Labour Party Conference

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Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell proposed a shorter working week
PA Media
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell proposed a shorter working week

One of the more eye-catching announcements from this week's Labour Party Conference was a pledge to cut the working week to 32 hours without a pay cut.

Could it work?

"I'd love to work a four-day week," says Hamish Sanderson, chair of Labour Business, who was at the conference. "For women, the proposals on the menopause and flexibility, it is all moving in the right direction but of course the devil will be in the detail."

Some businesses and freelance workers are sceptical of the proposal.

But Mr Sanderson cautioned that it should not be "over blown".

"It wasn't about legally or by statute reducing the working week. What it was saying was that there will be measures put in place to allow, for example, collective bargaining in different sectors to negotiate working time.

"There would be a working time commission to look at more detail and the only specific initial step was an opt-out from the working time directive and to bring that to end."

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