The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

Just recently, I was watching the Global news channel where they had the leader of the Green Party discuss a proposition to bring the minimum number of weeks of vacation for a full-time employee to four. The panel consisted of four individuals, two for, two against, and they debated the issue for a few minutes. What I thought was funny was at the end when one of the pro-vacation panelists ask the anti-vacation one how much vacation he had.

"Uh...four weeks."

Exactly.

Those who are against improving the minimum standard of living, whether it's minimum wage, health care benefits, or vacation time, are usually those who already have more than the average person. I distrust anyone who says, for example, minimum wage is too high as they cash in a few million of their stock options. These people are completely detached from the hardships the working and middle class people face every day, and, in my opinion, are complete bold-faced liars when they claim the Wal-Marts and McDonald's of the world can't afford a modest increase in minimum wages for the employees of their firms and somehow the entire economy will collapse if they do so. The reality is, that rich people ignore, is that there ARE people who have to pay the rent and feed their families working $5.15 an hour (in the USA) jobs. It's not just students working these jobs: it's mothers and fathers working them, too.

Going back to the vacation time question, you're darn right we should have at least four weeks of it. I'm lucky...my union guarantees that for me after 7 years of service. As I mentioned in previous posts, most of our jobs don't change the world, and the time off to recharge the batteries, spend more time with families and take a break from the stresses of the 9-to-5 grind far outweigh the costs of having someone cover your voice mail messages while you're gone. European nations have known this for sometime and enjoy several weeks of vacation (I've read as high as 8 weeks), and you don't see these economies suffering. The primary pursuit of our lives should be happiness, and this is one of the many components that helps achieve this.

This is a debate that the Green Party is right in bringing forward, but whether or not it actually goes anywhere is another story.