As Germany's economy stagnates, some say answer could be more work, fewer holidays and vacation days

AP ^ | 08/10/03 | David Mchugh

[Pikamax]

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) At age 30, and with three years seniority, Holger Bettenhausen figures his typical German allotment of 28 days paid vacation will just about enough meet his needs.

''Last year, I was in Thailand for three weeks,'' Bettenhausen said. ''Beach vacations are my favorite, to get out of the cold weather in Germany.''

[AppyPappy]

State workers in Va with 5 years get 10 hours of vacation a month and about 13 paid holidays.

[WorkingClassFilth]

Bringing back the standard workweek and less holiday time?

My God! The cruelty of those Hun b*stards is unbelievable!

[At _War_With_Liberals]

Whatever happened to the good old days of hyperinflation?

[Gumdrop]

Several years ago a visitor from Germany told my family and I that the expansive vacation benefits that Germans had were necessary and deserved. He could not figure out why I was not able to just take off 2 weeks when he decided to pay us a visit. I told him I did not have that much vacation time in my job. He was clueless. As it was he came during the New Year Holiday time, and it's mighty cold in Minnesota in January. I had warned him about our cold weather. I took off 3 days to escort him about Minneapolis. The rest of the time he spent in our house. The temperature was about 20 degrees below zero at night!

[xrp]

I get a maximum of 20 paid days off at my company. I haven't used them all in each of the 3 years with my company. These lazy Krauts should work MORE!

[yankeedame]

But with vacations enshrined in union contracts, any change in vacation and holiday habits are likely to be gradual...

Ha! Like no duh! Until (if ever) the backs of those unions are broke, the German (and French and British and American) economy has a wolf by the ear- it can no longer hold yet it dare not let go.

[nothingnew]

No comment. This is just too ludicrous.

But there are two people who willingly take less vacation: The managers who own the business.

Well....DUH!...(I guess I did comment after all.)

FMCDH

[nothingnew]

("Born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.")

I like that. I've given over to the fact that I must laugh at most things. To not to would be the death of me.

FMCDH

[driftless]

I had a little discussion with a very liberal co-worker this morning. He is a veteran world traveler, and has visited much of Asia and Europe including the Scandinavian countries. He remarked that even though prices were very expensive, Norway had a superior standard of living to the U.S. I asked him why that would be so if prices were so high. He exclaimed exasperatingly because the government provided so much time off and other things for the average Norwegian worker, and we don't. But I said if things are so expensive, how can they be superior to us?

His whole liberal rationale was that more government services meant a superior system. I added if the Scandinavians (or other Euros) are happy with allowing parasites to live off the tax-payers, that is their business. But obviously most Americans bridle at the idea of their tax-money going to subsidize idlers.

[ambrose]

Norway doesn't share its border with Mexico.

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

I worked in Germany last fall and this is exactly the case, many people just never come to work. Politicans that have tried to change this have been crucified. Germany's answer seems to be to push the same work rules on the rest of Europe through the EU. Oddly enough, the rules don't apply in the East, which is where many companies are moving to.

History is so amazing.

Who would ever think that less than a generation after the fall of the Soviet Union, Western Europe would be a socialist state and the countries of Eastern Europe and former Soviet "republics" are now harvesting the fruits of capitalism??

It's enough to make a pinko jump off the Brooklyn Bridge!!

[MarkL]

Yearly hours per worker for all German workers fell from 2,162 in 1960 to 1,444 last year. The average factory worker in Germany now puts in 1,557 hours, well behind countries such as Great Britain with 1,693, Switzerland with 1,844 and the United States with 1,904.

I get a maximum of 20 paid days off at my company. I haven't used them all in each of the 3 years with my company. These lazy Krauts should work MORE!

I guess I sort of envy them, as it would be nice to have more time for other stuff to do. On the other hand, without working, a lot of my clients would be in serious trouble. I've been with my company for 5 years, and have accrued the maximum leave benefits: 3 weeks total per year, combined sick and vacation time (they don't differentiate sick time vs vacation time). After the first year, you get 2 weeks off (10 days), then for every year you work, you get an additional day, up to 5 days, for a maximum of 15 days a year.

On the other hand, I just thought about the number of hours I work. I've cut back over the last few years, since I'm getting older and just can't take it... I'm only averaging about 6o hours a week now, down from the 80+ hours I worked just 7 or 8 years ago. So I guess while the Germans are complaining about working less than 1500 hours, I'm working about double that every year. Maybe I need to learn to work smarter, not longer or harder... Or move to Germany! lol

Mark

[JoeSchem]

Remember when German Social Democracy was praised by Clinton as the model for US prosperity.

Before that, liberals praised Sweden. And before that, the Soviet Union.

And they've since moved on from Germany to Canada.

Maybe someday they'll praise the US as the model for social democracy.

[yankeedame]

Mille grazie!

(grin) I'd love to say that I came up with the tag line myself, but truth is it comes from the book "Scaramouche" by Rafael Sabatini.

[ishmac]

He could not figure out why I was not able to just take off 2 weeks when he decided to pay us a visit.

Hah! Let me tell you a personal story here. I once taught English lessons at the Siemens chip fab in Dresden, Saxony. There, the employees get 6 weeks paid vacation. Once I asked some advanced students whether they would sacrifice one week of vacation for double-pay. Eight out of eight students not only rejected the proposal for themselves, they wouldn't allow anyone else to choose it either! These were relatively young people, too--ages from 25-40. Of course, this was in the former East where people have a weird loyalty to Marxism. Still, I was shocked. I had lived in Prague and found the Czechs much more sedulous, ambitious, and entrepreneurial than the Germans--once the hardest working, most populous nation in Europe.

[Bonaparte]

What?? A causal connection between work and prosperity?? These Germans must be drinking too much Jagrmeister. What they need is tighter state control, more regs and taxes, more perpetual students living on loans, and boosted pension and welfare entitlements. Come on Germany! With just a little more effort, you can become a third world country. Go for it! You already got a good start by throwing away your American business with the orgy of Bush bashing and Saddam hugging. Don't quit now! You're almost there!

[El Conservador]

There's a lot of German companies moving their headquarters to Berlin. More flexible labor rules and a more attractive venue.

[El Conservador]

I think he meant the German states which used to be East Germany.