The EU Parliament wants to allow bomb manufacturers and ammunition companies to bypass maximum work hours in case of a security crisis. Belgian representative Marc Botenga is not having it. He says the EU Parliament is betraying workers.
The EU Parliament wants to allow bomb manufacturers and ammunition companies to bypass maximum work hours in case of a security crisis. Belgian representative Marc Botenga is not having it. He says the EU Parliament is betraying workers.
It’s why I said workers would shift from one industry to another. It would resolve the labour shortage in defence at expense of other industries. I’m not a fan of the free market and you correcrly show some issues with the market solution I proposed. I only proposed it because the EU tends to use market solutions. There are non-market solutions that can more effectively tackle shifting labour to defence manufacturing.
As for this being hard, it is hard. It’s also hard for people doing 60 hour weeks. One of these approaches puts the burden on a smaller group of people, instead of spreading it more fairly. In blunt terms, every joint has a finite lifespan in hours of operation. Joints working 50% more hours per week than others would have their useful life expended much earlier in life. As a result the physical ability of a 55 year-old worker who did 60 hour weeks on the factory floor is very different than the one who worked 40 hour weeks. And with the retirement systems under attack these days, the retirement ages pushing high 60s, this ain’t looking like a nice prospect.
I’m not saying this because I think you agree with the 60-hour week proposal. Just putting the other side of the equation in blunt terms.