Paid vacation? U.S. workers have no guarantees

[TechBear_Seattle]

Paid vacation? U.S. workers have no guarantees

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When it comes to guaranteed paid vacation, U.S. workers don't seem to get a break.

While the French get 30 days of paid leave and most other Europeans receive at least 20, the country with the world's biggest economy does not guarantee workers a single day, researchers said on Wednesday.

Most U.S. firms do in fact give employees vacations, but the lack of government guarantees means one in four private-sector workers do not get paid leave, said researchers for the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a Washington think tank.

"The United States is the only advanced economy in the world that does not guarantee its workers paid vacation days and paid holidays," said economist John Schmitt.

"Relying on businesses to voluntarily provide paid leave just hasn't worked," he added. "It's a national embarrassment that 28 million Americans don't get any paid vacation or paid holidays."

The article continues at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070516/us_nm/usa_vacation_dc

[bdamomma]

1. this is so unfortunate when so many americans are working their

a$$es off.

[RebelOne]

2. I guess I am fortunate in that my company

gives me 4 weeks paid vacation and 3 personal days, along with 10 sick days.

[Horse with no Name]

8. Our sick leave accrual sucks

On paper it sounds really good, but you cannot even touch it until you have 40 hours in your sick bank.
I was sick and had 39 hours and couldn't use it.
So basically they let you accrue the time as a benefit, but won't let you use it unless you have been there a long time and have amassed a ton of it.

[KillCapitalism]

3. Also I've seen that American leave vacation time unused.

It was in another online article I read a while back. It said that some workers view taking a vacation as "lazy." Gotta love that work 80 hours a week till you drop dead puritan work ethic.:sarcasm:

[Hubert Flottz]

4. It's only going to get worse!

The GOPer's union busting has worked. When the unions are all gone the robber barons will bring the jobs back to America. When the jobs come back they will come because wages and working conditions in America are more robber baron friendly, than they are now in Red China.

[NotGivingUp]

12. you're so right. welcome to amerikaka!

[HereSince1628]

5. Are these 28 million part of the 40 million without health insurance?

I'm not denying the value of vacations, but as embarrassment goes, there is nothing more embarrassing than that fraction of the nation without healthcare.

[PassingFair]

6. Try taking your "vacation days" when you're in sales....

so many bogus deadlines make vacations seem like "desertions"
in times of need.

And it's ALWAYS a CRISIS.

[havocmom]

9. Not just in sales jobs

And some businesses are is such 'crisis' that they expect employees to promote the business on their days off too.

I know a company that fully expects employees to bring in proof that they went out and marketed on their weekends. Not just the sales/marketing staff, but EVERYONE right down to the typists who are contract employees without benefits and no unemployment coverage if they are cut from staff! They expect ALL employees to give up time with families (many are single mothers, but the way) on weekend to go do promo work in offices where the sale/marketing people have been banned and the twit running things won't go.

If the US worker is not available 24/7/365, they are made to feel like they are in danger of being 'let go' no matter how productive they are during regular work hours.

And thanks to corporate media's stranglehold on the public airways since the early 80s, most Americans are actually resistant to the idea of collective bargaining and unions. They have been lied to for DECADES about unions and the fact that they make bargains with employers for their time, skills and work, and are not actually owned by abusive employers.

It's not just sales. And with bush appointees running every agency of government, it's not just the private sector either. The American workers are being turned into corporate vassals and serfs.

[SoCalDem]

10. My friend starts her new job on Monday. She was thrilled

to get a 9-5 M-F job, but then she was told that since many of her new employees who work the weekends are less than fluent in English, and often have problems, she can expect to hear for them on some weekends, and she might have to come in to handle the situation.. so basically, she's got a salaried job (no more overtime) and she works 5 days..and is on call the other 2:wtf:

[Horse with no Name]

7. Well we are supposed to get a couple of weeks

but it is actually based on hours worked.
However, they also reserve the right to send us home when the patient census falls so on an average, I lose 12 hours of scheduled work a week. It is always in 3-4 hour increments.
So, I end up wasting my vacation time on scheduled hours I didn't work, so no vacation.

[NotGivingUp]

11. that sucks. do you have the option of going home without pay

and saving your vacation? what happens when your vacation time is used up? will they still send you home?

[Horse with no Name]

13. You can always take it without pay

but then your paychecks are short, so I opt to use my time.
And yes, when your vacation time is used up they still send us home without pay.
Some of the other departments got smart and started filing unemployment because their wages fall into that category, but if I even work one full day, then I don't even qualify for that.