http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/us/02four.html
May 2, 2011 Testing Budget Solutions, Utah Trims the Workweek By KIRK JOHNSON SALT LAKE CITY — States across the country have come up with all manner of ways to try to close their yawning budget gaps, from furloughs to layoffs to cuts in pay and benefits for public sector workers. Utah quietly went a different way. In 2008, before the recession’s worst ravages hit, managers here started an experiment: if state workers crammed 40 hours of work into four days and nonemergency services were closed on Fridays, might the same amount of work get done for less money and a reduced impact on the environment? Many other states and cities subsequently imposed reduced work schedules on employees — often four days of work, but for reduced pay — in emergency measures. But now, at least a half-dozen states, including Texas and Oregon, have begun looking at the Utah model as a possible permanent solution, and they are seeking advice. What they are hearing is a bitter babble of disagreement over whether the 4/10 system, as it is called, has been a forward-thinking view of how to deliver services more efficiently or a failure dashed on the rocks of human nature because state workers were not really getting two additional hours of work done on each of those four days. “It’s not efficient; it’s stupid,” said State Representative Michael E. Noel, a Republican who led a drive in March — passed by strong majorities in both state chambers — to return to a traditional five-day workweek. Gov. Gary R. Herbert, also a Republican, promptly vetoed the idea, saying that Utahans had grown accustomed to the system and that going back would cost money that the state just did not have to spare. How much a shifted workweek really saves, if anything, is in dispute. A study in 2009 by the governor’s office found substantial savings from Friday closings, especially in energy costs for heating and gasoline. A subsequent audit by the Legislature, however, said the gains had been overstated. But the fight is not simply about work schedules. The 4/10 system was put into place by Mr. Herbert’s predecessor, Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr., a former ambassador to China who is a potential contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. Mr. Huntsman took some moderate positions as governor and was not universally popular among the conservative Republicans who control the Legislature. Mr. Herbert said specifically in his veto message that the Legislature had overstepped legislative branch authority in trying to undo Mr. Huntsman’s workplace legacy, which was put into place by executive order. What should be the proper length of a workday or the workweek? Labor experts and historians say that, in some ways, is what Utah is really debating. It is a question America has debated repeatedly, from the Industrial Revolution through the early 20th century, when labor-saving technology seemed to promise an age of leisure and reduced work hours, and into the modern era of mobile computing and communications that has made every kitchen table a potential workplace. “I’m really on call all the time,” said Elizabeth Sollis, a community relations employee for a state agency whose phone rang at 7 a.m. on a recent Friday off. She said she answered the call, from a resident who had a question. Other state workers say they agree with the 4/10 critics. “I think government should be open five days a week, particularly in these tough economic times,” said Darren Rogers, who works in the Utah Department of Workforce Services, which handles things like unemployment benefits and training. “I have found it’s hard to do the work and sometimes hard to get everyone scheduled within those four days,” he said. One benefit, managers say, is that Friday closings have compelled Utah to improve its online services, offering ways of, say, filing for unemployment benefits that did not require a visit to a state office. Fewer trips by residents to state offices and the reduced commuting pattern on Fridays for the 16,000 or so workers on the 4/10 schedule have further contributed to the energy savings, said Jeff Herring, who oversees the state’s work force as executive director of human resources. But there are some consequences, both sides agree, that simply cannot be measured, like volunteer work. Utah has the highest rate of volunteerism in the nation, according to the Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal agency. Among cities, Salt Lake City, the state capital, ranked third in the nation for volunteering, the group said, beaten only by Minneapolis-St. Paul and Portland, Ore. And having Fridays off provides a perfect opportunity for giving back, said Rhetta and Brett McIff, who work in the Utah Health Department. They were overseeing a youth group in their community south of Salt Lake City on a recent Friday, planting trees for Earth Day at a community garden. They both lead volunteer government committees and help out at the Y.M.C.A., too. “Our Fridays are sometimes busier than our regular day at work,” Ms. McIff, 37, said as the children dug holes under a bright spring sun. Other Friday volunteers, like Kevin Olsen, 46, who works for the Utah Department of Workforce Services, said that helping out as a reading tutor in his daughter Jessica’s fourth-grade class also allows him to spend more time with her. He and Jessica’s mother are divorced, and they share custody in cities about an hour apart. Mr. Noel, the repeal leader in the Legislature, said he had heard from business leaders frustrated by Friday closings, but also from many constituents who felt that state workers were being coddled by three-day weekends that many people in private industry would covet. Fairness and equity in tough economic times, he said, emerged as a consideration. “People look at this and say, ‘They’re working only four days; they need to be working just like we’re working,’ ” he said. Mr. Noel said he thought that enough votes could be assembled to override the governor’s veto in coming weeks, but that no specific plan was in place yet to try. Legislators in other states say the uncertainty here had probably thrown some cold water on the discussions elsewhere. “It is a little bit of a setback,” said State Representative Paul Holvey, a Democrat from Eugene, Ore., who sponsored a bill to study a Utah-like labor plan for his state, only to see it founder. He said he planned to press ahead next year. “Legislation in Oregon is not going forward at this point,” he said, “but conversation is.” -- Robert Naiman Policy Director Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org [email protected] _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
