Media Clipping — April 28, 2004, The Chronicle-Herald

It’s a nice thought but it won’t happen

By Roger Taylor

PAYING EVERYONE for the overtime hours they work is a laudable idea, but the simple fact is, it isn't very practical.

Non-profit research organization GPI Atlantic says so much unpaid overtime is being worked that it is actually taking work away from the unemployed.

That is quite a conclusion to reach, considering that eliminating overtime would also cut into productivity. The result would turn profitable Nova Scotia firms into historical footnotes.

If overtime were eliminated, it might initially result in more people working, but I suggest that as uncompetitive companies began to move out of Nova Scotia or shut down, even more people would be unemployed.

In a two-year study of working time in Nova Scotia, which is supposed to provide a reference for all of Canada, GPI found that 59 per cent of Nova Scotians who work overtime are not paid for the extra time they work.

Managers tend to be among those most likely to work unpaid overtime. Teachers, too, according to the authors.

The study points out that an estimated 373,000 overtime hours were worked for free in Nova Scotia during a typical week in 2001.

GPI says those hours could be converted into new jobs. "If all paid and unpaid overtime (in 2001) were eliminated, Nova Scotia would have been 17,573 jobs richer," the study says.

I'm not an economist but I believe GPI is stretching the point.

Without getting into how much teachers are paid and other benefits they may receive, I believe most people would agree that it would be difficult, nearly impossible even, for the school system to fully compensate teachers for all the overtime they work.

While it sounds like a good idea to hire more workers so that teachers would not have to work unpaid overtime, the reality is teachers need to spend time preparing lesson plans for their students or grading tests - it is necessary for them to do their job.

In many cases, managers and others who work a lot of unpaid overtime are also required to maintain a certain amount of knowledge in order to excel at their jobs. Is that considered required overtime or is it self-imposed research needed to be competitive?

If doctors read medical journals during off hours, should they be paid for their time? Or are they compensated later because they become better doctors.

GPI calls on government, I assume, to create jobs and improve quality of life by cutting what it refers to as "overwork."

It says paying out unemployment insurance costs the economy. As does the lost production from the unemployed and lost tax revenue. At the same time, GPI claims absenteeism created by stress from overwork also affects the economy.

To be fair, GPI should point out that taxes would have to go up to pay for the additional government employees. The findings are simplistic, and because of that, the study is nothing more than a point for debate.

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