Timesizing® Associates - Homepage

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Timesizing News, Oct.1-3, 2003
[Commentary] ©2003 Phil Hyde, Timesizing.com, Box 622, Porter Sq, Cambridge MA 02140 USA 617-623-8080

10/03/2003  primitive timesizing & worktime consciousness in the news = glimmers of strategic hope -

1. Education notes -... Take back your time, Somerville Journal Oct 2 2003 via GoogleNews.
   SOMERVILLE, Mass. - The West Branch Library at 40 College Ave. is presenting a free public forum with Barbara Brandt and Phil Hyde entitled "Take Back Your Time Day: Why We Are Overworked, Have No Time, And What We Can Do About It."
   Take Back Your Time Day (www.timeday.org) is a new nationwide initiative that challenges the national epidemic of overwork, overscheduling and lack of time, and promotes personal, cultural, workplace and political solutions to these problems. It is being organized by a diverse national network that includes labor, religious, family, health, community, civic, professional, academic, student, environmental and other groups.
   Brandt has lived in Somerville since 1967 and is active in many community organizations. Since 1989, she has been a member of the Shorter Work-Time Group, a nonprofit project to bring the issue of overwork into national public discussion. She is the Boston-area coordinator for the national Take Back Your Time campaign and a contributor to "Take Back Your Time: Fighting Overwork and Time Poverty in America."
   Hyde, a Somerville resident, is an economic designer who has run as a candidate for the U.S. House and Senate on the Timesizing platform. He is the author of "Timesizing, Not Downsizing," which describes how to reduce hours while maintaining employment. He also hosts a show of Somerville Community Access Television, and is Webmaster of the timesizing.com Web site.
   This event will be held Thursday, Oct. 9, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the West Branch Library, 40 College Ave. For more information about this or other Time Day events, or how you can get involved, call Brandt at 617-628-5558 or e-mail walterness@msn.com.

2. House rebuffs the White House over rules to limit overtime pay, by Sheryl Stolberg, NYT, A21.
   WASHINGTON, D.C...- In a slap to the Bush administration, the Republican-controlled House [of Reps] reversed itself on Thursday [10/02] and voted to block the White House from issuing regulations that opponents say would strip millions of workers of their right to overtime pay.
   The 211-to-203 vote was a rare, though largely symbolic, victory for labor unions and Democrats, who immediately hailed it as evidence that, with his poll numbers slipping, pResident Bush was losing support among members of his own party.
   "It would have been very hard to pass this [even just] two weeks ago," said Rep. David Obey [or now, Disobey!], D-Wisc., lead sponsor of the measure. "I think the willingness of their troops to give blind loyalty to their leadership under all circumstances is a little bit modified."
   But the vote is non-binding; the real decision will come when a House-Senate conference committee considers whether to insert the provision passed into a larger labor spending bill....
   [Journal version -]
   The House blocked, pointer summary (to A2), WSJ, front page.
   ...an effort by Bush to change labor rules that would make millions of workers ineligible for overtime pay.

3. Casinos want a new deal on Illinois taxes, by Christopher Carey, St. Louis Post-Dispatch 10/02/2003 08:50 PM via GoogleNews.
   Illinois casinos, their customers and employees are feeling the bite of higher state taxes. Some of the state's nine casinos, including Argosy Gaming Co.'s Alton Belle, have cut hours in a bid to reduce operating costs and to maintain their bottom lines.
   [Timesizing, Not Downsizing at work, so far.]
   Others have started charging $5 entry fees to offset their increased expenses. A few operations, including Argosy's Joliet Empress Casino and Hotel, have laid off workers to cut costs....

4. Negotiations lead to dead end, by Angela Sykora, Gurnee Review via Pioneer Press Online, Ill. 10/02/2003 via GoogleNews.
   WOODLAND, Ill. -...Woodland School District 50 [yesterday] is seven school days into a strike that does not look as though it will be resolved anytime soon. The school board contends the union has made it clear it won't budge on its request for a nearly 30% salary increase over three years. The union insists the district has the money to spend on deserved raises.
   [Another union out of touch with what's been happening in terms of federal cuts in state and city funding?]
   Tuesday [9/30] was the first negotiating session since the union called a strike Sept. 23, which forced the district to close its four buildings and cancel all activities indefinitely. The session lasted about five hours before the federal mediator, assigned in August to bring a neutral voice to the bargaining table, moved to adjourn when the union refused to make the school board a counter offer.
   The school board's offer going into Tuesday's session was 15.5% over three years, but the district's chief negotiator Mike Loizzi said they have always been willing to be flexible beyond its proposal. "Clearly, it was the union's opportunity to make some movement," said Loizzi.
   The school board and the mediator were surprised when the union announced it would not move off its demand for 29.5% unless the board countered its last offer first [huh?], said Loizzi. "The board, to show good faith, countered its own proposal."
   [Sounds like the union wants to stay clothed while the board strips naked.]
   The school board upped its offer from 15.5% over three years to 16%, which would cost the district nearly $5 million.
   Mike McGue, president of the Lake County Federation of Teachers, said the offer was not meaningful. "We told them we expected a meaningful movement on their part," said McGue. "It was a backward movement on their part." In a statement released Wednesday morning, McGue said, "Our calculations of the actual impact of the board's offer, based on numbers provided by the district's business manager, show that the staff would realize just a 1.3% increase each year, not the 5.33% the board is publicizing." McGue related that "givebacks" in the board's proposal to the union's 858-members would almost eliminate any salary increase. The board's latest offer, stated McGue, would increase health insurance costs for prescription co-payments, establish a required physician's network and lengthen the workweek from 38 hours to 40 hours without additional pay.
   In a press release, the district states dialogue with the union determined that teachers claimed to be working 40 hours or more a week already.
   The district would save $825,000 a year if the union agrees to an out-of-pocket co-payment for prescription drugs, said McGue. However, the board has met the union's offer to increase the district's payment portion of family coverage, said McGue, which will save members $248,000 a year.
   Loizzi said the mediator was "pleased and surprised" by the board's offer of 16% Tuesday. He said the board was assured if they made an offer, the union would respond with a move of its own. "They refused to do so, and the mediator adjourned the meeting.... The board was extremely disappointed and frustrated," said Loizzi.

