Working Class Holidays Act of 2014 (Amendment at vote)

[Lumine]

Well, Suffrage Day and Boston Tea Party I can understand (specially Suffrage Day), but why Eugene Debs's day? Surely we have hundreds of other Americans more worthy of having their own holiday, not to mention that it would be quite expensive for the federal government to include five more holidays through the year.

[Lumine]

Not sure how it would be 'expensive' for the federal government to take five more days a year off, personally. This bill would recognize the achievements of working class Atlasians to making this country a better place. I think by that token alone it should be enacted.

Well, to me every federal holiday is technically expensive as it involves federal employees taking days off and a reduction of productivity (at least that's the way I see it). Furthermore, per the Holidays Act of 2013 all persons who work on the official holidays are paid twice the regular hourly wage, which also means extra expenses. If I'm not mistaken, we already have International Workers' Day, Workers' Memorial Day and Labor Day, do we really need three extra holidays related to this subject?

[Lumine]

The Seattle strike and St. Louis commune aren't especially important/well-known events outside of labor circles. Perhaps we could replace those two with Pullman Strike Day?

Maybe not, but these holidays would at least allow the historical record to give them a wider treatment than they are often afforded.

That might be right in OTL America, but we already have Labor History Month for that as well thanks to an earlier bill, so I don't believe they are being neglected. I don't think Pullman Stike Day is a good idea as well, specially considering Labor Day was created in memory of it by Grover Cleveland.

Every day is a holiday for capitalism, so yes, we do.

Are we really going to enter the debate about the merits of capitalism again? (for the record I still believe it works)

[Lumine]

Well, since debate doesn't seem that active here, I will offer an amendment based on my earlier thoughts:

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I'll be glad to support Suffrage Day to recognize the key legacy of suffragettes and the Boston Tea Party Day for its deep significance to the history of Atlasia, but since we already have Labor History Month and three holidays related to the subject, I figured three more would be redundant.

[Lumine]

Bump? (I believe we need to vote on the amendment)

[Lumine]

Aye.

[Lumine]

I think Bore is right on this, and I support the amendment. If we are going to have more holidays we should try to accomodate them in the best way possible, and I believe that most people would actually prefer having a holiday every month or so (I know I would).

[Lumine]

I think Bore is right on this, and I support the amendment. If we are going to have more holidays we should try to accomodate them in the best way possible, and I believe that most people would actually prefer having a holiday every month or so (I know I would).

At some point you have to ask whether it'd be better to just grant more paid leave, allowing employers and employees to schedule those days whenever they prefer. It would probably be a good idea to observe most of these holidays adjacent to a weekend - I'm not sure how our 32-hour work week affects what days are included in that for most people. Does a guaranteed day off translate to fewer hours than before? Or is it still a full eight-hour day? Does it vary by employer? What if the holiday falls on a weekend?

It would be more pragmatic, yes, although it does defeat the purpose of a holiday to commemorate something (and here enters the usual cynicism of having a holiday without actually caring for the holiday in question and the debate it brings up). Considering federal holidays are different to the holidays I'm used to where I live (we do have national ones here after all, and we try to adjust them when possible so the "free day" (in lack of a better expression) falls on a Monday or a Friday to avoid having a holiday in the middle of the week (and this was especially evident and in a way useful when I was attending school).

And I agree with you on your last argument, Nix, I think we would all like to work less and enjoy from more and more benefits, but at the stage we're reaching after ten years of Atlasia I fear about the potential consequences of some of these bills (which is why I have opposed some of TNF's efforts on the labor issue in general) will have on productivity across the nation. I wonder if in light of that it would be a better idea to consolidate the labor related holidays into Labor Day, as JCL suggested before (or review the Holiday Act to consider accommodating them near the weekends, since turning them into national holidays seems out of the powers of the Senate).

[Lumine]

Just a second, why did TNF open the vote?

[Lumine]

Aye.

[Lumine]

Does anyone object to opening a final vote on this Act?

It's fine with me, and I support the current version.

[Lumine]

Aye.