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Question for Australians - Holidays

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by montgomery gator

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Today, when I turned my calendar to Monday, March 13, it indicated that today is Eight Hours Day in Tasmania. What is that? Is that how Tasmania adjusts for Summer Time (or what we in the USA call Daylight Saving Time), falling 8 hours back now that Summer is ending? Do they adjust the clock 8 hours instead of 1 hour like most of the world?

Anyway, it looks like all of Australia is having a holiday (Commonwealth Day), and that Tasmania decided to add on with their Eight Hours Day and Victoria with their Labour Day, according to may calendar. I hope all you blokes and sheilas had a bonzer time on the last big holiday of the Australian Summer as you go into Australian Autumn, and put some shrimp on the barbie and enjoyed some Fosters.

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by Member 25348569

It's a Socialist thing. It'll only upset you.

:D

Posted by Neils Information and Translation Services (NITS) tm because it's night in Oz and they're all out on the beer...

Eight-Hour Day is Tasmania's version of Labour Day. It's public holiday celebrating the Stonemason's Union's achievement of the 8-hour working day in the late 1850s. They believed in eight hours labour, eight hours recreation and eight hours rest. Before this, workers were required to work 10 to 12 hour days, six days a week.

by montgomery gator

I guessed it was something like that, but since it is in Tasmania, I thought it was funny to say it was their way for adjusting the clock. :-)

Actually, the 8 hour work day and 40 hour work week is probably the best thing, along with time and a half for over time, that came out of the labor movement. Gave an incentive for management not to overwork their workers since they would have to pay more per hour for overtime. Plus workers are not as productive once they get much over 8 hours a day. The 888 thing does make sense.

Too bad the 8 hours recreation part of 888 does not work out too well, since much of the time not sleeping or at work has to be done taking care of chores at home, like cooking, laundry, and cleaning. :-(

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