5. [And speaking of "doing more with less" (which was a great hobbyhorse of Buckminster Fuller's) -]
   Health clinics in tough times, by Ben Embry, Examiner.net 10:59 a.m. Oct 2 2003 via GoogleNews.
   MISSOURI - With a 2.4 million jump in the number of people without health insurance, free health care clinics in eastern Jackson County have to do more with less. The increase in the uninsured is the largest in a decade, raising the total to 43.6 million as health care costs soared and many workers lost coverage provided by employers. "It's just kind of grim right now," said Tracy Luna, coordinator of the Fort Osage Community Health Center at Cler-Mont, 19009 E. Susquehanna Ridge.
   The increase in the uninsured has been mirrored by a decrease in state funding for area health clinics, which also were dealt a blow by the closure of two clinics ­ Procter Elementary School and Van Horn High School ­ earlier this year. Before the Missouri General Assembly handed down this year's budget, the only two remaining free clinics in the area ­ Buckner and Cler-Mont ­ operated on a combined annual budget of $120,000. Faced with severe budget cuts, the state cut 42% the clinics' funding. Now, Buckner and Cler-Mont operate on $69,000 a year. To avoid closing their doors, the health clinics were forced to scale back their hours and implement a $15 charge for physicals except for preschool, Luna said.
   In the case of Cler-Mont, the clinic had to cut back from 20 hours a week to six hours a week. Buckner, on the other hand, cut hours in half to four hours a week. Missouri was among 18 states that registered a significant increase in the percentage of people without insurance from calendar years 2000-2001 to 2001-2002, according to the Census report released Monday. Missouri's average uninsured rate rose by 1 percentage point, to 10.9%, compared to 2000-2001. That was still well below the national average uninsured rate of 14.9% for 2001-2002. The Census Bureau estimated there were 646,000 uninsured people in Missouri.
   But despite[? or because of!] the increase in people without insurance, area health care clinics are losing funding and being forced to cut back hours as the demand for services continues to go up. "We're not able to see near as many patients," Luna said, adding that the clinics had seen a 45% cut in funding. Before the budget cuts, Luna said the clinic would see an average of 171 patients a month. That number dipped by 45% last month to 95 patients. Hit particularly hard were mental health services....

6. Texas - Bandera attorney receives raise, San Antonio Express-News, 10/02/2003 12:00 AM via GoogleNews.
   Kerry Schneider's workweek as county attorney of Bandera County officially expanded Wednesday to 30 hours, but she expects to continue putting in twice that time....
   Answering a resident's inquiry on the raise at a public hearing last week, County Judge Richard Evans said Schneider's job was being expanded from "half-time to three-quarters time." That was news to Schneider, who said her county duties regularly consume 50 hours to 60 hours a week.
   [Like so many Americans officially on a 40-or-less-hour workweek.]
   "It was a part-time job, but it comes out I'm spending full time on it," she said..\..
   [Unlike most, she's at least beginning to get paid for it -]
   Schneider's salary increased $12,000 in the fiscal year that began Wednesday [10/01] after county commissioners allocated $45,309 in the new budget. The state provides an additional $16,900 for her pay....

7. Nu Skin expanding into landmark, by Grace Leong (344-2910 or gleong(at)heraldextra.com), Daily Herald of Utah Oct 02 2003 12:00 AM (page C6) via GoogleNews.
   PROVO, Utah - A longtime downtown Provo landmark will soon make way for Nu Skin Enterprises Inc.'s growing operations. The 4,600-square-foot building - built by R. Spencer Hines, a pharmacist, as a drug store and saloon called The Palace - has remained a pharmacy under different owners since 1885..\..
   Provo Pharmacy, a community fixture for the past 31 years at the historic R.Spencer Hines Building at 104 W. Center St., is planning to close as its customer base has shrunk over the years partly because of competition from large corporate drugstore and grocery chains and mail-order discount prescription companies. ...There are 14 local drugstores in Utah County..\..
   At the site of the present pharmacy, Nu Skin of Provo plans a new product center.... Nu Skin...said it has signed a 10-year lease for the building from its current owner, Michael Berntsen. Berntsen, also owner of Provo Pharmacy and an adjoining soda fountain called the Palace Cafe, hasn't yet specified a deadline for closing the pharmacy.
   ...Berntsen, a 63-year-old Orem native, said he is closing the pharmacy because of declining business, not advancing age. "We're closing the pharmacy because of the situation with insurance companies and with so many big chains around, it's hard to be an independent pharmacy," he said. "The insurance companies dictate to us the acquisition cost and how much they'd reimburse us."
   Reid Barker, executive director of the Utah Pharmaceutical Association in Orem, agreed, saying local drugstores nationwide and in Utah are being muscled out by competing corporate drugstore that can either buy them out or offer "big sign-on bonuses and shorter hours for their pharmacists."...
   Berntsen, who said he plans to move the Palace Cafe to a nearby building on 100 West, is also considering working for another pharmacy and will continue to manage his other real estate properties including the neighboring Henry Southworth building.
   [Life is rough.]
   The 13,000-square-foot building [at 100 West?], known historically as the Southworth Block, is another Provo landmark. It houses Berntsen's Southworth reception hall and several other tenants including Sweet Cravings and Crazzy[sp?] Canuck Canadian Imports.
   [Those Canadian imports - sooo exotic! Now from the exotic to the bizarre -]
   ...Berntsen, who is facing criminal charges for allegedly spying on his female employees through a bathroom peephole, said his decision to close the pharmacy is unrelated to the allegations against him.... Berntsen was charged with two Class-A misdemeanor charges of sexual battery and two Class-B misdemeanor charges of lewdness in a criminal complaint filed April 30 by the Provo City Attorneys' Office in 4th District Court. The complaint was filed following an investigation of an April 22 police report filed by two former Provo Pharmacy female workers. The two workers had also filed civil complaints against Berntsen and his pharmacy in June in 4th District Court. The suits alleged assault, battery and invasion of privacy.
   [Closing the pharmacy is sounding better and better.]

