Bernie Sanders wants to bring back your 40-hour workweek

Story located at:

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/bernie-sanders-wants-to-bring-back-your-40-hour-workweek/ar-AAbQFE2?pfr=1

My comment:

It's about time this issue is discussed. Why the other candidates from both sides aren't talking about our labor laws is a mystery. I'm 70 years old now and this is the first time I've heard anyone speak to the need to repair our labor laws.

I'm old enough to remember a time when if you worked 8.5 hours in a day you were paid time and a half for the extra half hour. You didn't have to work 40 hours before you got extra pay. If you worked the graveyard shift, you got extra pay.

If you worked on Sunday, you were paid time and a half regardless of how many hours you had worked during a pay period. Holidays paid two and a half your regular rate. Family time was considered more important in those days and if an employer wanted to intrude on family time, he had to pay.

Union rules were not required in order to be paid in this manner. Employers were simply better people. Employers were less greedy. Corporations didn't selfishly increase their profits by abusing their workers. Employers knew if workers were paid well, productivity increased, turnover was reduced and theft decreased because employees were more loyal. Everybody benefited because of mutual respect between the boss and the worker.

When workers were being paid in this manner it was also an era when family values were not just a jingo but a way of life. There was a general feeling among everyone that you gave 40 hours a week to the "MAN", 40 hours for sleep during a workweek and the rest of the time was for you and your family.

If the "MAN" wanted more than that, he had to pay extra for that intrusion. If the employer wanted you to work on Sunday, he had to pay more for working you on the "Lords Day of Rest". Sunday was considered a day for church attendance and time with the family. If an employer could not pay extra for intruding on their workers time, then the business didn't open on Sunday.

Family values were at the heart of Union demands when people believing in those values died in the streets demanding workers’ rights. The very concept of overtime, holiday pay, the 40-hour workweek, no child labor came about because of the blood spilled in American streets by people believing in Family Values.

It's very odd how the people bragging how they believe in family values are the same people trying to destroy family values because of their greed.  They do everything they can to reduce peoples pay, employ children again, maintain unequal pay between men and women and demand a workers free time without extra pay, all for the sake of increasing profits.

Union values are family values. Dictatorships do not have unions because dictatorships don't believe in family values. Free societies have Unions, dictatorships don't. Workers’ rights are family values and those opposed to workers’ rights are interested only in their own self-gratification. Without realizing what they are doing, they advocate for dictatorship. Therein lies the struggle. This issue is a fight between self-serving dictators and free men. This conflict will always exist.