One Year Off, Every Seven Years

[PyramidHead]

Jacobin article to chew on.

In the 1990s, trade unionists and socialists in the United States formed a Labor Party. The political circumstances of this experiment were unfavorable and it didn’t gain much traction, but the Labor Party’s program was full of demands that elevated the value of free time and the right of working people to lead their lives. A whole plank of the platform, titled “More Time for Family and Community,” was devoted to preventing working people’s precious time from being gobbled up by work. These included a shorter workweek, twenty mandatory paid vacation days for all, and one year’s paid leave for every six years of work.

This last demand is the most thrilling one. Imagine that: you work for six years and you are promised a whole paid year off to do whatever you want, with your job still waiting for you afterwards. What would people do with this time?

Probably some would sit around eating Doritos and playing video games — and that’s fine, because playing games is a pleasurable part of the human experience, and people have a right to leisure. But most people wouldn’t do that the entire time, because most of the Doritos-and-game sessions that occur under capitalism are people stealing a moment to relax and unwind amid the constant pressures of work and tedious life administration, like refinancing their student loans and calling around to see which doctors are in network.

Some people would probably start out the year Doritos-and-gaming, and then grow tired of it. What might they dream up next? Maybe their favorite part of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood was the part where they got to engage in hand-to-hand combat on the rooftops of the Alhambra. Maybe they decide to book a plane ticket out of the US for the first time in their lives, and they end up at the Court of the Myrtles, watching the goldfish pond ripple gently beneath the full moon.

There’s no limit to what people would decide to do with their sabbatical, and that’s the point. Humans are capable of so much, and so few ever really get to explore their own capabilities.

These are conversations we should be having in our political discourse, now a full 30 years after those unionists initially floated the idea (though the concept of resisting the imposition of endless work has always been a plank of socialist activism). All of the arguments against it are exactly the ones used against paid maternity leave, the 8-hour workday, and the weekend. Contrary to all those objections, productivity has not gone down but up, dramatically, as workers have gained more free time to pursue their ambitions. Technology is no doubt a large factor in this, and we should leverage it to give everybody a break, not invent new tasks for people to perform under the mistaken assumption that people will become lazy degenerates if left to our own devices.

 

[dismal]

Jacobin article to chew on.

In the 1990s, trade unionists and socialists in the United States formed a Labor Party. The political circumstances of this experiment were unfavorable and it didn’t gain much traction, but the Labor Party’s program was full of demands that elevated the value of free time and the right of working people to lead their lives. A whole plank of the platform, titled “More Time for Family and Community,” was devoted to preventing working people’s precious time from being gobbled up by work. These included a shorter workweek, twenty mandatory paid vacation days for all, and one year’s paid leave for every six years of work.

This last demand is the most thrilling one. Imagine that: you work for six years and you are promised a whole paid year off to do whatever you want, with your job still waiting for you afterwards. What would people do with this time?

Probably some would sit around eating Doritos and playing video games — and that’s fine, because playing games is a pleasurable part of the human experience, and people have a right to leisure. But most people wouldn’t do that the entire time, because most of the Doritos-and-game sessions that occur under capitalism are people stealing a moment to relax and unwind amid the constant pressures of work and tedious life administration, like refinancing their student loans and calling around to see which doctors are in network.

Some people would probably start out the year Doritos-and-gaming, and then grow tired of it. What might they dream up next? Maybe their favorite part of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood was the part where they got to engage in hand-to-hand combat on the rooftops of the Alhambra. Maybe they decide to book a plane ticket out of the US for the first time in their lives, and they end up at the Court of the Myrtles, watching the goldfish pond ripple gently beneath the full moon.

There’s no limit to what people would decide to do with their sabbatical, and that’s the point. Humans are capable of so much, and so few ever really get to explore their own capabilities.

These are conversations we should be having in our political discourse, now a full 30 years after those unionists initially floated the idea (though the concept of resisting the imposition of endless work has always been a plank of socialist activism). All of the arguments against it are exactly the ones used against paid maternity leave, the 8-hour workday, and the weekend. Contrary to all those objections, productivity has not gone down but up, dramatically, as workers have gained more free time to pursue their ambitions. Technology is no doubt a large factor in this, and we should leverage it to give everybody a break, not invent new tasks for people to perform under the mistaken assumption that people will become lazy degenerates if left to our own devices.

