With your growing CV, you should apply for the City College job!
David
>From: Eugene Coyle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>To: Pen-L Pen-l <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [PEN-L:8912] No subject was specified.
>Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2001 11:30:08 -0800
>
>Below is a review I just published in the Jan 2001 BLS' "Monthly Labor
>Review."
>
>
>Gene Coyle
>
>
>
>Work-time reduction
>
>Sharing the Work, Sparing the Planet. By Anders Hayden. New York,
>St.
>MartinÕs Press, 2000, 234 pp. $65, cloth; $22.50, paper.
>
>Canadian author Anders Hayden adds a powerful new dimension to the
>array of
>arguments for reducing hours of work. Sharing the Work, Sparing the
>Planet
>stands out for that reason from the recent stream of books
>advocating
>cutting the hours of work. Hayden shares the concerns of many
>writersÑjob
>creation, improved quality of life for the employed, balancing work
>and
>family, and equity between North and SouthÑbut adds a
>compelling
>environmental basis for cutting working time. It is among the very
>best
>books on the subject of working time.
>
>Many recent books have offered work-time reduction as a single solution
>for
>multiple problems. Unemployment, declining quality of life, and
>stress on
>the family and individuals have each been the focus of books
>advocating
>cutting hours of work. HaydenÕs is a more encompassing vision, taking in
>all
>these issues and more, and his voice adds a rich new dimension to
>the
>symphony.
>
>The book focuses on the role of reducing time in achieving
>ecologically
>sustainable development, addressing at the same time equity between
>the
>North and the South. Hayden demonstrates a wide-ranging command of
>the
>multiple issues that reduction of working time can address, and
>adds a
>mastery of the literature.
>
>Hayden begins by recalling that since the beginning of the
>Industrial
>Revolution, people have had two motives for a reduction in working
>time,
>getting more hours away from work, and creating more jobs through a
>better
>distribution of the available work. These remain every bit as
>pertinent, he
>says, but this focus is on the ecological gains to be achieved by
>work-time
>reduction.
>
>The stress that consumption in the North puts on the earthÕs ecology is
>the
>main concern of the book, and Hayden develops a powerful thesis to
>address
>it. Acknowledging a rift in the environmental community about how to
>deal
>with ecological problems, Hayden draws a distinction between
>two
>campsÑ"sufficiency" and "efficiency." The latter group, he argues,
>believes
>that environmental impacts can be reduced by better use of inputs, so
>that
>material sacrifice is unnecessary, and unlimited economic
>growth is
>possible. In contrast, the "sufficiency" camp of the green
>movement, to
>which Hayden clearly belongs, believes that reducing inputs per
>unit of
>goods and services, while good in itself, must ultimately fail to save
>the
>earth. He asserts that "although the ecological crisis does clearly call
>for
>a more efficient use of non-human nature, this response has
>serious
>limitations. Growth in GNP without input growth is little more
>than a
>theoretical possibility at present, and in any case zero input growth is
>not
>enough. Significant reductions in input in the North are necessary."
>The
>author argues that achieving that end can come through reductions in
>working
>time.
>
>Make no mistake, this book is about work-time reduction, though sparing
>the
>earth is a main goal. The headings of the remaining chapters make the
>bookÕs
>scope clear: "Working Less, Consuming Less, and Living More";
>"Work-time
>Reduction and an Expansionary Vision"; "Why ItÕs So Hard to Work
>Less";
>"Work-time Policy and Practice, North and South"; "EuropeÕs New Movement
>for
>Work-time Reduction"; and "With or without Loss of Pay? With or
>without
>Revolution?"
>
>It is outside the scope of the book to provide a history of the struggle
>for
>the shorter work dayÑfor that, in the United States, see Roediger
>and
>FonerÕs Our Own Time: A History of American Labor and the Working Day
>(pp.
>44?49.) But Hayden does trace some important voices who have spoken out
>for
>work-time reduction over the past two centuries. This enriches his
>argument
>and provides a brief background for the reader new to the issue of
>work-time
>reduction.
>
>For readers more conversant with the issue, the long chapter on steps
>taken
>by European countries for reducing hours of work will be very useful,
>as it
>goes into great detail on what is happening now outside the United
>States.
>France, where a series of laws over the past 10 years have made real
>changes
>in work time, gets 11 pages of reporting. Germany, where changes have
>come
>more through collective bargaining, also gets full coverage, as do
>the
>Netherlands, Denmark, and other European countries.
>
>In short, Sharing the Work is engaging reading for both specialists
>and
>neophytes. And as concern with global warming takes its place on
>the
>international agenda, HaydenÕs book provides an input to the discussion
>from
>a different perspective than the usual tax and carbon-trading schemes
>being
>put forward. Not that Hayden ignores environmental taxes as an
>alternative
>to his preferred solution, for he covers those as well. The final
>chapter,
>"With or without Loss of Pay? With or without the Revolution" is a
>very
>thoughtful analysis of the conflicts between labor and capital, and
>offers
>ways to reduce those conflicts while still achieving the
>reduction in
>working hours that Hayden advocates.
>
>This is a very rich book, the product of a writer steeped in the
>literature
>and the political debates about work-time reduction, a writer who treats
>
>generously those with whom he disagrees by carefully and fairly making
>their
>arguments before offering his own. The book has extensive notes and a
>useful, though not exhaustive, bibliography.
>
>
>
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