France's 35-hour workweek gets a punch in the croissant
There's a lot of international buzz today about a shorter workweek, but we have to admit we're not involved this time. (Except for this item, which taught us the delightful term "Seppo.")
France's newly elected president, Nicolas Sarkozy, spent a good chunk of his campaign being critical of his country's 35-hour workweek. Of course, he hasn't exactly promised to do away with it, either.
This is a good chance to point out that our plan isn't the same as the way France approached it. We don't want a government cap on what you can work. We simply want our legislators to acknowledge that overwork is an ever-worsening ailment in America, and businesses have few incentives to fight the trend.
One intriguing aspect of Sarkozy's plan is to make overtime pay be tax-free. Sounds good in the sense that it keeps the government from benefiting when you're overworked. But at the same time, it also creates a system where you're rewarded based on how much you work instead of how well you work.
And that's just un-American.
2 comments:
How do you suppose the US economy will sustain itself if Americans worked only 2 days a week? The French tried cutting their work week down to just 35 hours and their new President calls that "absurd". It has had an impact on their economy Americans wouldn't even be able to support their lifestyle working and getting paid for only 2 days a week. Or do you expect to get paid for 5 days and work for 2?
I agree with anonymous. This 2 day work week is crazy. I think our GNP would plummet. Also, what about services that we have all come to rely on and expect to be ready at our beck and call? How would we fill the nursing shortage that we are currently facing when they only start working 2 days a week? What about restuarants and grocery stores? It seems they are always hiring as it is because they cannot find enough help. Are the 5 day weekenders willing to shop only 2 days a week? Plus, with a five day weekend, who could travel and stay at hotels that do not have enough employees to cover the shifts or clean the rooms? This is crazy. I went to the Raleigh rally and there were a few business people there but seemed like there were mostly homeless people (I was visiting Raleigh while my husband was at a convention and thought I would see what it was all about).
Post a Comment