I am apauled. Thought Abraham Lincoln set the slaves free all them years

Most of us don't even get paid vacations anymore. A lot don't even get two weeks. We have all these illegal immigrants to pay for because our borders are wide open to whoever wants to come for a hand out so we can't afford such luxuries like paid vacations.

Here in Canada, unless you belong to a strong union and have a government job, you are lucky to get 1 week after the first year. And in many, you have a choice paid holiday or sick leave. They gradually increase it to two weeks, but it takes some years. I used to work and I never got up to the two week deal, let alone one week. My husband was lucky. He worked for our government railroad (He was a skilled mechanic and journeyman) and only got six weeks holiday the last two years before he took early retirement. Most are not that lucky.

It's sad isn't it? My Hubby is lucky though, he gets two weeks vaction, 2 weeks sick leave and 1 week of personal time off. Or is it 1 wk sick leave and 2 wks personal time? Oh well one of the two, so he does get 5 weeks off all together a year. Also what vacation days he does not use, he gets paid for. But the others he won't.

we aren't even guaranteed that in Canada. Most companies give one week's vacation for every year worked up to 5 weeks total. Where I work now, we don't even get that. Our vacation time is unpaid

My husband gets 10 days paid leave and 10 days paid sick leave. If he travels for work he also accumulates comp time which is also paid leave (I think - i would need to double check that). He has already accrued roughly 30sum hours. When i worked in Samoa we were entitled to 10 days sick and annual and if you ran out, tough luck you get your pay deducted. It does sux if you get 5 weeks of leave LOL

In a way, we are slaves to our jobs. They get more of our time than our families get and we don't earn the pay that we are worth in most jobs. I only get a week's paid vacation a year and since I work part time it is not even a full 40 hours paid. It is sad!! I am looking for a job now that has some flexible time with it as I need a job that allows me to also be a mother to my children. Abe Lincoln would be upset and I had never really thought about it in this aspect,but you are right. I am thinking that I need to move to Denmark!!

I was just looking at statistics, and it seems that most Eueropean nations fair quite well, compared to the UK with a total of 28 days paid holiday and public holiday, and the US with 25. I think we should get much more, particularly the UK being part of the EU. http://money.cnn.com/2007/06/12/pf/vacation_days_worldwide/

In America, some people have two weeks for vacation, and some have more. It depends on what job a person has. Sorry you're appalled.

Where my husband works, he gets 1 week paid vacation , 10 paid federal holidays (like memorial day, labor day, 4th of July, etc), 1 sick day earned per 60 days up to 6 per year, and 1 paid personal day. He will earn more vacation the longer he is there up to a total of 5 weeks by the time he has worked there 20 years. WOW 5 weeks paid vacation sounds wonderful. Not sure how happy he is with the amount of time, however, this is one of the better benifits packages around here. There are lots of places that don't even give the vacation as paid.

We are not guaranteed 2 weeks of vacation. Usually, salaried employees get this as a benefit. It becomes 3 weeks after 5 years and 4 weeks after 10. I think it is silly to legislate vacation time. The American work ethic is why we rose from a backwards collection of British Colonies to world dominance in less than 200 years. Being productive helped us in WW I. It also allowed us to rebuild our dismantled military and help defeat both Germany and Japan in WW II. Abandoning this ethos is part of the reason why we are losing our grip. We are capitalist and free. If we do not like the business we work for because they do not provide enough benefits, we can decide to work for someone else. It is part of a free market economy.

We are not guaranteed 2 weeks of vacation. Usually, salaried employees get this as a benefit. It becomes 3 weeks after 5 years and 4 weeks after 10. I think it is silly to legislate vacation time. The American work ethic is why we rose from a backwards collection of British Colonies to world dominance in less than 200 years. Being productive helped us in WW I. It also allowed us to rebuild our dismantled military and help defeat both Germany and Japan in WW II. Abandoning this ethos is part of the reason why we are losing our grip. We are capitalist and free. If we do not like the business we work for because they do not provide enough benefits, we can decide to work for someone else. It is part of a free market economy.

What? You get paid holidays. I dont even get an un paid holiday. Thats not fair, I am moving to your country. Where do you live, what country? I'll be there shortly, I need a vacation!

I am in Canada too an unless you are in a top job you rarely get any paid time off for vacations. So congrats to you! Considering for every good job there are 100 minimum wage junky jobs that makes lots of people who don't get paid vacations. That is a luxury for the ones making big bucks. I guess it doesn't bother us too much because ya can't really afford to do anything with the money they pay.

Alot of it depends on the company you work for and how long you have been with them, my dad gets 5 or so weeks a year but has been with the company 30 years. I get 1 week but I only work 23-25 hours a week anyway. My husband gets about 3 weeks a year. My mom gets about 4 weeks a year and has been at her job 15 years.

Oh yes Kim - that is something that horrifies me too. I always feel so sorry when I chat to my American friends, and they are so envious of my holiday entitlements here in England. As to how much we get in the UK - well pretty much the same as Denmark and the rest of Europe I think. Minimum legal requirement is 20 working days (4 weeks) - most people get 25 which is 5 weeks, rising to 30 (6 weeks) after 5 years with the same company. And of course we also get all the Public Holidays (Christmas, Easter, May Day etc) on top of those holidays. Many people also work "flexi-hours", which means you can work longer than your contracted hours at ay time if you wish, and then carry over those extra hours to take as extra holiday. The thing I find especially cruel in the States, is that if you change your job, you're not entitled to any holiday at all for at least 6 months according to one friend of mine. Whereas here in England you can take holiday in the first month if you want, and all pre-booked holidays are honured with full pay if you start a new job and already have a holiday booked. All that happens, is that if you choose to leave that company in the first year, you have to pay any over-taken holiday back to them, - but to be honest, very few people chop and change jobs so quickly, so it really isn't an issue.

You know that makes me wish that I were over there instead of here in the states. I can't take a paid vacation until I am here a year.

Shoot I only get a week my first year at my job then it goes up from there. I wish that I had five weeks that would be so glorious. I guess with me, I just take time off when I truly need it. I don't get paid for it, but at least I have some time off to rest.

Here in China teachers have altogether three months' holiday--two-month summer holiday and one-month winter vacation. Teachers are paid during the holidays. As to the National Day, May Day and Spring Festival for people from all walks of life, they are paid.