8. Industry prays for a special delivery of new lorry drivers, by Alan Bunce, ic Berkshire Oct 2 2003 via GoogleNews.
   Firms in Reading are bracing themselves for a rapid acceleration in the shortage of heavy goods truck drivers over the next few years. Alan Bunce gets the industry view on what the future holds and how things may change - for better or worse.
   READING, Berkshire, U.K. - There is one industry which still talks about a job for life. Drivers were once quite easy to come across but now the UK is short of more than 40,000 and the situation is about to snowball.
   [Gee, that's a real tough one to solve, ain't it. Learning to drive. Sooo difficult!]
   Research by Ernst & Young (E&Y), shows the market for temporary drivers - those used on an as&when basis but usually employed full-time - has grown by 40% in the last three years. E&Y expects the industry to see unprecedented growth - more than doubling by 2005 to £4.4 billion.
   On top of that, the omnipresent burden of EU laws - both the working time directive and rules on how long drivers can work without a break - is expected to drive the shortage further.
   [And with its high unemployment, the U.K. just has NO ONE who could fill the breach.]
   As the pre-Christmas rush begins, desperation is setting in to the industry.
   ["Desperation"??? Alan Bunce must be a real rooter for pay raises for UK truckers.]
   Manpower Driving is offering referral bonuses of up to £400 if drivers can bring friends with the right qualifications to fill vacancies.
   [Heck with this gratis SWT news service - Phil Hyde is going back to the Mother Country to drive lorries!]
   Sandie McNeely, of Manpower Driving, in Reading, said: "As Christmas approaches, retail and distribution companies start gearing up and are in desperate need to take on more staff."
   Driver Hire, which supplies drivers for manufacturers and retailers, has launched a huge recruitment drive but says the task is getting harder all the time. Frank McGarry, who has run the firm's Reading franchise with his wife for 10 years, has seen the problem reverse from having too little work for drivers to having too few drivers for the workload. He said: "It is just a nightmare because it is really difficult to get enough people. We are always turning work away, as are most other firms in this area."
   [What's your phone number, Frank? All we have to do is get used to driving on the wrong side of the road.]
   He said the problem is more acute for large goods vehicle (LGV) drivers, formerly known as HGV drivers, where there are now two stages of qualification, classes C and E. At one time, the old HGV licence could be granted for people who could simply prove they had experience of driving heavy vehicles. Driver Hire claims not enough are going through training.
   Mr McGarry said: "A big problem is it is not glamourous for young people to go into. "The average age is about 52-53. That can act as a bit of a turn off to people coming into it." [Or a turn-on if you stay slim and take lots of Doan pills.]
   He admits pay is 'not brilliant' at around £300 for a 40-hour week, but he said wages must increase as the shortage bites.
   [Bingo. Just like the American nursing shortage. "If you pay them, they will come."]
   Good drivers can get further training and upgrade their skills to open more opportunities for work and, of the many hundreds registered with Driver Hire at Reading, some just work spare time hours for extra money.
   While Mr McGarry will feel the brunt of looming EU legislation, company spokesman Dave Robbins said it is possible the changes could work in the industry's favour. He said: "If the working time directive is applied to the transport industry and the hours are reduced to 35 a week - most are doing about 50 [there's why your pay is low!] - then the Driver Hire view is that it could also be a bit of a solution. "If people can earn a decent wage in a 35-hour week, it may become a different option.
   [Maintain the shortage and they will. Hey, it's doctors', pilots', nurses', diamond merchants' strategy.]
   "It will be an enormous challenge but it could also be a solution."
   [No pain, no gain.]
   Mr McGarry said the image problem combined with the starting age limit for LGV drivers compounded the task of attracting young drivers. He said: "One of the problems is we cannot train anyone until they are 21. You may have school leavers at 17 who are perfect material but by the time they are old enough they have got themselves into another line of employment.
   [Is he crazy? Teenage truck drivers?!?]
   "Mind you, I am not sure I would be too happy with an 18-year-old in charge of a 44-tonne lorry."
   [Guess not!]
   However, he said the shortage is so great and the demand so high that the prospects for work are very good. He said: "This is very much a job for life. "At the moment, for more than 90% of all goods in the UK, the majority of the journey is by truck.
   [Too bad they have such lousy pollution controls, hack-cough!]
   "Whatever your environmental considerations, it is a fact of life that to get goods from one place to another they almost always have got to go by road. "Railways are all very well but, however good they are, you cannot have a railway running down the high street to deliver goods to stores - unless you are in the Wild West."
   [Or unless you have freight streetcars. Now there's an idea! Ah, the phone numbers at last. (Now what's the country code?)]
   Contact Driver Hire on 0118 977 0710 or Manpower Driving on 0845 345 2045.

9. The job market for college graduates, by Lisa King, WashingtonPost.com Oct 2 2003 2:00 PM via GoogleNews.
   WASHINGTON, D.C. -...Lisa King is a technical talent agent for Randstad and has 10 years of experience in the IT field.... She speaks and writes frequently on women in the workforce and opportunities for women in technology. Join Lisa as she discusses the ever-changing job market in the tech industry..\..
   Payrolls have shed 3 million jobs since March 2001 and job growth has remained nearly stagnant. The job market has been particularly tough for recent college graduates who have the least work experience.... The transcript follows below....
   ...Philly, Penn [questioner]: Does anyone have a reasonable workweek anymore? I'm in a relatively sane period now, but in the past I've been on projects with long hours (50-60 / week, and yes I know some people go much longer, but it's not for me). I wouldn't mind that for a week or two, maybe (yes, I would, but I could do it) but that was the pace for the entire project - in my opinion, the managers involved should have just hired more contractors to get it done in a short time frame!
   Lisa King: I was watching a Microsoft commercial the other day and noticed the tag line "Do More with Less" and I think that could be the motto for this decade in business. Everyone is trying to be more productive with fewer resources. And American workers are more productive than their counterparts in other countries because of the sheer number of hours we put into work. On the other hand, there was an interesting article in the [Washington] Post a week or two ago, how if the economy continues to improve, companies who abused their workers and sucked them dry are going to be faced with an exodus of workers just as soon as those workers have an opportunity to go elsewhere.
   [The only way they're going to get that opportunity across the board is giving up on the economists' and the politicians' eternal unfulfilled promise of job creation and just share the vanishing work.]

10. Animal shelter cutting hours to save money, Observer-Reporter.com of Washington PA Oct.2, 2003 via GoogleNews.
    WASHINGTON, Pennsylvania[!] - Washington Area Humane Society soon will limit the hours its shelter is open to the public. At a special meeting of the society's board of directors Tuesday, members voted to make several cutbacks to minimize its increasing financial dilemma.
    The humane society's Eighty Four shelter currently is open daily from noon to 6 p.m. Effective Oct. 15, the shelter will be closed Tuesdays. The shelter will be open from 3 to 7 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays through Fridays. Saturday hours will not change.
    According to agency spokesman Clay Criswell, the humane society's computer system records the time of day animals are adopted. After examining those records, the board determined Tuesday was its slowest business day and that most adoptions took place after 3 p.m. and right around the time the shelter normally closes. "We feel we need to avail ourselves to those people," Criswell said.
    Layoffs and an increase in mandatory adoption donations also are part of the belt-tightening....
    [Well hopefully the hours cuts have reduced the layoffs.]
    The board believes the public would like to see the shelter maintain its no-kill status but donations, which make up a large portion of the humane society's income, recently have not been as strong as hoped, he said. "We feel the bulk of the people are truly avid supporters ... but will they talk it up? Will they come in and foster an animal or a female and her young?" he said. "There are so many of these things they can help with."
    [Don't hold your breath. In a job-loss "recovery," most of "the public" already has its hands full.]

