The quality of life improves dramatically with less time at work. You can do some of those things you've always wanted to do. Work doesn't completely rule your life. Suddenly you realize you're more of a person, you have a life!
As State employees begin bargaining their next union contracts, we won't see a bid for fewer work hours or a shorter work week from the unions. After all, we workers are still losing income and we need to survive - and I mean survive. Never mind the quality of life. And so the unions will push for more work hours, the old standard 40-hour week. The State will insist furlough days must continue. Personally, I am very happy to anticipate another two years with furlough days and a better life.
And I agree with John de Graff who says, Wake Up Americans: It's Time to Get Off the Work Treadmill. We need to come up with a different approach to work.
Read it: Less Work; More Life
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2 comments:
This is a complex issue. Most people I know DO NOT like the furloughs because of the cut in pay and the workload problems the furloughs are creating. And many people at the same time need the day off because they can't get authorization to take paid leave they have earned, which really isn't fair. The unions will certainly go into negotiations looking to undo the furloughs because that is the only way to get the lost money back, but I think that the big issues for negotiations will be healthcare, PERS, making up lost ground from the pay freeze and union/worker rights in the workplace. So much depends on the November elections. State workers need to think seriously about which of the two gubernatorial candidates will be easier to negotiate with and which of them will be easier to have a successful strike under.
Furloughs are harder on some people than others. But I would much rather have furloughs than a direct cut in pay or benefits. I enjoy the day off, but admit that I was shocked when I received my first post-furlough paycheck. But oddly the weather is great every furlough day, which leads me to believe that god/the universe loves state employees in Oregon.
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