Vacations

No Such Thing As Paid Vacation: from the blog of

On July 2007, this post on the blog of Matthew Yglesias, a journalist with the Atlantic Magazine has generated many comments that provide an interesting sample of reactions to the proposal of more paid vacation and what this would "cost".

Let us not forget the violence of the struggles that brought the 8 hour day

Often we read employers "give" vacation time to their employees. The historic reality (most often hidden in the US and elsewhere) is one of violent struggles, strikes and rebellions from the workers to gain those "benefits". Here this article in memory of the Bay View tragedy in May 1886.

As for the enactment of a mandatory paid vacation in France in 1936, it directly followed a general strike. Same in Belgium. I don't think the US faced such general strikes...

What Vacation days?

An interesting article by David Moberg published in In These Times in June 2007, following the publication of the No-Vacation Nation report. His conclusions (along with John Schmitt's):

The difference in work hours between the United States and most industrial countries “is exactly a manifestation of the same forces driving broader inequality,” says CEPR economist John Schmitt, pointing to deterioration of the minimum wage, pensions, public services, health insurance and wages under pressure from globalization, deregulation, privatization and attacks on unions. “Workers haven’t been able to translate higher productivity gains into higher pay or benefits, and they’ve been unable to address the time crunch.”

“People in the United States don’t even understand what could be possible on this issue [of paid time off],” Schmitt says. “This is one of the most important ideological victories of the right in the last 30 years—to persuade us we aren’t rich enough to treat workers well. We’re incredibly rich, getting richer every year, and we have plenty of resources to pay adequate wages, pensions, health insurance and vacations, but we’ve chosen to give that money to the top five percent.”

Nota: of course "We" has different meanings...

No-Vacation Nation

This report  (pdf format) was published in May 2007 by Rebecca Ray and John Schmitt for the Center for Economic and Policy Research. It confirms how the US lags behind all the other industrialized countries in terms of vacation time for the workers while about one fourth have no vacation time at all.

Chronology of paid vacation in France 1936-2007 and Belgium

1936: 2 weeks
1956: 3 weeks (that's 20 years for one additional week)
1969: 4 weeks (that's 13 years for one additional week)
1982: 5 weeks (again 13 years for one additional week)
During the same period the US will never get a Federal legislation and the most frequent baseline remains at 2 weeks. That's more than 71 years backward...
But there has been no progress in France during the last 25 years (since 1982).

See the comparison with the evolution in Belgium below.

Work and leisure in the US and in Europe. Why so different?

This research paper, published in April 2005 by Alberto Alesina, Edward Glaser and Bruce Sacerdote for the National Bureau of Economic Research and Harvard.
You can read this study in a pdf format. The authors have it wrong when they think more vacation was provided to fight unemployment. But they are right that the strength of organized labor was a key element that has been missing in the US. Still as the story of Renault and Pierre Dreyfus shows some individuals and some corporations played a lead role.

Working At Play: A History of Vacations in the United States

This book by Cindy Aron was published in 1999.  Unfortunately it stops in 1940. So it does not cover the period when the gap in vacation time between the US and other industrialized countries widens. In any case it does not devote much space to the class struggles and strikes that brought vacation time to blue collar workers.

Working Hurts: Not Everything is Perfect in France

This is a new documentary about the many problems of the workplace in France: "J'ai très mal au travail".
In French. Obviously there is more than getting more paid vacation (but it certainly does not hurt).

Emmanuel Todd: L'illusion Economique, essai sur la stagnation des société développées

Emmanuel Todd published L'illusion Economique in 1998. It is relevant to paid vacation as it distinguishes between two different types of capitalism, a distinction that could explain why the situation is so different in US and in Europe: they are different types of capitalist societies. Unfortunately this book has not been translated in English. 

Take back your time: fighting overwork and time poverty in America

Take back your time is the official handbook of the national movement Take back your time day. It was edited by John de Graff a Seattle based journalist and author. Published in 2003.

The Overworked American: the unexpected decline of leisure

Juliet Schor published this book in 1992. It could be worth contacting her via email.

An example of a TV program about the overworked american

On PBS in 1999.  Short and superficial. Does not touch paid vacation.

Obituary of Pierre Dreyfus, CEO of Renault from 1955 to 1975 who played a key role in promoting paid vacation in France

"What use is there for a prosperous economy if it does not improve the life of the lay person"?
Obviously this goal of sharing the productivity gains and profits with the workers is not part of the US capitalism. His obituary in the New York Times mentions his stance in favor of more paid vacation, as does European AutoNews.

Below in French his obituary in the Communist Newpaper, L'Humanité.

France: the leading role of Renault (and Pierre Dreyfus)

The strikes of May-June 1936, bring the law providing 2 weeks of paid vacation after one year of work (June 20, 1936). Renault "gives" 3 weeks in 1955 -against the will of the Government- that generalizes this decision for everybody one year later, on March 27, 1956. Renault "gives" a 4th week to its workers in 1962, but the Government will only generalize the 4th week 7 years later, in May 1969. Dreyfus is Industry Minister of the leftist government of Mitterand when the 5th week of paid vacation is enacted on January 13, 1982.
1936: 2 weeks
1956: 3 weeks (that's 20 years for one additional week)
1969: 4 weeks (that's 13 years for one additional week)
1982: 5 weeks (again 13 years for one additional week)
During the same period the US will never get a Federal legislation and the most frequent baseline remains at 2 weeks. That's more than 71 years backward...
But there has been no progress in France during the last 25 years.

Belgium: paid vacation since 1936

One week in 1936 (while the French got 2 weeks), a second week in 1952, a third in 1967, a fourth in 1975.
The text below is in French.  Source: En marche, journal of the Belgian Christian Mutuality (June 2006)

STOCKHOLM: In a world of vacations, Swedes play in a leisurely league of their own.

According to a recent EU study, carried out by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, he is the rule. Swedish workers topped the European vacation rankings, entitled to an average of 33 paid vacations days in 2006 - close to 7 weeks, not counting public holidays.

Source: International Herald Tribune, August 20, 2007

A National Minimum Vacation, by Robert Reich

in August 2003, Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor under Clinton wrote this article  where he concluded:  "I offer my proposal to anybody who is. Dean, Kerry, Lieberman, George W. Bush, anybody. Make it part of your platform: A minimum four weeks paid vacation for every working man and woman in America. You'll be elected in a flash."

Considering the brainwashing operated by the mainstream media this seems very unrealistic.

Vacation Time: Comparing Europe and the US

This article published in August 2005 in the International Herald Tribune is a short résumé of the differences with a quick attempt at explaining the gap.

"In Europe, there's this whole notion that vacation is an investment for employees so that they stay healthy," Golden said. "In the U.S., this tradition doesn't exist."

Some say higher taxes in Europe led workers to demand more time off rather than salary increases because getting more money might mean slipping into a higher tax bracket. Others contend that stronger trade unions in Europe were in a better position to demand concessions from employers. And still others say longer working hours are simply ingrained in the American psyche.