----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Givel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2001 9:53 PM Subject: [toeslist] Americans: "Vacation Starved"? > Thursday, August 9, 2001 > > Americans: "Vacation Starved"? > > President Bush is on a month-long vacation, but many people in > this country get scant time off. The following analysts are > available for interviews about how Americans would benefit from > more vacation time: > > DEBORAH FIGART, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.swt.org > Co-editor of the recent book "Working Time," Figart is professor > of economics at Richard Stockton College in New Jersey. She said > today: "It's great that the president of the United States can > recoup his energy with > long vacations. Now he should encourage policies so that other > hard-working Americans can also have time for rest, family and > other activities. An International Labor Organization study > earlier this year found that the > U.S. has overtaken Japan with the highest average annual hours > worked -- just under 2,000 hours per year. The typical vacation > in Europe is four to six weeks. In the United States, you're > lucky if you get two weeks. France has a 35-hour work week by > law, and limited overtime beyond that. Part of the problem is > that U.S. managers are encouraged to overwork people because of > the fixed costs associated with each employee: healthcare > insurance, unemployment insurance, etc. Low-income people work > overtime so they can pay their bills. Many people who work the > most are among the one-third of Americans who are not covered by > the Fair Labor Standards Act, so-called 'white collar' workers. > Technology could be part of the solution, but it has often meant > that people spend time at home writing work-related emails. While > men generally are more overworked than women, that changes if you > count unpaid work." > > JOE ROBINSON, [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Director of the Work to Live campaign and author of a forthcoming > book by the same name, Robinson said today: "We're the most > vacation-starved country in the industrialized world. By far. > Small business employees, the > majority of us, get an average of eight days off while Europeans > and Australians receive four to six weeks paid leave. In total > hours, we now work two months longer every year than Germans. Two > weeks longer than the > Japanese." > > GABE SINCLAIR, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.fourhourday.org > Author of the new utopian novel "The Four Hour Day," Sinclair > works as an expert machinist. He said today: "Two percent of > Americans now grow all of our food and then some. Another 30 > million or so do all the mining, > manufacturing and construction. If this minority can produce our > modern cornucopia, then the four-hour workday is within easy > reach. Instead, we remain thoroughly addicted to consumerism, to > violence, and to class > hierarchy." > > DAVID STRAUSS, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.afop.org > Executive director of the Association of Farmworker Opportunity > Programs, Strauss said today: "Farm workers -- like a lot of > other workers -- do not get the opportunity for paid vacation > time. If the weather is bad, or they are between crops they have > to work on, they do not get a dime. The typical farm worker has > no vacation benefits, no health benefits, and works for at or > near minimum wage." > > For more information, contact at the Institute for Public > Accuracy: > Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; David Zupan, (541) 484-9167 > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> > Small business owners... > Tell us what you think! > http://us.click.yahoo.com/vO1FAB/txzCAA/ySSFAA/NJYolB/TM > ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> > > To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > >
