Overtime: Why We Need A Shorter Working Week

Description

With the rise of automation and precarious forms of work, jobs are becoming increasingly polarised. While some are overworked, there are many more people forced into precarious and underpaid work, work that falls heavily on those most vulnerable in society. All of this while countries in the Global North are experiencing a crisis of care, where the disproportionately gendered labour of care is and undervalued, and often unpaid. In this short book, Kyle Lewis and Will Stronge argue that one powerful and practical response to the worrying trend of job polarisation is the call for a shorter working week. The time we spend at work is neither natural nor inevitable. Instead the amount of time we spend working is a political, cultural and economic question. Overtime will explain what a shorter waged working week means, as well as its history and its political implications. The authors argue that any long-term plan for a sustainable, just economy must involve a reduction in the time we spend working. Drawing on a range of political and economic thinkers, Stronge and Lewis argue only by doing so can we create a more just and equal society, one that allows people the space and opportunity to develop an ethic based on citizen engagement and self-autonomy outside of market interaction.

Kyle Lewis is an Associate Lecturer in the Health and Social Sciences department at the University of the West of England, and a researcher at the think tank Autonomy. Will Stronge is the co-director of the think tank Autonomy, and a researcher in Politics and Philosophy at the University of Brighton.

This is a vital contribution to the growing debate around free time and reducing the working week. With millions saying they would like to work shorter hours, and millions of others without a job or wanting more hours, it's essential that we consider how we address the problems in the labour market as well as preparing for the future challenges of automation. * John McDonnell, Labour Shadow Chancellor [praise for the authors' report on the shorter working week] * This is a path-breaking report on one of the most promising ideas of our time * Rutger Bregman, historian and author of Utopia for Realists [praise for the authors' report on the shorter working week] * In this terrific book, Will Stronge and Kyle Lewis present a remarkably clear and powerfully compelling case for shorter working hours as a path to greater sustainability, equality, and freedom. -- Kathi Weeks, author of The Problem With Work Overtime is a stirring call to action in the fight for a shorter working week. Crucially, Lewis and Stronge remind us that no victories for workers have ever been won without struggle. Overtime is a critical text for socialists seeking to understand how the world of work has changed, and how to imagine a world in which our lives are no longer dominated by it. -- Grace Blakeley, author of The Corona Crash The centuries old struggle by workers to free themselves from the dictatorship of work has emerged once more. Freedom from drudgery and the reduction in working hours have never been won without a fight. This book will prove invaluable in arming not only those who want to understand that struggle but also more importantly those who want to engage in it. -- John McDonnell, MP It's no longer enough for the left to just shout jobs, jobs, jobs. Overtime not only shows why shorter working weeks need to be an integral part of a new deal for all workers, but also how it will be won. -- Ellie Mae O'Hagan, Director of CLASS think tank Focusing on a work-obsessed society, the failure of labor-saving technology to reduce work hours, the undervaluing of women's work, and the toll of work on the environment, Overtime brings both hope and despair. * Booklist * A compelling case for shortening the current work week, a policy that could see less overworking, more jobs, gender equality and a greener future. -- Ella Glover * Huck * Timely ... reveals the urgency of the conversion to a shorter working week. -- Adele Walton * gal-dem *