11. Weak spots: labor market, taxes, payroll levies, by Karen Horn, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung via faz.com Oct.2 2003 via GoogleNews.
    Companies that have the necessary flexibility are increasingly avoiding investments in Germany. The major reasons are flawed policies that leave too little economic freedom, strangle the labor market with a straitjacket of regulations and weigh on citizens in the shape of an excessive burden of taxes and payroll withholdings. But politicians are only slowly becoming aware of this.
    While the problem of excessive non-wage labor costs is well-known, the fact that Germany also has some of the shortest working hours and longest vacations in the world has only recently entered the debate.
    [And therefore some of the highest living standards and consumer spending, and lowest unemployment and crime rates, for its GDP per capita?]
    According to IW Institute, an industry-financed think tank,
    • western Germans work less than any of their European neighbors - 35.7 hours a week and 1,557 hours a year for the average industrial worker in this country.
      [And eastern Germans are still, 13 years after 'unification,' second-class citizens in their own land, working 38 hours a week for the same pay as west Germans get for 35 - with commensurately higher unemployment (18-19% vs. 9-10%).]
      
    • The average British workweek, in turn, numbers 37.2 hours, adding up to 1,693 hours a year.
    • Swiss workers are even worse off, with a 40.5-hour workweek, or 1,844 hours a year.
    Germans get 13 public holidays a year, topped only by Spain and Portugal, with one extra day.
    Other relevant indices also seem to suggest that Germany's international competitiveness is declining as a result of its heavily regulated labor market, high taxes and high non-wage labor costs.
    [So what? So if you really want to join the U.S. in the race to the bottom, come on in!]
    For example, Germany slipped from rank 4 to rank 5 in the World Competitiveness Index 2003 of the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), an index that comprises 300 “hard“ and “soft“ criteria.
    [The "World Competitiveness Index" asks, "How fast can we all become sweatshops?"]
    Here, too, Germany's "weak" spots [our quotes] were its labor market, high taxes and social payroll withholdings. According to the IMD, the incentives for jobless people to take up work in Germany aren't high enough [maybe so], while job holders are demotivated by high taxes.
    [Then cut sales taxes, and graduate income taxes more steeply.]
    The IMD also cites an inflexible labor market and social security contributions that are among the highest in the world.
    [So get rid of unemployment and welfare taxes by implementing full employment via fluctuating adjustment of the workweek against unemployment.]
    Germany's dwindling competitiveness does not, however, seem to have anything to do with entrepreneurial potential. As in the previous year, the IMD ranked Germany sixth with regard to its business efficiency, one notch higher than in the period 1999-2001. The latest World Economic Forum (WEF) ranking shows similar results. Germany moved up three ranks to No. 14 in this ranking only because poor government policies were offset by the competitiveness of local businesses. The United States came in first in the overall WEF ranking.
    [Ha - and who runs WEF? Americans by any remote chance?]
    While the productivity sub-index ranks Germany fourth behind the United States, Finland and Britain, the country plummets to No. 22 when it comes to the economic parameters for companies doing business in Germany. The WEF researchers warn this sort of imbalance may prompt successful companies to move their business abroad.
    [So no jobsee here, no sellee here. Or Germany can continue to wear a "Rape Me" sign like the U.S.]
    Germany has also steadily lost ground in the Economic Freedom Report published by Canada's Fraser Institute. Against the global trend, economic freedom in this country has diminished over the years.
    [Huh? What the heck is "economic freedom" if not free time?! They must mean freedom for CEOs to cannibalize their own markets, wie die Amerikaners.]
    The latest report, out last July, ranked Germany 20th together with Chile and Mauritius. In 2002, Germany had still been at No. 13; in 1990 it was ranked 10th and in 1985 it came in at No. 8. The index combines 38 factors measuring state interference in economic affairs, the degree of law-and-order [US must rank low on this one with corporate scandals like "bombs bursting in air"*], the protection of private property, monetary stability, the level of freedom in foreign trade and the regulatory volume.
    [Several of these factors are mere fashionable but suicidal dogma of the moment. *Let's have more fun with this quote, "...The bombs bursting in air | Gave proof, through the night, | We had much rot to share. | Oh say will that star-spangled banner still wave, | If the Bush ad-min-i-stration | Sends us aaall tooo ouuur grave?"]
    Germany boasts a stable currency, solid law-and-order structures and a high level of trade liberalization. But the major factors pulling it down in this ranking are the state's pervasive meddling in the private economy, mirrored in massive income transfers and subsidies, among others, and excessive labor market regulation, in particular anti-firing regulations and a rigid collective bargaining system.
    [So go ahead, join the suicidal - let the No.3 world economy (Germany) start copying American firing as No.2 (Japan) did in 1990 and you'll soon have the same consumer-base collapse that Japan had, and be able to join it in the economic toilet where it's been for the last 13 years.]

12. 115 to lose jobs, by SUSIE O'BRIEN and JEREMY KELLY, Herald Sun of Victoria 02oct03 via GoogleNews.
    STATE OF VICTORIA, Australia - A union dispute has been blamed for the closure of a major Geelong factory and the loss of 115 jobs. Geelong Wool Combing yesterday said it would close its $86m Corio plant on Oct. 8 - the fourth wool processor to shut in two years. The German-owned company has not operated since its workers were locked out five months ago after rejecting a 25% pay cut.
    [But they were actually rejecting raise in pay rate because they were also getting a 28.6% cut in their workweek -]
    Chief executive Leigh Schmitt yesterday said the decision to close was due to workers not agreeing on a five-day rather than a seven-day working week.
    A downturn in global wool markets led the company to reduce hours and seek more flexible work practices, he said. He blamed the Textile, Clothing & Footwear Union for not accepting market reality. [So they'd rather have NO workhours than a more healthy five-day 71.4% of their usual workaholic hours and 75% of their usual pay. Dumb dumb dumb -]
    The union's Victorian secretary Michele O'Neil said the company could afford to pay workers properly and workers were being punished for a downturn in the market.
    [A company that goes to the extreme of closing a plant and losing all the capital investment therein is not a company that "could afford to pay workers properly," that is, the same as before the downturn. As for "workers being punished for a downturn in the market," the labor movement is not going to get anywhere talking like naughty (or good-little) children. Where were they when CEOs were downsizing during profits? Where was their outrage when CEOs were downsizing in response to worksaving technology instead of timesizing, to spread the basic freedom of more free time and maintain the consumer spending? Not these little sleepers, who thinks it's all about them, are bawling after the company they worked for, German and therefore a little more enlightened than most, has offered them a rate raise and more time with their families. Labor is its own worst enemy -]
    Worker David Hobbs, of Corio, said some workers had lost their homes because they were not paid during the lock-out....
    [So then this moron digs into his illusions -]
    "But we don't regret it, the company was always looking at doing this - they just wanted to make more profits at our expense," he said.
    [Yeah, sure. It was just a matter of time. But meanwhile, if you hadn't been so pigheaded, you could have had 3/4 pay, probably full benefits, and a lot more free time and control to get a life for the last five months and ongoing. But mean-spirited you didn't want to share the vanishing work. So now you have a chorus of idiot-savants aping your fingerpointing -]
    Opposition industrial relations spokesman Andrew McIntosh said the closure damaged Victoria's reputation. Industrial Relations Minister Rob Hulls blamed the Federal Government's approach to industrial relations.
    ["And the pols go blahblahblah."]

1. Balancing Act - Aside to men: In family-friendly firms, you're part of the family by Cindy Goodman, Miami Herald via miami.com Oct 01 2003 via GoogleNews.
   Working it out: Cross Country TravCorps, a Palm Beach County medical-staffing firm, offers its employees a chance to get firm.... [photo caption]
   Working men, this one's for you.
   Would you like to exercise in your company's gym at lunchtime or leave work with a gourmet dinner to go? Would you like a specialist to evaluate your elderly parent? Would you like to take paid time off, even if only a week, to spend with your new child?
   You bet you would. Then, men, why is it that some of you still don't understand that work/life issues include you? Sure, family-friendly policies help your wives, partners, children and maybe even your mothers. But wake up and see that they make your lives better, too. Until you do, the culture at most companies will never improve - because most of them are still run by men.
   Last week, when it came time for a panel discussion, the men bolted from the room at a Miami seminar on workplace issues...sponsored by the American Corporate Counsel Association. [It] happened to be on the same day that Working Mother magazine came out with its list of the 100 best companies for working moms. Clearly, it's no coincidence that the most employee-friendly corporations have women in their top ranks.
   [Actually, if Working Mother's list suggests that benefits are rising as the national and global labor glut deepens, it misleads. See 10/22/2003 #3, "Employers trim family friendly benefits" from USA Today and previously, re the San Diego area, 9/27-29/2003 #8.]
   Despite a challenging year for most businesses, the companies on Working Mother's list offer such benefits as after-school, holiday and emergency care for kids and elders, fitness programs and therapeutic massages, counseling for parents of teenagers, an elder-care referral service and all types of flexible work arrangements. These perks benefit men, too, especially single dads.
   ''When an employee's personal life runs smoothly, her or his productivity continues uninterrupted,'' said Jill Kirschenbaum, editor in chief of Working Mother. While the magazine found work/life benefits to be on the increase at many of America's top companies, women executives at South Florida corporations expressed doubt at last week's seminar that many local companies were making strides in this area.
   Here in Florida, only two companies - Cross Country TravCorps and JFK Medical Center, both of Palm Beach County - made the list. ...Cross Country, a medical-staffing company, gives its pregnant employees preferred parking spots, brings in a massage therapist and boasts a gym that offers free yoga classes. With a headquarter staff of 400 that's about 85% women, the company also offers job sharing, flex time, compressed workweeks and telecommuting options.
   ''Men take advantage of our benefits, too, particularly the gym,'' said Vickie L. Anenberg, president of Cross Country TravCorps. ``...We have people who changed work schedules to go back to school or do other things. We have daddies doing alternative work schedules.'' Anenberg herself manages a $700 million division while working a four-day workweek. ...Already, companies that land a spot on Working Mothers' list use it to recruit talent, particularly men and women from Generations X and Y who want a balanced life. ''When they make the list, these companies say they see an increase in applications for jobs,'' Kirschenbaum says.
   So remember this, boss: When you turn down applicants for job-sharing arrangements or insist that employees are on their own with their child- or elder-care needs, you gain a reputation based on your actions, whether or not you land on a list. And your reputation is not only a recruiting tool; it's also crucial for retention.
   That may not mean much to an employer who's laying off people and freezing head counts. In these difficult times, it's hard to provide flexibility for staff when it's unclear whether work flow will take a hit. But what are the consequences of not doing so?
   Ask Ted Childs, vice president of global workforce diversity at IBM, which made the top 100 list for the 18th year - and the top 10 for the 15th. ''This is not a feel-good program for us,'' Childs told The Associated Press. ``This is about getting the best talent, the most sought-after talent, and keeping them happy.''
   The most lavish package of family-friendly policies in the world won't work unless there is also the will to make the changes stick. It's more than a policy; it's a mind-set - and it has to start at the top, no matter the gender.

