Enjoy Your Weekend? You Won't If Republicans Get Their Way

"A pair of Republican legislators in Wisconsin are circulating a draft of a bill that would allow a 7-day work week for the state's workers. According to the Stephen Points Journal newspaper, the two lawmakers are floating the bill on behalf of the state's largest anti-union business lobby, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce.

The bill is a "slap in the face" to the state's public labor unions, which lost most of their power when Gov. Scott Walker (R) stripped them of their ability to bargain collectively in 2011. It was proposed by state Sens. Glenn Grothman (R) of West Bend and Mark Born (R) of Beaver Dam.

"Even God said rest on the seventh day," protested David Reardon, secretary-treasurer for Teamsters Local 662."I would hate to see that Republican bill pass. Some employers would really take advantage of that.""* The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.

*Read more here from David Ferguson / Raw Story:

[Keihzaru]

No overtime, no affordable healthcare, and no weekends. The way the lord Geezus wanted.

[dangerouslytalented]

It's about "allowing" a seven day work week WITHOUT ANY PENALTY RATES. They want to be free to have people working too long and too hard without compensating them for the overtime.

[YungBeezer]

We need to propose a 365 day work year for all elected representatives and senators.

[carminethewolf]

A member of parliament from the Conservative Party here in the UK made a similar argument when they were debating the introduction of the minimum wage, stating that he would "fight for the right of British workers to earn 50p and hour".

That's the right-wing for you, committed to battling to the bitter end to protect your right to be roundly exploited and kept down until the day you die and are buried in a cardboard coffin along with all the other paupers.

[TechTubeCentral]

You can have a seven day work week without having everyone work all seven days. If they want to operate 7 days a week that's great! You can get more full time employees. But to say that everyone works 7 days versus just being in operation 7 days is just ridiculous 

[killerbee]

To all of  you right wingers who keep saying "we don't need unions anymore, " where are you all now?

[eatmorenachos]

A seven-day workday----for the governor and lawmakers? I don't think so.

Unions do go too far sometimes, but without them there'd be no weekends, health benefits, workplace safety, paid time off, maternity leave, retirement benefits and so on.

[TAEHSAEN]

The people who are saying "It's ok to have 7 days work week as long as there are no penalties" aren't seeing the whole picture. If we have 7 days work week, employers will only promote / retain employees who work all 7 days. Because people who work 5 days won't be able to get promotions / keep their jobs, they will also be FORCED to work 7 days a week. Our family values and human values will completely vanish from society. Want to spend time with your family? Oops...

[SirKickz]

I just had a conversation with my step-mom, where she explained to me how she works 100 hours a week every week, and how she doesn't want to have to contribute to anyone else who doesn't work as hard as she does.

[hughtub]

Jeez. It's like they think workers are slaves. Did they not volunteer to apply for the job??? If they don't want to work 7 days a week... then don't do it. It's so absurd.

[MilitantAntiTheist]

At the company I used to work at the owner worked 3 hours a week, owned 5 houses and numerous fancy cars and the top paid employee had an MBA and earned $12/hr while the office manager made $10/hr and everyone else made minimum wage, and then when the business owner turned 50 they decided to retire and shut down the business, just when the economy collapsed in 2008. But don't worry, Republicans are working to end that minimum wage and food stamps you're collecting so you can survive, too. Maybe, if you cut down on the owner's taxes, they can afford to pay their employees more, and maybe even hire more people! That's what freedom and liberty are all about!

[beirirangu]

Republicans: trying to reestablished the horrid past we successfully climbed out of

[wildthunder]

5 days a week is too much if you ask me.  I am not lazy but we tend to put family on the back burner in this country. People would be happier with less stuff and more interaction with each other.

[beatlesfan]

It's like we're going back to the 1800's. Scary shit

[Disthron]

I still don't see how they can actually stop people from forming unions.

[DensetsuVI]

What I hate even more than this, is the fact that people so easily shrug off these issues with comments and responses like "there's somebody else who will work it, if you won't!" as though taking advantage of the desperate somehow makes it "A-okay."

For the first matter, if somebody doesn't want to work a full week of 55 hours, and get no overtime after 7 days, just because if you found somebody so desperate they'd do it instead, does not justify that this is right, productive or even healthy (its proven not to be productive OR healthy in many studies to overwork workers).

It seems to me that there are people around who would gladly have us all working in 18-19th century factories, with no safety, no minimum wage, no days off and no healthcare, and be happier for it! What the hell about that is monotonous with this image we paint of America as "#1" #1 at least days off in the western world, or #1 in work related illness due to over-stressed work environments and too many hours?

I mean, I can understand that work is a pendulum, you give some and you take some. That's fine and I accept that. But what is fine about all give and get nothing? I worked for walmart for a good time, and those bonuses they tout on the TV, yeah, we would get them alright. and they'd be fore 10-15 dollars, once every six months.Then they'd cut hours and punish the entire store (not management though, they were exempt from payroll issues, despite the fact they made more then four or five workers combined.) After a while, it became apparent that whether us lower working people tried very hard or not, there would be a new excuse to punish us out of our bonus or hours, or worse yet, they cut hours but then expand the week (ie, you work 3 hours a day for seven days). Sometimes they'd claim sales were down, sometimes it would be supposedly due to employee's missing too much work and thus somehow costing the store money.

We were once forced to sit through a seminar about protection pamphlets, those ridiculous plans that actually cover very little, cost 10% or more of the price of the item and in most cases, had the company fight with the customers to fulfill their end if something did go wrong.  A lady from corporate came in and spent the better part of an hour harassing and admonishing me and my coworkers for not selling enough of these plans. Her idea to help us sell more? Sell them harder. Don't let customers leave without one. Bring it up, force it into the conversation. Lie, if you have to. What matters, is that they're sold, otherwise you'll never get your bonus again. These are actual things, she pressed on us to do, literally lie, cheat and steal from trusting customers. Or else, we wouldn't be bonuses, we wouldn't get our hours back and we may have to have our co workers laid off. It was the day I turned in my two week notice, the idea of cheating customers was not in line with any of my own moral codes and the fact the store was basically making it the policy to lie and threaten us to do so, confirmed my long suspicion that there was nothing redeeming about walmart, whatsoever.

My point being, is this what people want? Corporations and jobs that literally have all of the power, can punish, suspend, degrade and quite literally threaten workers as normal policy, with no recourse? I mean, walmart is a shining example of what happens when you let the pendulum go all the way to the company side, and the workers have no power. Minimum wage, no benefits (their health insurance? more expensive than just getting it from the government or going without, as so many there do) and some of the worst, most sporadic and random hours I've ever seen in y working life, some weeks you'd get 40 hours, others you'd get 18. This is what the corporations would like to have for everyone, and slowly but surely through moves like this, they're getting it.

It's a sad and dark day when we as workers, lose all of the things our grand and great grandparents earned, because of greasy politicians and greedy, short-sighted companies.

[LibsRockU]

Just another grotesque example of abusive capitalism running amuck.

[The_Desert_Tiger]

Damn these guys are good Christians "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy".

[honestchrismcg]

If this gains real traction, every working person in America should go on strike until the 40-hour work week is written into the frickin Constitution. Even a 6-day work week is too brutal for me to imagine. I can't imagine myself wanting to go on living, knowing that every single night when I get home from work, I only have a precious few hours until I have to go back to the grind again. And I'm single. I can't imagine how soul-crushing that would be for parents.

[Lobos]

If you as the worker are not represented, you get screwed!
Why is this so hard for people to get...