To celebrate the summer, Sandy and Nora talk about time off: vacations, sick days, taking days off just because you have a right to not work from time to time — get your hammock and the coldest drink you have, and think about all the things you would do with more time off work.
This topic is perfect: ‘where politics and vacations collide!’ Better still: the result of you fine comrades choppin’ it up here is a pot of gold that some lucky interns or activists can turn into an edutainment series to organize workers in and out of unions.
Fun fact from this week’s Secret Life of Canada episode: the Cheezies factory in Belleville closes at noon Friday and stays closed til Monday morning, with no exceptions.
Brilliant conversation. Thanks for bringing this up.
Pour avoir plus de temps libre pour les travailleurs, il faut d’abord sensibiliser les employeurs à mettre de l’avant des fins de semaine où ils doivent fermer boutique pour que les employés peuvent souffler un peu. Miser sur le repos des employés est un gage de respect, la production est meilleure et moins d’accidents de travail. Les conditions de travail sont plus importantes pour les jeunes employés que l’argent, ils veulent bien vivre , profiter de la vie et voir grandir leurs enfants. Les vacances d’été aussi doivent être sacrées, puisque ça permet de décrocher du travail et de penser un peu à soi.
I loved that this topic came up! My boyfriend is an Educational Assistant in the school board. They had to fight and strike recently just so their paid sick days and working hours did not get cut. The amount of cuts that the government attempted to do to these people was sickening. They wanted less EA’s in the schools while 5 or 6 students needed support. I’m not just talking support with schoolwork, but full on unable to regulate their emotions and becoming physically aggressive or emotionally unstable. These workers experience so much bullshit in their days that no one thinks about all while their job security is not there. My boyfriend does not get paid during the Summer when he’s off he gets “laid off” just to start work up in September. Meanwhile he does not even know if he will have a stable school to go to or if he is just going to do supply again. These topics are never talked about and while it’s great he gets time off for the Summer, it is spent finding a summer job. Not to mention he doesn’t get any vacation time because “He gets Summers off”.
The most sickening part is that there were so many people arguing that EAs were fighting for stupid reasons. This society has become so individualized and unwilling to see the strength in numbers.
I love that you are talking about vacation time and the need for more time to recover from sickness and trauma.
I myself am going into the Social Service field and knowing that I will encounter so much trauma is difficult. I love the field I really do. I just know it will be difficult to think about how I have maybe 2 weeks off per year, few sick days, and potentially carrying my work home with me.
People need to be talking more about this!