By MARTY BENNETT - Santa Rosa Press Democrat, CLOSE TO HOME, September 2, 2003.

Have we become the overworked Americans?

In 1886, 400,000 American workers went on strike, inspiring a world-wide movement that demanded "eight hours for work, eight hours for sleep, eight hours for what we will!"

This Labor Day we might consider a grim fact: during the last three decades we have worked more and taken less time off than ever before. A report issued this year by the California Budget Project, "Boom, Bust and Beyond," notes that the typical married couple in California is working 406 hours or 10 full weeks more annually than they did 20 years ago.

A survey by the Families and Work Institute in New York indicates that 28 percent of American workers felt overworked during the last three months. A remarkable 41 percent reported that they use cell phones, pagers and e-mail for work purposes during nonworking hours and days. Work demands prevent 25 percent from taking all the paid vacation they earn.

By contrast, most Europeans work shorter hours and take longer vacations than Americans. The International Labor Organization in Brussels found that Americans work six weeks more than the British and 12 weeks more than the Germans each year.

In both France and Germany the 35-hour workweek has become the norm. Americans average two weeks paid vacation and have no legal right to a vacation. In Europe, workers are legally required to take four to six weeks of paid vacation.

Mounting evidence supports the claims of economist Juliet Schor, author of "The Overworked American," published a decade ago. Schor believes that rising income inequality and declining union membership are perhaps the most important reasons for the increase in working hours.

In 1938, during the Great Depression, Congress passed the Fair Labor and Standards Act. Mass unionization and public demands for the regulation of business drove the legislation. The act established a minimum wage, mandated an eight-hour, five-day week and required time-and-a-half premium pay for overtime.

The purpose was to establish a wage floor for the lowest paid and create an economic disincentive to assign overtime. Many New Deal reformers believed this would encourage firms to hire more workers.

In the early 1950s average weekly hours for men were 39, and 41 percent of working Californians were in unions. Most enjoyed a middle-class standard of living as the prosperity of the era was broadly shared across the income distribution.

Today, fewer than 18 percent of Californians are union members, and income inequality has reached unprecedented levels.

According to the California Budget Project, between the late 1970s and the late 1990s, the family incomes of the top 5 percent increased by an astounding 50 percent while the incomes of the middle fifth grew by just 8 percent, and the poorest fifth of families experienced a 5 percent decline after adjusting for inflation.

Currently, 38 percent of California's workers make less than $12.51 an hour, the minimum amount needed for two parents working full-time to support two children.

To compensate for low wages, the bottom two-fifths of working families in the state increased their hours by 20 percent between 1979 and 2001. Much of the increased work was by single and married women.

Wages have eroded and hours worked have increased as lobbying by employers has created giant loopholes in overtime protection laws. According to the Economic Policy Institute, 40 percent of workers are now not covered by the Fair Labor and Standards Act, and 18 percent annually perform mandatory overtime.

And things are getting worse.

Legislation recently passed in the House of Representatives would take away overtime pay for 8 million white-collar workers by reclassifying them as salaried "executives" who supervise others.

During the boom of the late 1990s, instead of hiring full-time workers and incurring the rising costs of employee benefits, firms found it cost-effective to add hours for existing workers.

Productivity has doubled since 1969. Yet, unlike Europe, where productivity gains have translated into stable incomes and shorter hours, American employers have kept down wages and increased hours.

The "time-crunch" caused by increased work hours has profoundly affected the well-being of working families. Overworked employees experience health problems such as heart disease and have more accidents on the job. The work-family imbalance leaves workers with less time to care for children and elders and less time for volunteerism, politics and civic participation. American workers today require stronger -- not weakened -- protection against mandatory overtime. Working families need living-wage jobs, increased paid family and vacation leave, flexible work schedules and access to affordable health care and child care.

Union membership is the greatest predictor of good jobs, comprehensive health benefits and paid leave. Not surprisingly, European countries have significantly higher rates of union membership -- between 60 percent to 90 percent in Scandinavia, 32 percent in Germany and 27 percent in Britain.

This Labor Day we overworked Californians should remember that a revitalized labor movement, which can organize millions of new immigrants, youth and women, is the best hope to reverse the troubling trends of rising income inequality and longer work hours.

Marty Bennett teaches history at Santa Rosa Junior College, serves on the board of the North Bay Labor Council and is the co-chair of the Living Wage Coalition of Sonoma County.

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