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Americans Petition White House for Paid Vacation as Congress takes a break
Congress is officially on vacation. Why aren’t you?
6 August 2014
Congress is forced to adjourn between July 31 and Labor Day of each year, for which you can thank the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970.
Yet while Congress gets to enjoy a month of paid time off, America is the only advanced country that does not guarantee the rest of its workers the same benefit. Only about 77% of Americans working for privately-owned companies get paid vacation days, and what they do get is skimpy: on average, only 10 to 14 days’ paid vacation. Those who came the closest to Congress’s month-long holiday were Americans that have been with their companies for about 20 years, and they get 20 paid vacation days. That’s a long time to wait for a decent beach break.
This bleary-eyed state of overwork is unsustainable – particularly for companies, like Hotels.com and Disney, who dream of more profits. Call it enlightened self-interest. The Vacation Equality Project, launched by Hotels.com is a campaign that is looking to get 100,000 signatures on a holiday-lover’s petition, hoping to force the White House to issue a formal response on the issue.
There is at least one lawmaker who won’t need any persuading: Florida congressman Alan Grayson. He introduced a law that would guarantee US workers with at least a week of paid vacation. According to Politico, Grayson got the idea while visiting Disney World.
http://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2014/aug/06/americans-vacation-congress-paid-time-off-work
6 August 2014
Congress is forced to adjourn between July 31 and Labor Day of each year, for which you can thank the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970.
Yet while Congress gets to enjoy a month of paid time off, America is the only advanced country that does not guarantee the rest of its workers the same benefit. Only about 77% of Americans working for privately-owned companies get paid vacation days, and what they do get is skimpy: on average, only 10 to 14 days’ paid vacation. Those who came the closest to Congress’s month-long holiday were Americans that have been with their companies for about 20 years, and they get 20 paid vacation days. That’s a long time to wait for a decent beach break.
This bleary-eyed state of overwork is unsustainable – particularly for companies, like Hotels.com and Disney, who dream of more profits. Call it enlightened self-interest. The Vacation Equality Project, launched by Hotels.com is a campaign that is looking to get 100,000 signatures on a holiday-lover’s petition, hoping to force the White House to issue a formal response on the issue.
There is at least one lawmaker who won’t need any persuading: Florida congressman Alan Grayson. He introduced a law that would guarantee US workers with at least a week of paid vacation. According to Politico, Grayson got the idea while visiting Disney World.
http://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2014/aug/06/americans-vacation-congress-paid-time-off-work
Interesting article, but very misleading headline
'Americans' aren't petitioning the White House, Hotels.com is!
http://www.vacationequalityproject.com/
