| Some DLN libraries have a CD-ROM called the National Trade Data Bank
(NTDB). I know LJO has it, you could call the closest one to you and
find out if they subscribe to it also. Anyway, there is a section on
"Foreign Labor Trends" and would include labor practices, union
memberships, etc. It has info on probably 20-25 countries.. If you
can't find it, I can loan you my copy.
-Richard
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| Here's some labor stats that may or may not be of interest: weekly hours
of unionized industrial workers; from the New York Times, as reprinted
by Bill Howard (of PC Mag fame) in the April "Roundel" magazine:
Country Hours Vac+Hol Sick
Germany 37.5 30+10 9%
Britain 38.8 27+8 7%
France 39.0 25+8 8%
Sweden 40.0 27+11 12%
U.S. 40.0 12+11 3%
Japan 42.0 11+14 2%
France has it over the U.S.: work less, more time off, call in sick
more. Why not if your job is protected by the government. _kb
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| I hope the sick time isn't true. 3% is about right in the US, from
what I see with my Peers and myself. That works out to about 1.5 work
weeks per year or 8 working days per year. I have a hard time a hard
time believing there are people taking 5 work weeks of sick time, or 24
work days a year. I can't believe that many people are that sick.
Jim Morton
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| Be very careful with your databases... as we all know there are
lies, d***N lies & statistics.
I live in France, worked for digital for eons & can count my sick days
a year on my thumbs, fortuneatly. Do not know any one around me who
take n sick days a year. The hours worked are also full of hot air
as most Digital employees I know work crazy hours, finishing closer to
7pm & beyond and occasionally on week-ends.
But this is only my point of view...
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| As a Brit working in Valbonne for 12 years I can give you
impressions, but I am not a legal expert.
Relationships between employers and employees in France are
regulated in quite a lot of detail. At the very general level,
companies are classified into very broad industry classifications, and
each industry has agreed standards for things like notice, working
hours, redundancy pay, ... You may have seen a mention in another note
that DEC France was proposing to pay the legal minimum redundancy pay.
This legal minimum comes from the fact that DEC is classified as a
mining company, and that it what has been agreed for the mining
industry (I said it was rather a broad classification).
Every company of 50 or more employees is required to have some sort
of workers organisation, which may be a trade union. When I moved to
France it was a joke that there were exactly 49 ministers in the French
government, so the French president would not be forced to permit a
trade union ;-) The company must contribute 1% (I think) of the salary
bill to this organisation.
In Valbonne there has not until recently been a representative
trade union, and the funds go to a Comit� d'Entreprise (CE). The
workings of this body are regulated by law too. For example, it is a
requirement that all its business be conducted in French. This was seen
as rather ridiculous in the early days, when 70% of the employees were
not French. The CE has mostly in the past used its funds for social
activities. DEC (directly) doesn't provide anything like the U.S.
turkeys, but the CE normally organises an outing each year, Christmas
presents for employees' kids under 12 years old, they own several ski
appartments, ... The CE has one permanent employee, but an employee
elected to the CE has a right to spend a certain amount of time (I
think it is � day per week) on CE business.
As a result of the recent changes within DEC some of the elected CE
representatives have also become union representatives. The significant
factor here is that union representatives are required to be consulted
about redundancies. I believe one of the reasons why the French
authorities rejected the redundancy proposals in DEC France was that
the "consultation" consisted of notification in the evening, with the
announcement the next morning. But DEC France is currently a separate
company, though a merger is in process.
For a more informed contact I would suggest Derek Lee. He has been
on the Valbonne CE for many years. You should be able to find him in
ELF.
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