By Andrew McDonald, Political Editor
A couple of days ago, our Political Editor had the pleasure of conducting an exclusive interview with Joe Ryle, the Campaign Director of the 4 Day Week Campaign. Joe is a former Press Officer for the Labour Party, and was a Political Advisor to the former Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell.
Led largely by volunteers and members, the campaign represents the National, Non-Partisan Campaign for a 4 Day Week in the UK. While it started over 4 years ago, Joe said that the campaign was “put on the map” when the Labour Party adopted a 4 Day Week in their 2019 General Election manifesto. Moreover, he stated that the “Covid pandemic that has seen a real serious shift to a 4 day week”, describing it as “far more mainstream” now.
Joe viewed the long term goal of the entire campaign is for the “entire economy” to be “transformed into a 4 day week”, arguing that this was “long overdue”. He cited that if we look back throughout the history of employment, its been over 100 years since we moved from a 6 to a 5 day working week, with the goal to “improve work/life balance, and general employee performance”.
When asked whether he believed that a 4 day working week would risk increasing inequality between white collar workers and those in blue collar professions, Joe answered: “No, as a 4 day week can be implemented across the entire economy”, although he did admit that it would be “slightly trickier in certain sectors, but by no means impossible”. He also stated that regardless of whether you were a blue collar worker or a white collar worker, it is a “policy for everyone”.
Joe’s plan to keep companies accountable to a 4 day week is to follow a legislation plan rather like the French 35 hour working week, or the bill tabled in the US to ensure a maximum of a 32 hour working week. However, he did recognise that “exemptions for the NHS” would be something that would need to be looked at. He also suggested that the way to achieve this legislation would be to bring on “Business Leaders and Trade Unions”.
On the question of professional athletes and their coaches requiring more than 4 days to work, Joe also accepted that “there would need to be conversations in that industry to see what would be possible”. He said that a 4 day week “might not be possible in every industry and sector”, although we must remember it is in fact a “policy for all, regardless of industry”. Joe also said that athletes are “overworked” as they are “training everyday.” “If the pandemic has taught us anything, the world of work can change very quickly when we want it to.”
We then moved back to talk about his time as an Advisor to John McDonnell and in the Labour Party Press Office, and if it had any effect as to why he wanted to get into the 4 Day Week Campaign. “Politics is one of those jobs that takes over your life”, he said, and “whilst I loved and enjoyed those jobs”, it “just didn’t give me a good work/life balance”.
When we brought up that the Labour Party and its new leadership were resisting the idea of explicitly endorsing a 4 day week, Joe admitted that this was “frustrating.” adding that in “private conversations, many of the Shadow Cabinet are in favour of a 4 day week”. He also said that Keir Starmer’s focus on “family values” aligns perfectly with the campaign’s goals, as “it is a policy that will benefit family life”. He suggested that there won’t be any new policies released until nearer the General Election and “we’ll have to see when the time comes”. When we asked about the other side of the Commons, Joe believed that if the Conservatives “don’t want to look stuck in the past” then they need to “adopt policies that are for the future of work” – policies like the 4 day week.
The “big project for the year”, in partnership with think tank Autonomy and 4 Day Week Global, is the “launch of a 6 month pilot program” for companies to trial a 4 day week with “no loss of pay.” Among the campaign’s other plans is a study into how a 4 day week would work in schools, also in partnership with Autonomy.
