Unlike the US, Here's 6 Countries That Are Experimenting How to Make Workers' Lives Better

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/world/unlike-us-heres-6-countries-are-experimenting-how-make-workers-lives-better



***SNIP


1. France: Limiting emails after work. The headlines in recent days have blared with news of the latest pro-worker step France has taken: limiting after-work emails.

Last week, labor unions and corporations announced an agreement to disconnect the communication tools of those working in consulting, computing and polling after they finished working. While the agreement is not a law, it will impact about 250,000 people. Each company would implement their own way of living up to the agreement. For example, one company could shut down email servers, while another can just ask employees not to check their work email.

***SNIP

In addition, full-time workers are guaranteed at least five weeks of paid vacation annually.

2. Germany: No post-work email. While the French agreement has captured a lot of attention, there is a precedent for it in Germany. In 2011, the German car company Volkswagen began to shut off its Blackberry servers at the end of the work day. BMW and Puma implemented similar policies. And last year, the German Labor Ministry banned after-work emails except for emergencies or if the task cannot wait for the next day.

***SNIP

3. Sweden: Six-hour work days. The city of Gothenburg’s new experiment is to have workers put in six-hour days. The hope is that six-hour work days will increase efficiency, productivity and worker wellness while reducing sick days.

4. Venezuela: Paying mothers. This Latin American country doesn’t often come up in mainstream discussions of worker rights. Instead, news media have focused on the opposition-government conflict and the hard left turn away from the U.S. Venezuela took under former President Hugo Chavez (who died last year).

[newfie11]

1. The repugs would never let this pass here

[davidn3600]

2. Some places won't even let you take a sick day here

They'd rather risk spreading a virus to the rest of the workforce than have to pay a worker 1 day to stay home.

[LuvNewcastle]

3. American companies will work you like a slave if they can get by with it.

They want to make sure you earn every penny of the low wages they pay. It's very common for employees to juggle 2 or 3 jobs because the company is too cheap to pay for more workers. The decline of unions is the main reason for all of this, but federal and state government policies have also been relaxed to accommodate the corporations. Other countries have been enacting laws to help workers while we've been going the opposite direction. It's maddening.

[Ichingcarpenter]

4. Each country has less income inequality and

and less of a oligarchy system of government.




Sweden 'world's most democratic country'

When 60 indicators were graded from 1 to 10, Sweden achieved a dazzling score of 9.88. The indicators were spread across five broad areas: electoral process, functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties.

The organisation looked at a wide range of democratic variables before dividing the 167 countries surveyed into four categories: full democracies, flawed democracies, hybrid regimes and authoritarian regimes.



http://www.thelocal.se/20061122/5578

rankings here:

http://www.sida.se/Global/About%20Sida/S%C3%A5%20arbetar%20vi/EIU_Democracy_Index_Dec2011.pdf

[xchrom]

5. +1

[pipoman]

6. Do these countries have higher unemployment than the US?

Seems France has for a long time. The reason I ask, are these changes an attempt to battle unemployment and not to benefit workers at all?

I would like to see mandatory pto for all workers full and part time. ..

[Violet_Crumble]

7. What's pto stand for?

Anyway, France and the US have about the same unemployment rate.

http://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?v=74

Some of the things that happen in the countries in the OP would have to do with productivity and employers wanting to retain employees. While my country wasn't one of the ones mentioned, we do better than Finland when it comes to working for over ten years, where we get 3 months off for every ten years of service.

[pipoman]

8. paid time off

[Violet_Crumble]

11. That's really bad that all workers don't get that...

The only workers who don't have paid leave entitlements here are casuals. I hope one day the US catches up to how things are here

[LuvNewcastle]

10. I heard on the news the other night that France's unemployment

is a little over 10%. I don't know about the other countries. Giving employees more time off would be one way to get companies to hire more people, for sure.

Of course, our real unemployment in the U.S. is a good deal higher than what is claimed, but don't expect any moves from the government to make the corporations do a damn thing.

Corporations threaten us by saying that they'll close down and move to the Far East, and then people get scared and let the corporations do as they please. We have to figure out a way to penalize companies that move out of the country when they want to escape regulations. The corporate blackmail has got to stop.

[johnstyle]

9. nice

I am agree with you as it is best for supporting the countries.

[Brigid]

12. The article says all that to say this:

These governments give a damn about their people. This one does not.

I would love to know what the election laws are like in these countries, especially campaign finance laws. And I'll bet not one of them subscribes to the ridiculous -- and even dangerous -- idea that "corporations are people too, my friend."

[marmar]

14. Boisterous k/r

[dotymed]

15. Since most Americans get their "news"

from the tee vee, this should be repeated daily until it finally sinks in to the masses of uneducated,
propagandized dittoheads.

[WillyT]

16. K & R !!!

[Victor_c3]

17. Seeing how this is working for the Europeans in the long run will make it easier to show that it can

work for us in the US.

However, for a republican, the term "European" is an insult. I really wonder why that is. When you break down the stats, how is the US better than Europe? Shouldn't we strive to be more European?

According the IMF data from 2012, the US had more debt as a percentage of GDP than most European nations. The only exceptions being the ones we heard about in the news a few years back as being the ones with their sovereign debt problems (Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, and Greece). Every other nation in the European Union has less debt (as a percent of GDP) and has a better quality of life than we do. Sure, we might bring home more money each year but do we really need our mcmansions, giant SUVs, and overpriced (and under-quality) private healthcare in exchange for some actual security and viable safety nets?