Everyone knows that Americans are the most overworked people among industrialized
countries. Two weeks vacation is a ridiculously paltry amount of time away from work, and this policy, in my opinion,
leads to serious problems. How to explain our unawareness of other cultures (and the resulting problems) if not in part
to blame the fact that few people travel because few people have the time to do so? Anyway, this bee in my bonnet
is going to get some publicity this weekend with Take Back
Your Time Day, sponsored by a group calling itself Timeday.org, which occurs on October 24, this Sunday. Why
Sunday? October 24 marks the anniversary of the date in 1940 when the US officially got the 40 hour work week.
Take Back Your Time national coordinator John de Graaf, “Every other industrial country takes the need for time to
care seriously. Our Canadian neighbors just passed a law guaranteeing a year of paid parental leave at partial pay when
children are born. England has laws guaranteeing parents access to flexible work hours and shortened work days.
Europeans are working nine full weeks less each year than Americans do. It’s time for America to catch up with the rest
of the world.”
Amen, John. Keep pushing! We’re behind you.