CBC NEWS:
Government workers in B.C. are being asked to work a shorter week this summer to help the province save money and jobs. The province says about half of its 30,000 employees are eligible to participate in a voluntary program that would see them take off one day a week without pay. The program will run between June 24 and Sept. 4. The pilot project allows public servants to take off 20 per cent of their normal workweek as an unpaid leave of absence. For full-time workers, that represents one day per week. Darryl Walker, the president of the B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union, is concerned there won't be a corresponding reduction in workload. "If you take off on Thursday, and nobody does the work on Friday, what happens to it?" he said. "If you come back on Monday, it's bound to be there someplace. And what we've talked to the employer is that there should be no increase in the workload."
The government estimates that if 15,000 employees take up the offer, the province could save $5 million. Jim Brander, an economics professor at the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business, said that's what makes the strategy an appealing option. "It's becoming quite common. Quite a few states in the U.S. have adopted these programs. Some of them are mandatory, some of them are voluntary, and also quite a few companies in the private sector are now doing the same thing," Brander said.
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