Is Now (Finally) The Time To Make Weekends Longer?
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Could a four-day work week be the future? In this Roots of Resistance episode, host Felecia from Felecia for the Win breaks down the workers’ movements that fought for better working conditions we still benefit from today, and how today’s push for a four-day week continues that legacy.
Keep up with our amazing host, @feleciaforthewin
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@silas7003
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
in corporate searching for efficiency the only thing that became truly efficient is the rich manipulating the poor.
@sanfranciscorain7328
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
Too bad this doesn’t apply for learned professionals
@heiskanbuscadordelaverdad8709
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
Companies should belong to the workers that work in them, they should have voting power to choose their leaders, we should extend democracy to the workplace, they should all receive an equal share of the profits of the company, this isn't a new idea, this is called a cooperative is a corporation were the workers are equal shareholders, they have been tried in a lot of different places, and they have been very successful, a lot of studies show that cooperatives are a lot more efficient than normal companies, workers have a motivation to work harder and smarter, they innovate to increase their profit, they fire incompetent leaders by vote, in times of crisis they choose to lower their wages rather than fire their fellow workers, it's impossible to have a functioning democracy without democracy in the workplace
@anorris09
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
I mainly work a 4 day work week with working 4 10-hour shifts. I love it! I feel like I accomplish more at work and more at home and my personal life
@joyadwoa7682
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
The entirety of my class schedules in college were set on a four day work week. In theory, that meant I had extra time on Fridays to relax and recover for the new week. In reality, I used that time to revise my notes last minute and hoped for the best before I met up with friends 😅 even so, I’d rather take having a three day weekend as time for studying, creating, socializing, or catching up on my sleep and exercise over the banality of my current 5 day work week
@michellem7290
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
Yessss fewer meetings….
@michellem7290
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
Got my vote
@psalm91rdwlkfpgrl
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
"moved some meetings to emails"
almost all meetings can be emails in my experience, that seems like an obvious solution 😅
@thedemolitionmuniciple
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
10:40 Not that I want to relegate all of the attention for one issue, but far more attention needs to be paid to US child labor laws, especially when it comes to agriculture. I have been working 5 and 7 day weeks since I was eight. Operating heavy machinery since I was 12. From the time I wake up till dinner. No pay.
If I can help no one else ever have to endure it, then I've lived a worthy life.
@martinvulu1848
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
SOOOOOO……UNIONS? Yeah, the SMART middle class people know this.
@Bluejay_33
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
Imagine if 4 days/6 hours could actually pay your rent, bills, and transportation costs. We could all get a chance to fucking breathe and get back to enriching our lives. And TOGETHER. (There are no genuinely safe community centers for adults to gather anymore in America.)
@sharonminsuk
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
As an academic (university research scientist in my case) I have to laugh at the idea of all this progress we've supposedly had. In this career, which most people out there in the so-called "real world" think is cushy, there is no 8-hr day, no limits on the amount of work we need to do. It's mostly not explicitly enforced, but the conditions of competition set the terms: drive yourself beyond limits if you want to have any chance of a successful, sustainable career. Otherwise, get ready for that gig work.
@sharonminsuk
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
"Manufacturer and socialist"? Now there's a phrase you don't hear every day!
@c0ld_as_Dice
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
Feel free to argue with me…but despite how good this sounds on paper, appealing to what seemingly represents the majority. This is actually BS that strengthens capitalism, and increases the workload of all people with regular jobs, vastly increasing the traffic and demand at restaurants, movie theaters, hotels and ALL retail stores ect…all of the places that MOST people do not want to work if they can afford not to or that many degree laborers have to pick up as a second job. Just like every other conversation involving "off days" when it comes to work those who TRULY make the world go around, we are often never thought about in the parasocial assumption that EVERYBODY is off on weekends and national holidays.
@belg4mit
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
The profile cuts of the host talking to another camera are pointlessly jarring. If you feel the need to break up visual flow more than you already do with the archival media then you should shoot those segments with the host addressing the audience, or change the depth/zoom of the shot.
@the-demon-fox
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
7:36 meanwhile, Desantis in Florida has literally done the opposite of Oregon and has taken AWAY protections and designated breaks for workers in the Florida heat. doesn’t matter if you lean left or right, anti-worker legislation hurts us all! 💪
@MamaReilley
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
I had to cut back to working every other day since I got long covid. I've been at the same job for 10 years now because it's the only one where I've had almost complete flexibility and control over my own schedule and have never had issues with the bosses about it. I also limit myself to not working more than 6 hours, trying to cut back to 4 since getting sick, because my job requires you to be actively working for every minute of an hour so even though it's all sedentary mental work it can still be exhausting, even before I got sick. I also work mostly afternoon and evening hours because my circadian rhythm is firmly set to being a bright person and I've learned I'm most successful if I don't start work before 10am, with noon being truly ideal.
@RalphdontGAF
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
4 day work weeks are for people who don't care about money and have constant issues with their mental health. In the construction industry, it's common for many of us to ask for a 6 day work week. Or to work 10 days straight. The more hours you do in a month, the more money you make over that period of time. What the hell are you even gonna do during those 3 days off? Browse the Internet and social media, watch YouTube, order a takeout, watch football, or some other sport. What's so valuable about that? If you can't work 6 days a week, then you're a weak link. You obviously don't value your job. The 4 day work week is an awful idea. We should normalise a 6 day work week so that people are earning more money.
@lorefreak94
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
At face value this is an awesome idea but, I only hear about the health benifits not the financial impact on the individual.
