Posted on 05/15/2006 3:00:35 PM PDT by rocksblues
BERLIN (Reuters) - Employers in World Cup host nation Germany should grant their workforces the flexibility to down tools and watch soccer matches during their shifts, the head of a major workers' union was quoted as saying.
With kick-off times for World Cup matches beginning as early as 3 p.m. local time, the chief of one of Germany's most powerful unions argued that workers should be given the chance to see at least part of the games.
"Employers should be flexible about working hours in order that their workforces can follow the matches," Frank Bsirske, head of the public services union Verdi, told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper in an article on the paper's Web site.
Companies such as Adidas, which are sponsoring the World Cup in Germany, have agreed to allow their employees to watch the matches at their desks, the paper said. Others, like Postbank, are organizing parties for some of the matches.
The head of Germany's employers' association Dieter Hundt told the newspaper no uniform rules should be applied to companies but that each firm should be free to decide for itself what was acceptable for soccer-mad fans.
"Every company should find its own ways together with their workers," Hundt was quoted as saying.
"If there is interest in my firm ... then the current flexible working practices would allow football fans the opportunity to watch part of the match on television."
However, his employees would not be allowed to watch the games at their workplaces, he said.
"I prefer it if my employees remain 100 percent committed to their jobs and not with half an eye or half an ear on the stadiums," he said.
PS Europe get TIVO!
It's a GAME!!!
I know I will be calling in "sick" a few times during the World Cup :)
Man, what a boring game. So much running around, so few points scored.
Here in NC, the week of the ACC basketball tournament might as well be a holiday. Little to no work gets done.
I know it looks that way to people who don't know the game but try playing it sometime and you may have a new appreciation for it. The fitness, stregth and agility levels required for top flight soccer is unmatched in virtaully any other sport.
Because sponsors prefer it that way, or because of altruism? I wonder.
All right, a fellow San Franciscan! Are you going to watch the Arsenal v. Barca game on Wednesday?
I usually just watch the French games on Saturdays. A couple of us here are very interested in the World Cup; are you downtown for lunch? I know a couple of years ago Schroders on Front had the games on for the EuroCup
I will be watching the Arsenal/Barca match here in San Luis Obispo. While I have no dog in this fight (my dog won the FA Cup in dramatic fashion on Saturday), the opportunity to see two of the games' most talented strikers go head to head should be a real treat.
There is always a TRUE AMERICAN SPORTS FAN on every "football" thread that states that soccer is sissy sport for euro-weenies and that the game WILL NEVER be popular here in the states. It's getting a bit old. How about spewing your holier-than-thou opinions on another thread?
Crap!
Well if American sports fans wanted fast paced sports then the NFL and MLB wouldn't exist.
The fitness, stregth and agility levels required for top flight soccer is unmatched in virtaully any other sport.
i guess there is enough of that "Holier-than thou" stuff to go around.
Soccer is exciting enough to watch but there are other sports that are more exciting.
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