2. Women's pay tied to fewer work hours - Study says men also travel more, by Kirstin Downey, Washington Post Oct 1 2003 Page E03 via GoogleNews.
   Women in the workforce are more educated than working men and more likely to hold professional or managerial positions, but they are paid less because they spend less time at the workplace and travel less frequently, according to a new national study on the changing workforce. It also found both men and women working longer hours than they did in the 1970s....
   [This is in line with Juliet Schor's findings in "The Overworked American," 1991.]
   Yesterday's report is the latest installment in a landmark survey conducted at various intervals since 1977, making it a good snapshot of changes that have occurred in the workplace in the past 25 years..\.. About 31% of working women have a four-year college degree, compared with 27 percent of men, the study found. About 38% of women are managers or professionals, compared with 28% of men. But women are paid less as a whole because they work fewer hours - 39.8 hours a week, compared with 46.1 for men - and are more likely to work in lower-paid administrative support jobs.
   They are also less likely to make overnight business trips than men, which the report's authors note is "extremely important to employers" and something they are likely to reward more than staying around the office.
   The study, which included interviews with 3,504 adult workers, showed the differing expectations of men and women in how they work and what they do at home, said Ellen Galinsky, president of the Families & Work Institute, which conducted the study. Women in dual-earner households continue to carry greater responsibility for cleaning and child care in 70% of households, according to the study, with working women spending about 3 hours a day on household tasks, or 15 additional hours per workweek. "That was a big [surprise]," Galinsky said.
   But men are doing a lot more around the house than they did 25 years ago, according to the study, which was conducted by Harris Interactive Inc. between October 2002 and June 2003. Men spent 1.3 hours a day on household chores in 1977 but now spend 2 hours a day, the study found....
   Barbara Gault, director of research for the Institute for Women's Policy Research, said the study widens the understanding of work and family pressures because it includes home life. She said that "unspoken, long-standing gender-role stereotypes" affect men and women both at work and at home.
   Among dual earners, the workload at work and at home over 25 years has grown to 42.8 hours a week for women and 51.3 hours a week for men, from 37.8 and 46.7, respectively.
   Technology has been a mixed blessing, the study indicates. About 71% of workers reported they were able to use computers to attend to personal issues at work and about 35% said they used computers at home for job-related work. New technologies, including cell phones and e-mail, allowed them to balance work and family better, according to about 55% of respondents.
   But 61% of people who use such devices frequently to contact friends and family said they were experiencing what the survey's authors called "negative job-to-home spillover" - lacking the time or energy to do things with family and friends, feeling they were handling things at home poorly and being unable to concentrate on family affairs as they would like. "The findings suggests that employees with more work-family/personal tensions may rely more upon new communications technologies simply to 'keep their heads above water,' " the authors said.

3. FMCSA makes changes to clarify sleeper rule, Truckinginfo.com via TodaysTrucking.com Oct 1 2003 via GoogleNews.
   WASHINGTON - The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration [FMCSA] has made some changes to the new hours of service rules in order to clarify the use of time in the sleeper berth to accumulate mandated off-duty time.
   Starting Jan. 4, commercial drivers will be limited to 14 hours on duty (versus 15 hours currently) after 10 hours consecutive hours off-duty. Any off-duty time during the 14 hours after coming on duty is included in the on-duty calculations.
   In sleeper berth operations, the following are included in calculating the 14 hours: on-duty time, non-sleeper berth off-duty time, sleeper berth time of less than two hours, and sleeper berth time of two hours or more that is not used to accumulate 10 hours of off-duty time. The clarification also says that a combination of consecutive sleeper berth time and off-duty time totaling 10 hours may be used to comply with the 10-hour off-duty requirement in sleeper berth operations and in situations where a driver moves from a sleeper berth to a non-sleeper berth operation. This rule also applies to drivers in natural gas/oil well operations where a previous "other sleeping accommodations" option was inadvertently omitted from the final rule.
   Any two sleeper-berth periods (each at least two hours long) totaling 10 hours may be used in calculating the 10-hour requirement. Sleeper berth periods not used in calculating the 10-hour rest period must be included in calculating the 14-hour on-duty limit.
   FMCSA offered the following example to illustrate the underlying principle for dealing with situations in which a driver takes more than two sleeper berth periods, all of which are more than 2 hours long: After 10 consecutive hours off-duty, a driver drives for four hours, takes two hours in the sleeper, drives three hours, takes three hours in the sleeper, drives five hours and goes into the sleeper for seven hours.
   The second and third sleeper berth (three hours plus seven hours) meet the requirement of the new rule -10 hours off duty in two periods, each of which is at least two hours long. The first and second periods in the berth (two hours plus three hours) don’t meet the requirements.
   FMCSA also issued a correction to the 16-hour short-haul exemption. That new rule will allow short-haul and local drivers one day per workweek when they can work up to 16 hours. The final rule says that the driver may not have taken the exemption "within the previous seven consecutive days." But the previous seven days and the current day when the exemption can again be used constitute an eight-day cycle instead of the seven-day cycle intended. Thus FMCSA has corrected that to read "within the previous six consecutive days."
   The amendments - with explanations - were published yesterday in Federal Register, which can be accessed on the Internet at www.gpoaccess.gov.

4. California recall: socialist candidate campaigns on college campuses, by our reporting team, World Socialist Web Site 1 Oct 2003 via GoogleNews.
   John Christopher Burton, the Socialist Equality Party candidate for governor in the California recall election, addressed students at several community college campuses during the past week as part of a continuing campaign by the candidate and his supporters in both Northern and Southern California.
   On September 23, Burton spoke to two well-attended history classes at Irvine Valley College in an Orange County suburb of Los Angeles.... Briefly outlining his program, he called for a $15 an hour minimum wage, a 30-hour workweek at 40 hours pay, free tuition for higher education and free quality medical care for all....
   [Followup -]
   Socialist Workers candidate for governor of California says: s ‘Nationalize the energy industry!’, by Mark Gilsdorf & Susan Lamont, The Militant Vol. 67/No. 35 Oct 13 2003 (front page) via GoogleNews.
   SAN FRANCISCO - “What do you mean by your demand to nationalize the energy industry?” was a question posed to Joel Britton, Socialist Workers candidate for California governor, at a September 24 meeting at California State University, Monterey Bay.
   [That should be obvious after California's energy fiasco.]
   ...Socialist campaigners...pointed to the Socialist Workers campaign program calling for jobs for all by reducing the workweek while maintaining union-scale wages....