Seems like you can do this now if you want to. Cut your lifestyle costs by 15% and save the money then take a year off. Most people don't want to.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Things would get a bit pricier if people were paid for a year not to work. I don't see how it is even feasible. Wanna talk a full month off, maybe... but we have the minor issue of how many people going on vacation in the summer (because their kids go to school during not the summer)?

How about 4 weeks paid vacation? Or 13 months salary for 12 months work. That extra money would help get that ostrich jacket everyone has their eyes on.

 

[dismal]

Things would get a bit pricier if people were paid for a year not to work.

If people were forced to pay you for 7 years to get you to work 6 I imagine salaries would drop 15% right quick.

 

[TSwizzle]

Compared to Europe, workers in the USA are treated like beasts of burden. A 40 hour week with 10 days paid vacation is no way to live. Taking a year off work in some industries is not viable. I would agree to reducing the work week to 35 hours, maybe less. Four day week would be a start. At least 20 days paid vacation. I think Europe has 25 days paid vacation, at least 20 though.

 

[hurtinbuckaroo]

This last demand is the most thrilling one. Imagine that: you work for six years and you are promised a whole paid year off to do whatever you want, with your job still waiting for you afterwards. What would people do with this time?

So, how does that work? Does my employer hire a contractor for a year to do my job? Do they hire him 3-6 months before I get my year off so I can turn over my responsibilities? Do they hire another full-time employee so we can split my workload during the 5 years neither of us is "on leave"? Or is it just the interchangeable folks who get that year off, while the more skilled, harder to replace workers get nothing? Gee, that won't cause resentment or anything, would it?

 

[ZiprHead]

I could see many people using that year to start their own business.

 

[bilby]

We have something similar here in Australia, though not quite as extreme.

In addition to our twenty paid vacation days per year, we accrue 'Long Service Leave', which can be taken after ten years; It's either twelve weeks on full pay, or 24 weeks on half pay.

I've used mine (twice now, after 25 years over here) to visit my family in the UK - which was its original purpose. Back in the day, ordinary workers couldn't afford to fly, and the round trip by sea took a long time, so LSL was introduced to allow people to visit family back in Europe at least once a decade.

I think it's an excellent idea.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

We have something similar here in Australia, though not quite as extreme.

In addition to our twenty paid vacation days per year, we accrue 'Long Service Leave', which can be taken after ten years; It's either twelve weeks on full pay, or 24 weeks on half pay.

I've used mine (twice now, after 25 years over here) to visit my family in the UK - which was its original purpose. Back in the day, ordinary workers couldn't afford to fly, and the round trip by sea took a long time, so LSL was introduced to allow people to visit family back in Europe at least once a decade.

I think it's an excellent idea.

Why would I want to go to Europe to see those people's families?

 

[bilby]

We have something similar here in Australia, though not quite as extreme.

In addition to our twenty paid vacation days per year, we accrue 'Long Service Leave', which can be taken after ten years; It's either twelve weeks on full pay, or 24 weeks on half pay.

I've used mine (twice now, after 25 years over here) to visit my family in the UK - which was its original purpose. Back in the day, ordinary workers couldn't afford to fly, and the round trip by sea took a long time, so LSL was introduced to allow people to visit family back in Europe at least once a decade.

I think it's an excellent idea.

Why would I want to go to Europe to see those people's families?

Why wouldn't you? They are lovely people.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

We have something similar here in Australia, though not quite as extreme.

In addition to our twenty paid vacation days per year, we accrue 'Long Service Leave', which can be taken after ten years; It's either twelve weeks on full pay, or 24 weeks on half pay.

But seriously, oh goodness... so where I work, they looked into adding a fourth week of vacation for people that have 10 years at the company. You start with 2, get a third at 5 years (actually I was the last of the group that earned one extra day between years 6 and 10 to get up to 3 weeks!).

After much deliberation, they decided to let everyone get their birthday as a holiday. I literally slapped my head when I heard the decision.

 

[bilby]

We have something similar here in Australia, though not quite as extreme.

In addition to our twenty paid vacation days per year, we accrue 'Long Service Leave', which can be taken after ten years; It's either twelve weeks on full pay, or 24 weeks on half pay.

But seriously, oh goodness... so where I work, they looked into adding a fourth week of vacation for people that have 10 years at the company. You start with 2, get a third at 5 years (actually I was the last of the group that earned one extra day between years 6 and 10 to get up to 3 weeks!).

