Paris Marathon Training: Week 10 of 18
Today’s target run: 1 hour 12 minutes
Today’s completed run: 1 hour 12 minutes
Monday in Germany, public service workers in the southern part of Germany (Baden-Wurttemberg) went on strike in protest of the proposed longer work week being implemented. When I talk about “public service workers”, I am referring to trash collectors, hospital workers, municipal workers, and some teachers in 4 or 5 of the major cities in this state.
About 10,000 workers were expected to picket and union officials said they are prepared for a four to six-week strike action. Hospitals, pre-schools and administration offices were affected, and trash was not collected, according to the union officials. It is the first widespread public-sector strike in 14 years and "supposedly" threatens to grow larger. The union is also seeking to get members in other states, such North Rhine-Westphalia (the state where I live), to join in the strike.
What’s the crux of the issue: Members of the trade union are opposing plans by municipalities to extend their work weeks from 38.5 to 40 hours without extra pay. After a quick round of arithmetic, that equates to 90 minutes more work per week, or 18 minutes more work per day. The union says this is a 4% pay cut; governments say they can no longer afford the 38.5 hour workweek. Hmmm....
I guess with my American work mentality, I easily work an extra 18 minutes a day on a regular basis. Heck...it's way more than that. And after all, the rest of the world looks upon us as crazy folks when they see how many hours a day Americans work, or how short our vacation time is each year. So, I’ll be the first to confess…I just don’t get it.
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