New Union pushes for Four-Day Work Week

By Aabigayle McIntosh

The implementation of a four-day work week is among the main agenda items the principals of the country’s newest trade union is hoping to raise with Labour Commissioner Eltonia Rojas.

President of the Union Ralph Potter said this will be one of the initial issues to be raised.

“You reduce or eliminate people having to come to get time off to pay their bills, go to the doctor, go to the bank and whatever else and you simple say you have a day off every day in the week to conduct your business. So, you don’t need to come and get the time off. We also feel that it also provides for a balanced life, there is more to life than work,” Potter said.

Labour Commissioner, Eltonia Rojas, believes this can be achieved pointing to significant adjustments that ad to be made during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The one that might take a little more getting use to is the four-day work week which to be very honest is something that I think could work around COVID it was one of the things that I was contemplating when we saw our officers having to work during lockdown. We still got quite a bit done during limited hours, and productivity was still up,” Rojas said.

The World Economic Forum’s landmark 2020 report The Future of Jobs predicted that the rapid digitalization of the world of work would lead to two-fifths of the global workforce operating remotely. Many organizations would fully embrace flexible working, it added.

That principle was put to the test in a series of trials across the world in 2022 coordinated by a not-for-profit organization, 4 Day Week Global, with employers in Ireland, the United States, Australia and New Zealand taking part.

The People’s Trade Union was launched on Saturday evening and the principles are promising a fresh and more dynamic way of negotiation for the rights of the working class people of Antigua and Barbuda.

They also promising an approach that is not in support of any political influence declaring that the institution is not affiliated with any political party.