----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Givel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, September 03, 2001 12:43 AM Subject: [toeslist] Higher Wages and More Time Off Will Become Possibilities Only If We Demand Them > Published on Saturday, September 1, 2001 > > Higher Wages and More Time Off Will Become Possibilities Only If > We Demand Them > by Rick Mercier > > IN THE 1880s, when a 40-hour work week seemed as likely as space > travel, a French social commentator named Paul Lafargue described > a "strange delusion" that possessed the working classes. > > "This delusion," Lafargue wrote in an incendiary essay called > "The Right to Be Lazy," "is the love of work, the furious passion > for work, pushed even to the exhaustion of the vital force of the > individual." > > The Frenchman's contemporaries were probably less enamored of > work than he believed. After all, it was during Lafargue's time > that workers in the West started building a movement that would > eventually lead to a dramatic reduction of work time as well as > an odd new concept known as the "weekend." > > For about the first two-thirds of the 20th century, declining > work time was the trend in the United States. But then something > happened and, in the last three decades of the century, work time > started increasing-especially for the typical family. > > Today, the average two-income family with children works the > equivalent of 83 weeks a year, an increase of 15 weeks since > 1969. The jump in family work time over this period, as the > Economic Policy Institute noted in its "State of Working America > 2000-01," is the same as adding a quarter-time worker to the > typical household. > > Families' overall work burden grew most significantly in the > 1980s, when real hourly wages for men and for some groups of > women fell sharply. Consequently, increases in annual income for > most families during this decade (as well as the first half of > the 1990s) were the result of more work rather than higher hourly > wages, according to EPI. > > All the work hours we're piling up have earned us a dubious > honor. The International Labor Organization has found that U.S. > workers now put in more hours on the job than their counterparts > in any other industrialized nation. In fact, Americans on average > now spend nearly 80 more hours per year at work than the > Japanese, who for years have been portrayed in our media as > fanatical worker bees. The ILO, in a 1999 report, concluded that > "the U.S. pattern of increasing annual hours worked per person > runs contrary to a world-wide trend in industrialized countries > that has seen hours at work remaining steady or declining in > recent years." > > According to ILO data, the Japanese saw a 10 percent decline in > annual work hours between 1980 and 1997, while the French, who > now work the equivalent of nearly eight fewer weeks per year than > Americans, experienced a 9 percent decrease in annual work time > during the same period. > > American workers, meanwhile, were increasingly victimized by the > time bandit, logging 4 percent more total annual work hours in > 1996 than they did in 1980, the ILO found. > > Some Americans are feeling the time crunch more than others. > African-American families, for example, work more hours than > families in other racial or ethnic groups, according to EPI. > > An average middle-income African-American family with children > needs 489 more annual work hours (or over 12 more weeks) than the > average white family to maintain middle- income status. > > Hispanic families also are working harder to keep up with the > (non-Hispanic white) Joneses, toiling 228 hours more per year > than whites to enjoy the middle-class life. > > All this work is getting to many Americans, research shows. The > Families and Work Institute found in a study earlier this year > that nearly three in 10 Americans reported feeling over-worked > often or very often. The study also revealed that one-quarter of > employees do not use up all of their vacation time because of the > demands of their jobs-a stunning finding considering that > Americans have the least annual vacation entitlement in the > industrialized world. > > It's hard to discern any good reason for all the work we're > doing. U.S. Workers toil longer than their overseas counterparts > despite being the most productive workers in the world, according > to the ILO. In terms of value added per hour worked, U.S. Workers > beat Japanese workers-our closest competitors in the productivity > race-by nearly $9. And, on average, a U.S. worker creates $10,000 > more in added value annually than a Japanese worker. > > As the productivity comparisons show, we're not working more > because we're a bunch of slugs incapable of competing in the > global marketplace. > > So what gives? Our predecessors, who consistently fought for > better wages and less work, would be appalled to see how our > productivity has soared in recent years, but our wages haven't > kept pace and our time at work has increased. > > Maybe we should learn from earlier generations and do what they > did: organize to win better pay and less work. Higher wages and > more time off will become possibilities only if we demand them. > > For those of us who are comfortably middle class or even better > off, we might also consider changing our consumption patterns so > that we won't have to work as much. > > "We can ask ourselves whether we need all the stuff that crowds > our lives and our homes," says Robert Reich, a former secretary > of labor in the Clinton administration. "Maybe we can simplify, > go with less, and settle for less income." > > Still, Reich believes worker-friendly public policies are needed > to nudge us away from our work-work-work mentality. These > policies, he said, would include "paid family leave, wage > insurance to guard against sudden loss of earnings, health > insurance and pensions that are unbundled from our work, and a > minimum of four weeks vacation." > > As we prepare to take a day off tomorrow to honor the workers of > this country, we would do well to set aside a little time to > reflect on work's proper place in our lives, bearing in mind > that, historically, workers have struggled to gain extra income > and free time so that they might be more than just workers. > > And, while we're pondering all this, we might also take a moment > or two to entertain the notion that people have a right, at least > every once in a while, to be lazy. > > Rick Mercier is a columnist for The Free Lance-Star in > Fredericksburg, Va. > e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > ------------------------ Yahoo! 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