Let's start with meal breaks. It is a given is all employment standards legislation, and almost every private sector (and probably public sector) collective agreement I've ever seen that a meal break will be 30 minutes (1/2 hour)unpaid Some agreements expand this to one hour unpaid and a few have it paid or pay an overtime premium if you miss the break.

In Europe, I'm more familiar with breaks of one hour to one and a half hours - mostly paid.

When I speak to others in the Union movement about taking this on, some have, but really half-heartedly. I can't seem to get workers excited about it either. Yet trying to skip that unpaid meal break, working through it, going home early, etc. is rampant and people claim they are overworked.

If you try to extend the no pay concept to the coffee break, people flip out. If you try to say that a worker can't go to the bathroom without punching out, workers flip out - and rightly so. As we know, humans are not machines. We cannot work for 8-10-12 hours straight without refueling our body - the same way as we can't go without a washroom break or no sleep, etc. So why do we (workers, Unions, governments, activists) seem to blindly accept this as a given in this country? I can't figure it out other than to say it must be a symptom of North American culture. What are everyone's thoughts on this?

Secondly, vacations, stat holidays. In many provinces, and in many collective agreements, you have to work a ridiculous amount of years before you get 3 weeks paid vacation instead of 2. Something like 5-8 years seem average. Why? In Europe, again, I believe many workplaces start you at 4 weeks and quickly move to 6. Why do we (again, workers, Unions, leaders, activists, socialist politicians, etc.) seem to accept this as a given?

Stats is another great example. Why do we blindly accept that some provinces have family days in February while others - notably BC - don't. Why is this not a hot issue? Why are we not pushing for more stats - May Day for example?

For me, time off the job is a reprsentatiion of how successful workers and their allies have been at beating back the capitalist agenda in a small but symbolic way - you don't own us and we are entitled to paid time off.

Don't even get me started on why we don't have laws outlawing overtime or charging quadruple time, etc.

Great question, Wicked C.

Lately I think that can be expanded to why unions, that were frequently in real danger of being legislatively banned, USED to see themselves are part of an local solution to a universal problem. It is rare that you will now find a union local, national or even international see themelves as trying to do something about the world wide suppression of workers and their rights. They will concentrate on the length of coffee breaks.

One of my favourite socialists and father of a man I consider close to God, played an vital part in 'cleanizing' the BC unions of (the dreaded communists). (Especially the electicions union.)

The horrid communists made Sundbury change from one of the lowest income places in Canada in 1946, to one of the richest in 1949. The company lead federal government spend 15 years trying to get rid of these irksome people who went beyond immediate issues and had univeral pretentions. Thereby being successful in both.

I do not think that concentration upon singular local issues advances either the union movement or any kind of power sharing with the ruling class, And so contains within itself elements of its' own demise.

Sorry Doug, I must disagree, it is only by reaching into the universal can victories in the local be achieved. Buying into the schedule of the ruling class will produce results for the ruling class and no one else.

We have too many U.S. unions in Canada who are used to such low standards. I agree our own unions could do much more on this topic. Send the U.S. unions back home as a start. No other nation has foreign unions present in the way Canada has. The level of corporate and union foreign ownership is a serious problem in this country that does nothing to help our already weak labour standards by international comparison.

[ 06 May 2007: Message edited by: huberman ]