4-Hour Day

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Work Until You Drop: How the Long-Hours Culture is Killing Us

Posted Sat, 08/20/2005 - 10:13pm by x344543

Disclaimer - The following article is reposted here because it is an issue with some relevance to the IWW. The views of the author and the publisher do not necessarily agree with those of the IWW and vice versa.

With the longest working week in Europe, experts say Britain's health and productivity will decline unless something is done about it

Audrey Gillan - Saturday August 20, 2005, The Guardian

In Japan they call it karoshi and in China it is guolaosi. As yet there is no word in English for working yourself to death, but as more and more people put in longer hours and suffer more stress there may soon be.

This week, an American survey concluded that long working hours increased an individual's chances of illness and injury. It noted that for those doing 12 hours a day, there was a 37% increase in risk compared to those working fewer hours.

Ronald Reagan was wrong, it seems, when he said: "Hard work never killed anyone." Death from overwork is not a new phenomenon in Britain but it is largely unremarked upon.

French connection - Renowned Economist Contrasts European Resistance with American Disconnect

Posted Fri, 06/24/2005 - 10:08pm by x344543

By Tim Redmond - San Francisco Bay Guardian, June 22-28, 2005

French voters are trying to preserve a 35-hour work week in a world where Indian engineers are willing to work a 35-hour day. Good luck.

Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times, June 3, 2005

This really pisses me off.

Ever since the French (bless their anti-American little heads) voted against the European Constitution, the national media have been flooded with comments from deep thinkers who insist that the days of a real social and economic safety net are over.

The whole idea of decent wages and benefits, of jobs that allow enough vacation time, of unemployment insurance that pays the bills, of universal health care, of an economic system that lets even working-class people live an almost comfortable life – that's all over. It's a mad race to the bottom now, and the only way to compete in a globalized economy is for all of us to work like mad hamsters on an electrified wheel.

I'm convinced that this isn't only infuriating – it's wrong. But I'm not the expert, so I thought I'd call Juliet Schor.