A group of Labour and Green MPs have called for the four-day working week to be included in an upcoming bill on workers’ rights reforms.
The 12 Labour MPs and one Green MP are pushing for Angela Rayner to include an amendment in the Employment Rights Bill which would commit to exploring a transition “across the economy” from five working days a week to four, with no reduction in pay.
Rayner’s bill is set to give workers greater access to flexible hours as well as stronger day one employment protections and banning fire and rehire.
But the group of MPs have said it does not go far enough, because workers are only allowed to compress the same amount of hours over fewer days, instead of actually reducing them.
The amendment was put forward by Labour MP Peter Dowd, who said that the productivity benefits of things like artificial intelligence should “be passed back to workers”.
“A four-day, 32-hour working week is the future of work and I urge my party to back this amendment so we can begin a much wider transition,” he said.
Another of the rebel Labour MPs backing the amendment is Maya Ellis, the MP for Ribble Valley, who said: “Data show that working four days leads to greater productivity than five.
“That means in public organisations for example, that we can get through a higher volume of tasks, creating the increase in capacity we so desperately need to see in our public services.
“I hope our government can be brave enough to take the first steps now, in what I believe will one day be considered the norm.”
Figures from the 4 Day Week Foundation show more than 200 companies across the UK have permanently implemented a reduction of workers’ hours to 32 or less per week after trialling the change.
Other MPs to back the amendment are former shadow ministers Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Rachael Maskell and Richard Burgon.
Rayner herself has previously said a four-day week is “no threat to the economy, whilst other front-bench ministers such as business secretary Jonathan Reynolds, energy secretary Ed Miliband and work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall are believed to be open-minded about the idea, the Independent reports.
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