Never heard of the monster. Although spending more than four months listening to my econ professor talk about funny concepts/trade-offs between 'leisure' and 'labour', I was left with the notion that people can actually choose between the two. Perhaps in some unreal world, people can choose but in the world in which I currently live, no such trade off exists. Either you work or you jump in front of a speeding train. It is that simple.
Also, the concept of overtime pay for work in excess of the labour standards sounds like a wonderful gift from the government but, it is not the government that pays people in the private sector. As such, overtime pay does not exist for many of us. I don't even know what OT means.
I figure that if I work, like so many others in Japan, at least a 60-70 hour week, I might be able to keep my job. anything less than that I may as well make a reservation on the nearest train platform and wait for my turn to jump in front of a train. Nowadays, I think that JR (national train company) probably has a reservation book for all those people who want to end their lives.
In my estimation, I guess that for each year I remain employed at the same company, a worker must add an additional 5 hours per week to his work load. So, if one has been working at the same company for the past five years, he must put in at least 60 hours a week. Now, if one were working for the same company for the past ten years, you would have that poor soul working at least 100 hours a week.
Whenever I read funny stories in the US media or press about 'Overtime pay' or 'Overtime hours', I laugh. Does anyone today really believe workers have bargaining power with company management??? If they do, they must be some recent graduate from business school. For in the real world, labour has no bargaining power left. This is the exact outcome that government has wanted to achieve over the past 20 years.
(CNN.)
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