Workers deserve a full holiday break
Surveys in New Zealand over recent years have shown an alarming rise in stress and anxiety levels, particularly among younger people.
Some of the causes of this trend are pressure around employment, rising costs of a home to live in, and the sight of homeless and begging on our city streets.
One of the bulwarks against this rising tide is the support and solidarity of family and wha¯ nau.
Recently there has been an encouraging shift away from measuring the health of our nation mainly on GPD and increasing productivity to a much broader vision of sustainable communities and grassroot support – all part of a wider picture of a stable caring environment linking life-giving communities with a healthy countryside.
Traditional longer holidays such as Easter are crucial times for family and friends to travel, to link up and to meet and enjoy new family members.
Holidays such as Good Friday and Christmas have strong Christian roots but now as a nation, regardless of belief, these opportunities to escape from the remorseless work cycle are valued by many people. Pressure to work on Easter Sunday disrupts and can destroy such valuable occasions.
It is argued that tourists expect such services. This is to ignore the reality that what millions come to see and enjoy in New Zealand is a spacious open country, not our traffic and malls.
Many of our visitors are from Asia, Australia or Europe. They have shopping malls galore and the airports they pass through are full of myriad different chances to buy goods.
They have come here to enjoy our ethos and the quality of our life style that we are so privileged to enjoy. Their memories are of stunning sights and friendly and approachable people.
This is what many of us also discover when we travel overseas. Living and travelling in countries such as Italy and Spain you come to respect that most museums and many shops do not open on Mondays so as to give their workers family time. There is also the marvel of siesta – many venues closed from 1-3pm to allow workers time to rest, especially in the heat of day.
Shopping is not an idol to be propitiated by daily sacrifice. There are values that are immensely higher. Let’s give working families a rare chance to enjoy our stunning land. ❚