5. State workers trade wages for time off, by Associated Press via Detroit News Oct 1 2003 via DETNews.com via GoogleNews.
   LANSING. Mich. - ...Gov. Jennifer Granholm hopes to save $230 million on the state's 55,600 workers in the new budget year, which begins [yester]day. The Granholm administration has been negotiating with labor unions on ways to save money. They have discussed pay concessions, reduced work schedules and layoffs.
   ..\..A union representing 4,000 state employees gave approval Tuesday to a deal that would require state workers to defer some of their wages and take 32 hours of unpaid time off...that state workers can take at any time during the year..\.. John Denniston, president of the Michigan State Employees Association, said the agreement would require members to work 40 hours a week but get paid for 38. The unpaid hours would go into a bank of leave time and would be treated similar to vacation hours. If an employee leaves a state job with hours still in the bank, the money for that time would go into the worker's 401(k) retirement account.
   Denniston said the banked leave time proposal was a better deal for state employees than having the state cut the 40-hour workweek down to 37.5 hours. "Both pills are bitter," he said. "We took what we believed what was the best benefit for our members."
   [Mistake - the shorter workweek is simpler and more flexible and requires less bookkeeping and living in the future. It also communicates more palpably exactly what the situation is.]
   ..\..The Michigan State Employees Association [MSEA] is the first of several unions to reach a tentative agreement on ways to save money on state workers, said David Fink, director of the Office of the State Employer.... MSEA members must [still] ratify the deal. Ballots to vote on the agreement will go out by Friday and will be due back by Oct. 20, Denniston said....
   [And a longer take on this situation -]
   Union's leaders accept banked time - 4,000-member MSEA to vote on tentative deal, by Chris Andrews 377-1054 or candrews(at)lsj.com, Lansing State Journal via lsj.com 10/1/2003 via GoogleNews.
   ...Leaders of the 4,000- member Michigan State Employees Association tentatively approved a banked-leave-time plan Tuesday that defers pay or gives workers extra time off. Union members still must approve the deal.
   MSEA Pres. John Denniston said the plan is clearly preferable to the alternative: Reducing the state workweek to 37.5 hours. "Both of them are bitter pills, but this one doesn't taste as bad as the other," Denniston said.
   [Interesting variations on direct quotes from two different reporters.]
   The agreement is a major victory for Granholm, who needs to find $230 million in savings through concessions or other measures. Under the agreement reached with the MSEA:
   • Workers will be paid for 38 hours a week instead of 40. The other two hours can be banked for time off later.
     ["Banking" unpaid leave?? Sounds self-contradictory.]
     If employees haven't used the hours by the time they quit or retire, the state will compensate them with contributions to their retirement plans.
     [At what rate? Sounds like you have to quit or retire to convert this from unpaid to paid.]
     ...Until recently, Denniston had indicated that his members would prefer layoffs to concessions. But with the new proposal, the choice was between concessions and a reduced workweek. "The impact of the reduced hours was you lose annual accrual of leave time, it affects your longevity pay, your seniority, your retirement pay," he said..\..
     [So they get not only annual accrual but year-to-year accrual that preserves seniority and longevity pay.]
   • Dec. 26 will be a paid day off. Jan. 2 will be an unpaid day off. Both are currently regular work days.
   • Workers will take 32 hours of other unpaid time off during the course of the fiscal year that begins [yester]day.
   • Co-pays for brand name drugs will double to $30 from $15 when a generic drug is available or when a preferred brand-name drug is available.
   [Which only leaves one question = Will the state actually be in a position to deliver on its deferred promise when the time comes - for each departing employee? A shortened workweek keeps the books up-to-date.]
   ...The UAW [another of the state unions?] which represents 17,000 state workers, initially rejected a banked leave time proposal. After [David] Fink [Director of the office of the State Employer] notified leaders that the state was developing plans for a shortened workweek, the union has asked for another meeting.
   Next week the Civil Service Commission is expected to take up a banked leave time plan for nonunion workers.

6. Feeney takes charge at fall finance session, by Marcia Kozubek (mkozubek(at)cnc.com), Upper Cape Codder Oct 1 2003 via TownOnLine.com via GoogleNews.
   SANDWICH, Mass. - The newly named chairman of the Sandwich Finance Committee predicts salaries of town employees will be the hottest issue as the town enters another tough budget process. John Feeney, a financial planner with Noble Financial Advisory in Sandwich, opened the committee's first fall meeting this week by laying out the challenges of planning a budget for 2005 in a year that may include a request for a Proposition 2 1/2 override.... "I am hearing from the state that their revenues are not coming in as fast as they projected. That will cut us down to the bottom line," Feeney said....
   "The library will have salary increases, but they did that by cutting hours of service," Feeney said. In addition, the library just terminated its participation in CLAMS, the Hyannis-based automated inter-library system. The measure is expected to cost $15,000 in the first year, when the library switches to the Old Colony Library Network that serves 26 libraries. But, the change is expected to save the Sandwich library substantial money in subsequent years....

7. Minnesota: Book closes on EGF library - User fees prompt state to delete Campbell Library from list of public libraries, by Paulette Tobin 780-1134 or 800-477-6572 x134 or ptobin(at)gfherald.com, Grand Forks Herald Oct 01 2003 via GoogleNews.
   The state of Minnesota has removed East Grand Forks Campbell Library from its list of Minnesota's public libraries. The reason? Campbell Library now charges a user's fee to make up for Minnesota state budget cuts....
   Other Minnesota libraries are facing financial hardships, too, she said. Some are cutting hours, cutting staff or closing for weeks at a time....

