Can GM afford to provide a lunch break to members working six days a week? Would the company go bankrkupt? We will run the numbers in this article and let you decide. There questions came to mind after reading a Yahoo story about the tragic desappearance of the American lunch hour…
Lunch breaks – which have existed since the industrial revolution – have always been about more than just food. Lunch has also long been a source of tension between management and workers. By the late 19th century, factory owners began allotting a specific amount of time to break for lunch, one that would maximize worker output and make bosses the most money.
“A factory owner wanted to make sure they got the most out of their workers, so they started controlling when they could eat lunch,” said Megan Elias, an associate professor at Boston University and author of Lunch: the History of a Meal.
There was once a standard schecdule for breaks that equaled to about an hour during an eight hour shift. It looked like this: 1st break – 15 minutes, Lunch – 30 minutes, 2nd break – 15 minutes. Considering the extreme schedule of six day weeks we are working at Wentzville Assembly would it bankrupt the company to provide an hour of paid breaks every shift? Currently, there are two breaks: a 16 minute breakand a 24 minute break with no break at midday for lunch. How much would it cost in employee compensation to incorporate a 20 minute paid lunch period? Let’s run the numbers.
A 20 minute break represent 1/3 of a 60 minute hour. Let’s express this as .3333.
We will assume everyone is making around $37.00 an hour, which is near top production pay. Of course skilled trades earn more and lower seniority and temporary workers earn less so $37.00 should get us in the neighborood of average cost. So a 20 minute paid break would cost $37.00 x .3333 = $12.33.
So if it would cost $12.33 to pay for a 20 minute lunch and there are 3500 workers actually working throughout the work day it would cost 3500 x $12.33 = $43,155 per day.
So, the entire plant receiving a paid lunch break of 20 minutes would cost GM $43,155.
To look at it another way, I looked up the retail price of the vehicles we make. They range from $37,595 to $69,995. So for less than the price of one vehicle, all workers could have a paid lunch.
Well, there is the math. What do you think? While on an extreme 6 day schedule should workers receive a paid lunch? On any schedlule, should a paid lunch be on the menu?
( graphic via freepik.com)