For shorter work weeks to be a valid option there would need to be some kind of cap on cost of living. If a 40hr work week is barely enough to pay the bills a 30some hr work week would be devistating.
I work four 10hr days a week, but the moment I hear "overtime" I am one of the first in line and gladly will put in 50 or 60hrs a week.
The argument of four days is it give you more free time and is healthier however this is comepleatly negated by being stressed about finances and not being able to afford doing these fun recreational things people speak of. If I put in the extra hours I have less free time but can afford to do more with it.
@phs125
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
Still waiting for all of it to happen to doctors too.
We don't get standard weekends.
If there's patients admitted, we have to go see them even on a Sunday
And if the emergency duty comes. You're required to be available for full 24 hours.
No matter which day of week.
9to5 workday which works for everyone else, doesn't happen for doctors.
Before 9 we have to finish ward rounds.
And after 5 we have fo go again.
And if one of my patients has some emergency at night. Even if I'm not on duty, i still have to go.
Forget safety in workplace.
Ofcourse the risk of injuries and infections are unavoidable.
But if something wrong happens to the patient without any of our mistake, the angry crowd will assault us.
@justalittlebawn
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
Wild how the more we innovate to save time, it just ups how productive we are expected to be instead of giving us our time back.
My job used to be done by hand and would take more than a month to do one project. I am now expected to put out 1-2 projects a week because it's much faster to do with a computer. The goalposts and profit margins just shift with the innovation.
@sam8204
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
I’m a teacher, and remote work was one of the worst experiences of my life. I’d love jt if the kids got 4-day school weeks alongside us though. Or if they started at a time that was developmentally appropriate for their brains. But sports schedules have a chokehold on what we are able to do, so I’d be surprised if either of those things happen in my lifetime.
Over Thanksgiving break, I came in a couple days to get lesson planning done (it’s my 12th year but I’m teaching a new grade for the first time). It was lovely sitting at my desk and creating material. I thought to myself “is this what normal office jobs are like? Do they spend their time off…NOT catching up on the work they couldn’t finish in 45 minutes?
Literally just one day a week devoted to planning without having students in front of me would make a world of difference. I don’t even need it off.
@Celis.C
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
"Is now finally the time?"
It's long overdue.
Non-inmate slavery is (officially) banned, so employers have taken to owning our time instead.
@rmdodsonbills
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
I used to work for a company that allowed for both 5×8 and 4×10 schedules. I really liked working a 4×10 schedule even though 10 hours per day is kind of long. It was also required that one of the four days had to be a Saturday or Sunday, but wow, having two full days during the regular workweek was phenomenal. I wasn't spending any less time at work, but the free days during the week when everybody else was at work was so efficient. Grocery stores were easier to navigate, movies were cheaper because I could avail myself of matinee prices. It was really pretty great.
@NAWennerholm
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
The Calander shown in the thumbnail is wrong the First day is Sunday not Monday. And the Seventh day is Saturday not We Sunday. In fact many of the days of the week are named after pagan god and goddesses. The Sabbath day which is the seventh day should be named as such. Instead of Saturday. Many claim to be Jew or Christian and should demand that the days of the week along with months of the year should also be changed so they are not names after false pagan gods some months are based on numbers but don't match the order in the year they fall.
Such serious reforms need to take place when it comes to our Calenders. And our work schedule. And do called Christian's need to get back to worshipping YHWH how he wantvto be worshipped not how humans decide to worship him. And a warning was given in scriptures but is ignored and disregarded. There are very few who are going back to scriptures and what is written and obeying them.
@AroundTheBlockAgain
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
Did she really say "the pandemic cemented the idea that employers are responsible for the wellbeing of their employees"?? Be serious. They were doing just the opposite! They were fighting tooth and nail to hide that covid-19 is airborne, and thus, that subjecting workers to workplaces with poor ventilation is dangerous to their health! They are still denying this! Hold them accountable, for real this time!
@LiamRappaport
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
They won’t even let us keep the same levels of telework and remote work. A four day workweek is a far cry.
@MKisFeelinSpicy
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
Commenting for the algorithm. Great video!
@darkwoodmovies
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
We started at 8/8/8, but now it's more like 12/4/6 when you factor in commute time and all the other things you do for the sake of making those 8 hours productive. Not to mention having to work during your off time for pretty much any corporate salaried employee.
@Xanthelei
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
Dude, that intro is WAY too close to working at Amazon during the holidays for comfort…
11.5 hour days, 5 days a week, same motions all day every day, always standing, constant drone of machines everywhere you go (idgaf if it's "within OSHA guidelines", OSHA is only protecting from hearing loss and doesn't care about mental health), literally never seeing the sun because I start before sunrise (6:30 am) and end after sunset (6:00 pm).
I don't think we've come as far as we want to believe when it comes to workplace conditions… sure, I'm less likely to lose a limb than before, but if I get arthritis in my hands before 40, is there really a functional difference?
@muckymucks
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
I’d rather work 10-hour days four days a week.
@CUaffiliate
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
Wait "nap pods" are a thing?! I'm working for the wrong company lol and thanks PBS for getting dynamic black women voices like Felecia for the Win on your channel!! All her content is super dope!
@brainstem2023
June 20, 2026 at 11:41 pm
Long commutes and heavy traffic consume three or more hours of many folks work days. That leaves only five hours for recreation. When you take a couple of hours more for preparing and eating meals and getting ready for their work day, many people have two or less hours of recreation each day. It's no wonder that anti-depressants are the most widely prescribed medication, and work place violence is so common.
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