After much deliberation, they decided to let everyone get their birthday as a holiday. I literally slapped my head when I heard the decision.

Yeah, every time I read something about the conditions under which most Americans work, I wonder why you haven't risen up in bloody revolution.

The French no longer use the guillotine, so I expect they have a few going cheap if you want them.

 

[ZiprHead]

We have something similar here in Australia, though not quite as extreme.

In addition to our twenty paid vacation days per year, we accrue 'Long Service Leave', which can be taken after ten years; It's either twelve weeks on full pay, or 24 weeks on half pay.

But seriously, oh goodness... so where I work, they looked into adding a fourth week of vacation for people that have 10 years at the company. You start with 2, get a third at 5 years (actually I was the last of the group that earned one extra day between years 6 and 10 to get up to 3 weeks!).

After much deliberation, they decided to let everyone get their birthday as a holiday. I literally slapped my head when I heard the decision.

Yeah, every time I read something about the conditions under which most Americans work, I wonder why you haven't risen up in bloody revolution.

The French no longer use the guillotine, so I expect they have a few going cheap if you want them.

I feel the same way at any mention of Mitch McConnel. Why we haven't risen up as a mob and dragged his ass out of congress yet is beyond me.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

We have something similar here in Australia, though not quite as extreme.

In addition to our twenty paid vacation days per year, we accrue 'Long Service Leave', which can be taken after ten years; It's either twelve weeks on full pay, or 24 weeks on half pay.

But seriously, oh goodness... so where I work, they looked into adding a fourth week of vacation for people that have 10 years at the company. You start with 2, get a third at 5 years (actually I was the last of the group that earned one extra day between years 6 and 10 to get up to 3 weeks!).

After much deliberation, they decided to let everyone get their birthday as a holiday. I literally slapped my head when I heard the decision.

Yeah, every time I read something about the conditions under which most Americans work, I wonder why you haven't risen up in bloody revolution.

The French no longer use the guillotine, so I expect they have a few going cheap if you want them.

Yeah, to be honest I think we are due. Maybe not 'eat the rich', but probably snack on them.

 

[steve_bank]

When I worked for Intel in the 80s they had a 7 year sabbatical perk. As 7 years rolled around you got sabbatical time plus accrued vacation that could give you one year off with full pay.

The idea was to do something different, like basket weaving. De-stress. You had a guaranteed job when you got back.

 

[steve_bank]

It seems like the French are always rebelling and on the verge of bankruptcy. Riots and burning cars seems to be routine.

 

[PyramidHead]

This article is from the socialist publication Jacobin, and as such, it isn't really a policy proposal for today's capitalism but a reminder of what could be possible if we transitioned toward a socialist economy. As I predicted in the first post, the objections people are raising are not materially any different from those raised against any of the guaranteed leisure time workers have won for themselves over the past century or so. They imagine employers as the conductors of everything, and starting from that assumption, we have little choice but to dance to their tune so they don't raise prices. This is a rational assessment of the current state of affairs, maybe, but not a justification for preserving it.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

This article is from the socialist publication Jacobin, and as such, it isn't really a policy proposal for today's capitalism but a reminder of what could be possible if we transitioned toward a socialist economy. As I predicted in the first post, the objections people are raising are not materially any different from those raised against any of the guaranteed leisure time workers have won for themselves over the past century or so.

The difference being that I would love to get a year off, the trouble is, I don't see how that would be workable in my industry (civil engineering).

 

[PyramidHead]

This article is from the socialist publication Jacobin, and as such, it isn't really a policy proposal for today's capitalism but a reminder of what could be possible if we transitioned toward a socialist economy. As I predicted in the first post, the objections people are raising are not materially any different from those raised against any of the guaranteed leisure time workers have won for themselves over the past century or so.

The difference being that I would love to get a year off, the trouble is, I don't see how that would be workable in my industry (civil engineering).

You would have to back away a good distance and think of what aspects of that industry or the economy at large would have to change in order to make it workable, is all the article implies. Just starting from raw talent, there are arguably enough people in society who would be good enough at civil engineering to work on whatever you were assigned to while you're on sabbatical. If your absence from that role for a single year would be enough to make re-hiring you unfeasible, ask yourself if that's a reality that we ought to tolerate and preserve.

 

[Keith&Co.]

The difference being that I would love to get a year off,

Shit, i'd become a socialist for regular business-day naps at my desk.