subrob1967 -> RE: "Unions are destroying the U. S. A.!!!" (5/31/2012 12:30:56 PM)
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Damn them fucking unions and their 40 hour work week! quote:
By 1970 the 40-hour workweek was the norm. And, at least until recently, European and Asian countries have followed the same trajectory of declining work hours. Since 1991 average annual work hours have dropped by 11% in Japan, 10% in France, 6% in Germany and Britain, and 5% in South Korea. Meanwhile, average monthly work hours in Taiwan are down by 7% over the same stretch. Even work hours in China, while still much higher than in the U.S., may be coming down. "Asians are poorer and still working like crazy," says Alberto Alesina, a Harvard University economics professor who has studied international work hours. "But as they get richer, they are taking more leisure." The one real exception to the rule has been the U.S. Since 1991 the U.S. has grown substantially faster than Europe and Japan. Nevertheless, average annual work hours are down by less than 2%, and that includes all the low-skilled workers who are in less demand today. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_40/b3953601.htm quote:
In the Netherlands, they've got the work-hard-play-hard balance down to a T. "We don't have long lunches," says Ton Wilthagen, professor of social law and policy at Tilburg University, noting that the Dutch are neck and neck with their famously productive American counterparts. "We get two rolls with cheese and a glass of milk and that's it." In return for their dairy-fueled focus, the Dutch work shorter hours each day, get six-week paid vacation and are even given an 8% holiday bonus, called a vakantiebijslag, by their employers in the spring. In the U.S., however, it's a different story. The average American worker earns 14 days off per year, but only takes 12 of them, according to a 2011 survey by Expedia. About a quarter of Americans don't have any vacation time at all. "The U.S. is the only [industrialized] country in the world that does not have statutory requirements on employers to provide paid holiday, paid parental leave or paid sick days," says Schmitt. "We are enormous outliers." Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2109263,00.html#ixzz1wTem2fDb See, we could have shorter hours, and more vacation time if it wasn't for unions!
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