4-Day Work Week Proposed for State Workers

State employees could be enjoying long weekends on a regular basis if state assemblyman Michael Gianaris (of airline passenger bill of rights fame) has his way. The Queens politician plans to introduce legislation that would require all state agencies providing "nonessential services" to change their working hours to 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday, instead of the current 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. five days a week. Gianaris says the change would save New York $30 million a year in building maintenance and transportation costs. (Education, transportation, public safety and hospital workers would be excluded, according to the Times.) Governor Paterson's office has yet to comment on the proposal, but Utah, which has a much smaller state workforce, is saving $3 million annually with four-day weeks. New York's budget deficit is expected to hit $15 billion this year.

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By John Del Signore in News on January 12, 2009 10:38 AM

Comments [rss]

blackcotton

Big Deal! you're still working a 40 hour work week @ 10 hours a day,and since everthing else is on a 5 day work week what are you going to do with your Friday off, beside wait for every one else to get off from work.

Felix Hoenikker

Friday would be the day to keep lonely MILFs company while their husbands are still at work.

PTG in nyc

@#6 Kojak

Right on! As China and India continue to produce millions of educated people willing to work twice as hard as Americans, perhaps we should not move in this direction?

If so, then perhaps state employees should only get paid for a 4 day week, thus saving more than the $30 million this moron intends to.

I can't believe this crap comes at a time when people are desperate to work more, not less. I'm fine with telecommuting, but we all know that government agencies do not yet have the technology or security to successfully do such a thing without encountering serious potential downside. Then again, I'm sure if it became law to work from home, it would also become law to expense an entire months electric bill on taxpayers just because one works from home 4 times a month.

Someone please vote this guy out of office.

Smitty025

I don't think you understand how this works. First of all, they don't get paid by the day, they get paid by the hour. Reducing the number of days they work but keeping the total hours the same doesn't entitle the state to pay them less.

You say, "this crap comes at a time when people are desperate to work more, not less", but you are missing the point. They are not working less, they are working fewer days but more in each each day, so the result is still a 40 hour work-week. I'll agree it's arguable that they even really work at all, but this change wouldn't seem to make them work any less.

This helps recduce many of the things they say it will. The buildings will have to be heated and cooled one less day a week, the lights will have to be turned on one less day, and there will be one less day of general problems that simply come up as part of people being there.

fishfryin

it's about time they made it official

kissel

I say OK to this as long as they only get paid for 4 days. They don't work all that hard as it is and taxes are far, far too high above other states for worse service.