8. Recreational facilities may close, by Oyaol Ngirairikl ongirairikl(at)guampdn.com, Pacific Daily News via GuamPDN.com Oct 1 2003 via GoogleNews.
   The Hagåtña swimming pool and other recreation facilities will not be closed today, although Dept. of Parks & Recreation Director Joe Duenas said cuts in personnel and services are still a possibility. "We're working with senators right now to try to find a solution," Duenas said.... The recreation department employs 83 people and is charged with maintaining more than 70 parks, historical sites and cemeteries. As well, the department runs recreational facilities, such as the Hagåtña pool and tennis courts..\..
   Duenas said the decrease in the fiscal 2004 budget, which begins today, forces him to look at cutting 55 positions at the department and closing recreation facilities.
   The department was given a $2.8 million budget for the new fiscal year, a decrease from last year's $4.8 million. However, the $2.8 million is augmented by about $1 million that was saved in fiscal 2003, according to Duenas.
   Duenas said he was not aware that he could use the money saved from the last fiscal year, but said "if use of that money is at the discretion of the director, it would be a great help." He said the department saved that money through the 32-hour workweek and a decrease in utilities when last year's typhoons closed many of the recreation facilities.
   At least one employee said that if any cuts are made, they should begin at the top. [Touche - but that should reach into the budget-cutting legislature. Lincoln Electric was always a great company for "all sacrifice togther, starting at the top," but their focus on shortening the workweek made it a lot easier to start at the top than laying off the CEO.]
   "We have too many chiefs already," said Doris Estrada...a DPR grounds maintenance supervisor. "If they're going to cut us who are out here working, they should just close down the department. Who's going to cut the grass? Who's going to do the burials?"... "When I first came to the department, I was looking at privatizing maintenance services, but there are laws that won't allow that right now..\.. Without the ability to privatize, any employment reduction "would prove catastrophic," Duenas said, noting that staffing is [already] "skeletal."
   [Well, skeletal staffing would be appropriate for the cemeteries anyway.]
   ...Duenas said he has not identified specific positions that would be cut if no additional money is found for the department, but is working with senators to address the issue. Duenas said he is loathe to shut down recreation facilities, but adds that the cost of utilities is a big part of the department's budget. "I know I'm going to be criticized for this, but my priorities are the parks and the cemeteries," he said. "We need someone to take care of the burials and our historic sites."
   [Then the editors of the newspaper weigh in -]
   Game of numbers - Parks and Rec has same amount it needed last year, Editorial, Pacific Daily News via GuamPDN.com Oct 1 2003 via GoogleNews.
   Dept. of Parks & Recreation [DPR] Director Joe Duenas has said that because the Legislature cut his budget so drastically, he has to lay off employees and close four sports facilities - Paseo Stadium, the Guam sports complex, the Hagåtña Swimming Pool and the Hagåtña Tennis Courts, which happen to be among the most-used DPR facilities.
   But this supplemental-budget-request-by-threat rings false when you look at the numbers. In fiscal 2003, Parks and Rec had a $4.8 million budget. In fiscal 2004, they were given $2.8 million. However, Vice Speaker Frank Aguon Jr. said senators gave Gov. Felix Camacho the discretion to carry over lapsed funds within line agencies. Duenas said his agency has about $1 million left from fiscal 2003.
   That means that Parks and Rec operated on $3.8 million in fiscal 2003. The $2.8 million appropriated for fiscal 2004 plus the $1 million roll-over equals $3.8 million - what it cost to run the agency last fiscal year.
   Duenas said the savings last year was accomplished by using the 32-hour workweek and other savings, notably in power because Supertyphoon Pongsona led to reduced power usage. With electricity restored and increased rates on the horizon, the DPR director said he couldn't guarantee the same amount of savings this fiscal year....
   What reality is Duenas living in? Many island businesses that have had to cut costs and continue to cut costs have not yet seen an increase in their business to justify increasing the cost of operations.... Duenas, along with many in the government of Guam, seems to think that last year's cost-cutting measures were a one-shot deal, and that everything is fine and dandy now. But it's not.
   For government agencies to stay afloat, those in charge of those agencies must find ways to reduce costs in areas where returns are minimal. Most agencies have more administrators than they need - go there first. Then look at areas that can be streamlined in order to maintain services.
   Threatening to eliminate services or shut down much-used facilities is cheap-shot politics, poor management and an absence of real leadership.
   [So there!]

1. AdWatch: Davis ad taps fears on variety of issues, by Margaret Talev (916) 326-5540 or mtalev(at)sacbee.com, Sacramento Bee via sacbee.com 2:15 a.m. PDT Sept-30-2003 via GoogleNews.
   "Global," a 30-second television advertisement paid for by Gov. Gray Davis' committee, attempts to increase turnout against the recall among core Democratic voting blocs. Following is a text of the ad and an analysis by Margaret Talev of The Bee Capitol Bureau:
   TEXT: Under a Democratic governor, we've passed domestic partnership legislation, banned greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming, strengthened laws protecting a woman's right to choose, .enacted the nation's toughest gun-safety laws, worked to stop offshore drilling, passed the eight-hour workday, increased the minimum wage and expanded family and medical leave. The Republicans fought against each of these issues. If they get rid of the governor, what do you think they'll try to get rid of next?
   ANALYSIS: The ad taps fears of voters, particularly Democrats, who advocate gay rights, abortion rights, strict environmental and gun regulations, and the priorities of organized labor. Without touting Davis by name, the ad implies that if the governor is recalled, he will be replaced by a Republican who will seek to undo various laws Davis signed on behalf of those constituencies.
   ...The top three candidates in polls are Bustamante and Republicans Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom McClintock. Of the two Republicans, McClintock...opposes abortion and advocates gun owners' and property owners' rights, and he likely would work to scale back environmental regulations and hourly wage and family leave benefits. ...On business vs. labor matters, Davis' predictions are [also] on point: Schwarzenegger says unions exert too much political influence and that businesses need fewer regulations and cost mandates. His campaign says he is skeptical of a new family leave law and believes overtime should be based on a 40-hour workweek rather than an eight-hour day.
   [And from the timesizing viewpoint, it's immaterial, so give business the extra flexibility and avoid the unnecessary stifling micromanagement. And by the way, for seasonal jobs, as in agriculture, we need to back off from a weekly to a yearly regulation - what the French call "annualization."]

2. Life at Work Live, column by Amy Joyce, WashingtonPost.com Sept-30-2003 12:00 PM via GoogleNews.
   Do you experience the many joys and frustrations of working life that many of us do? Talk to Washington Post columnist Amy Joyce and her experts about how to deal with them. Amy hosts weekly online talks for working folks who want to talk about interpersonal issues in the workplace.
   [Transcript follows.]
   Amy Joyce: Good morning all.
   [Person from] Washington D.C.: Can you help with suggestions on surviving & coping. My office is doing what the newspapers say: downsizing, cutting hours & positions & routinely dumping the additional work on the remaining people. Staffers just disappear. I am trying to keep my head up and my mouth shut and look for a new job. I am wondering how or if others are coping with this kind of situation. It's like they know they can do anything they want to us.
   [Interesting that one thing in the list leads on to victory, because eventually - if the business is to survive - it has to substitute for all the rest = cutting hours instead of cutting positions, "timesizing, not downsizing."]
   Amy Joyce: I just wrote a column about this. I think it's listed in our archives here. It is a huge issue right now. I'm going to throw[-in a suggestion] and ask others to share their coping mechanisms.... I say if you can't handle all the work, ask your boss to figure something out. He/she either could help you prioritize, and then realize just how much work you have to do, or figure out a way to farm the work out. Or best scenario, start to hire a few more bodies.
   In the meantime, take some time for yourself. Figure out what you want to do. Do you want to make this job work? How can you do that? Do you want to think about going out into the job market? Then start looking. Attend networking events, talk to family and friends, look for contacts. As much as you can, show your employers they can't live without you. Easier said than done. But if it's killing you, you do have to say something. Most likely, you won't get fired for doing a great job, while asking that some things be changed....
   [So it goes in a society and economy that has neglected for far too long the vital time dimension and the need to get worktime per person adjusting automatically to give everyone a chance to support him/herself so that taxpayers don't have to.]