I wish I worked in Europe: Germans get 1 month off?
 

Looks like my vehicle is delayed for a month because Porsche closes the factory in August. Ughh... European Union....Ughhh..

Folks, please get your facts straight before making broad sweeping statements.
Countries are not bankrupt because of their holiday entitlement.
And thanks to certain unnamed countries, the likes of Iceland are bankrupt through not fault of their own.

People around the world actually do have a life, and the month off in certain manufacturing sectors in European countries has its roots elsewhere.
This has nothing to do with the EU.
l implore you to research this for yourselves.

Except that you would have to pay 50% in taxes. Oh wait, that is what I pay.

when did your car config finalize? what was your expected delivery time?

my config got finalized on July 4th, expected delivery on Sept 9th...

Some workers in Germany not only get the month off with pay they get an additional subsidy of another month's pay so they can go on vacation.

Yes and in many German factories they are allowed to drink beer in the cafeteria during the work day. :D:D:D

Mercedes brought that tradition to Chrysler except the American workers added their own twist.:)

It is a lot more complicated than that I'm afraid. Way too complicated to dicuss here.

Germany is doing best of all the EU countries, because they have a decent working-attitude. In some countries workers start striking for the most rediculous reasons. Mostly because of workers unions. Nothing of that in Germany. Of course they complain too, but they go to work and know that there will be better times if you keep working hard for it, instead of whining and complaning and striking all the time.
Last year Ford decided to close a factory in Belgium after they had promised that they would produce cars untill 2016 in that factory. They kept the factory in Germany operational, despite the announcement two years earlier to close that factory. I understand why they took that decision. If you have a choice between workers that strike 25% of the time or workers that are a bit more expensive but work much harder, than it's an easy decision.
That is exactly what is happening in some European countries. The EU is something that will never reach their original targets of levelling the economies of all countries that take part. It's impossible. You can't level countries like Germany with for example Slovenia. 28 countries... 28 different importances... 28 different economies. Etc... Etc....

Smartest country I think is Switzerland. They don't take part in EU so they can make their own rules. (Don't say that because I happen to live in Switzerland. It's a well known fact)

Back on-topic:
It's, as far as I know, a very old tradition to have 3 or 4 weeks holiday in the summer. I think it comes originally from the building construction industry. Although I'm not completely sure....
In some industries they are getting paid while having holiday, in other industries they don't get paid, but get more salary so they can save for the unpaid days.

Suzy991

I would think this to be very difficult for employers.

Loss of an entire months revenue....PLUS paying the employees wages.

Any Euro employers here that can expand on this?

Just finished watching the latest Top Gear. They took a 458, MP4 and R8 V10 to Spain. Usual silliness with the cars, but what amazed me is how bad things appear to be in Spain. 25%+ unemployment? 57% unemployment among youth. wow

This is true of London too, they wanted nothing to do with the Euro and having to deal with 28 different economies, opinions, and headaches . . . You can't get 5 countries to agree on anything, so why did they think could get 28 to agree?? Why should EU all gather to fix the mess that Greece created for itself? And the list goes on . . .

Sorry to keep the off-topic going. i just got back from almost two weeks in Spain. My wife has family there and they were explaining that there's not much of an incentive to work for a couple with two adult children living at home. All four get unemployment benefits which in Spain add up to a descent living, hence no reason to work. Curiously enough, youth that are well educated and want to work, are going to Germany to do so.

Did exaclty the same... Unbelievable how much ghost towns there are. And an whole abandoned international airport which opened just 6 years ago. Spain's economy depends for a big part on tourism but holiday is the first thing that people save on. It's sad to see those pictures. I really didn't have a clue that it was that bad.

I think that the introduction of the Euro back in 2002 did a lot of damage for most countries. They overrated the Euro compared to the dollar and now there are the drawbacks.....

I hope there will come a good solution, but personally I have my doubts.

Suzy991

These guys are funny :) In a good way! Nice to read how they look at us over here ;)

+1 ;)

Suzy991