All due thanks to our lefty forebearers

[Mythsaje]

You know, I'm not sure if it's ever been on their targeted list, but I know I've never heard the righties complaining about paid vacations, which, as we all know, is a legacy of the labor movement. Right now I'm thanking the people who fought so hard for it because I'm currently on vacation to spend time with my boys when they come up for visitation. I'd tried to time it for the whole two weeks they'd be here, but an unexpected accident threw off the timetable a bit. It gives me a few days to unwind before they get here, which is rather nice for me. I could definitely use it. The omnipresent dark circles under my eyes are actually starting to fade.

See, without those lefty "traitors," there wouldn't be any such thing as paid vacation in this country. Or minimum wage. Or safe working conditions. All the "benefits" touted by the anti-union employers such as Wal-Mart, Target, and their ilk, wouldn't exist at all if not for the laws forced into being by those willing and able to stand together to make a badly needed change. And it's funny--as much as we hear the RW complaining about so many other workers' rights from minimum wage to unemployment insurance, very, very few are complaining about paid vacations. Hard to argue with that which lets you take that trip out with the kids every summer, isn't it Mr. Right Wing Ideologue? Or, conversely, hard to argue with that which allows you to sneak out of the country to dally with a mistress or paid companion somewhere, if that's what does it for you.

The fact is that nearly everything the Right (wrong) Wing decries are things that the people in general applaud, make use of, and have no idea who to thank for. They take it all for granted and that's too bad. They take the word of such employers (who are simply acting as though there is no connection between the law and their much-vaunted "policies)" and believe that unions are, at best, useless, and, at worst, dangerous to their continued employment and/or privileges.

Bullshit.

Don't take any wooden nickels. Or anti-labor rhetoric, for that matter. Either way it's a ripoff.

[Taverner]

1. My favorite line from a RW nutter was "what did unions ever do for us?"

Hmmmm....

Besides paid vacations, there's

Healthcare
40 hour workweek
Overtime
Sick Leave
OSHA
Safe Working Conditions
and a million other things I could think of but I'm busy working :)

[baldguy]

2. The whole concept of "leasure time" for the bottom 90%

Middle-class home ownership
education beyond the three R's
the prohibition of child labor
unemployment insurance
clean water
clean air
healthy food
medicines that actually work
consumer products that won't kill you

etc etc etc

[Selatius]

3. Now, if we could get legally mandated 4 weeks paid vacation like in France and Britain...

we would be a lot better off as far as quality of life goes, instead of being shackled to one's job.

[RandomThoughts]

4. Mandatory vacation time has a few benefits.

Besides giving people time to unwind to relieve stress, and spend time with friends and family.

It also helps with reducing unemployment.

With 155 Million Americans employed, increasing the vacation the people get by an average of 2 weeks, would create the need for 2 million people to be employed to cover the work during those vacations.

I think mandatory vacations have an economic spreading of employment factor also.

It does cost business more money, so it hurts in the 'race to the bottom' competition between corporations where they each try to pay people as little as possible to get the cheapest prices, but with it being enacted with everyone, and tariffs on goods shipped in by countries without those policies, it would balance out the competitive loss. Or instead of higher prices it could cut into shareholder returns.

(Small business might need an exception so single person businesses would not have to close for 4weeks, but besides that it has many advantages.)

Here is an article on American vacation time.
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=time_off_for_the_overworked_american

American workers receive the least vacation time among wealthy industrial nations. And it is no thanks to the U.S. government --127 other countries in the world have a vacation law.

At least in context of vacation time, USA seems to be winning the 'race to the bottom'. The wrong race to run in my view point.


Although if people had some time off work, they also might spend more time thinking about what kind of world they want to live in, and the way some things work and could be fixed, something many do not want to have happen.