing from us.
Wealth inequality is single-handedly one of the worst and most pressing issues on the planet. We are in desperate need of a wealth tax and a wealth cap. We have done this before, and it was demonstrably successful.
However, there is a critical detail that is consistently ignored: competition, the cornerstone of capitalism. If my company demands higher pay, another company will undercut us. I lose work. That is the reality of the market.
You are not the first person I have had this discussion with. The problem is an overfocus on an idealized, single facet of a far more complex system. It is easy to say “we should work less and get paid more,” but we live in reality. There are many types of work and compensation structures that do not scale to a four-day workweek.
Moreover, what is being proposed are massive, systemic, sweeping change, an attempt to fundamentally reshape the entire system “for the greater good.” History shows that “the greater good” is a dangerous concept and is rarely good for the majority.
The problem is an overfocus on an idealized, single facet of a far more complex system.
no, the problem are people trying to mud the issue with “it’s a complex one, so lets do nothing, not even talk about it”.
If my company demands higher pay, another company will undercut us.
and that is why we have laws and enforce them. (or it should be). because we have learned that unchecked and uncontrolled capitalism is, in fact, not working towards peace, liberty and justice for all, but towards putting everything into the hand of few billionaires and enslaving all other people.
yes, it is a complex topic that is not going to be solved with one minor rule. no one is saying it will be easy, but something has to be done.
History shows that “the greater good” is a dangerous concept and is rarely good for the majority.
nice billionaire talking points you have there. you are literally admitting you live in an oppressive economic regime and yet you try to defend it.
Of course no one is doing that. I work on throughput, not salary. A lot of people are in the same position, whether they are flat-rate or hourly. If I cut my schedule down to four days, I simply will not make enough money to sustain myself. There is a hard limit to how much work I can complete in a single day, and I cannot compress six days of output into four. That is the point I was making, a four-day workweek does not benefit workers whose income is tied to throughput or hours worked. It primarily benefits salaried employees whose pay is disconnected from daily output
Did you actually read what I wrote?
the point here is that you shouldn’t need to work 6 days to be able to afford a life.
you are literally fighting for people stealing from you.
https://media.theunderstatement.com/005_B_us_wealth_distribution.png
That is the work I do. I am paid per job completion because I am in the repair industry. My income is entirely self-generated; I make my own salary based on output. That is how this business functions, and there is no alternative model that actually works. To remain competitive, I have to work six days a week. We cannot raise prices beyond a minimum threshold without losing work.
It sounds great to say people should work less and live more. Unfortunately, in certain sectors of the economy, that idea is completely disconnected from reality. In industries driven by throughput and competition, working less directly means earning less, and for many of us, that is simply not an option
You’re not charging enough. You need to reevaluate your costs with your own labor cost included. Don’t ignore yourself just because you’re doing gig work.
Does anybody read anything that I actually write?
We have competition in the business. We have to offer lower prices to stay in business to be competitive. You can’t just charge more… People are going to use cheaper services than expensive ones. That’s basic economics.
yes, we do. you are talking about how it works now, and we are talking about how it needs to change.
if no one will provide the kind of cheap labour that can only provide living for you if you do it 6 days per week, then your customers will not run away from you, because the others will do the same. also, your customers also work somewhere, and they will be in the same position.
the solution is not to work seven days a week, the solution is to take back the wealth they are stealing from us.
Wealth inequality is single-handedly one of the worst and most pressing issues on the planet. We are in desperate need of a wealth tax and a wealth cap. We have done this before, and it was demonstrably successful.
However, there is a critical detail that is consistently ignored: competition, the cornerstone of capitalism. If my company demands higher pay, another company will undercut us. I lose work. That is the reality of the market.
You are not the first person I have had this discussion with. The problem is an overfocus on an idealized, single facet of a far more complex system. It is easy to say “we should work less and get paid more,” but we live in reality. There are many types of work and compensation structures that do not scale to a four-day workweek.
Moreover, what is being proposed are massive, systemic, sweeping change, an attempt to fundamentally reshape the entire system “for the greater good.” History shows that “the greater good” is a dangerous concept and is rarely good for the majority.
no, the problem are people trying to mud the issue with “it’s a complex one, so lets do nothing, not even talk about it”.
and that is why we have laws and enforce them. (or it should be). because we have learned that unchecked and uncontrolled capitalism is, in fact, not working towards peace, liberty and justice for all, but towards putting everything into the hand of few billionaires and enslaving all other people.
yes, it is a complex topic that is not going to be solved with one minor rule. no one is saying it will be easy, but something has to be done.
nice billionaire talking points you have there. you are literally admitting you live in an oppressive economic regime and yet you try to defend it.