National Congress has "debated" Spanish Work/Leisure Proposals - Tarragona
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REVISED 05 / X I I / 2008´
After I received a favourable, friendly response from the President of the National Commission involved with "Rationalising" the Work Hours for the near future in Spain - to the letter reproduced below, which you might have seen earlier this month - a National Congress in Tarragona has taken place on the 18th and 19th November.
Naturally, the aim of the Congress is to make working hours as much "in line" with the nearby European Union countries as possible.
To do that, there is the need to abolish the Siesta once and for all. Also, employees are to be expected to have a lunch "Hour" around, say, 12:30 on the good old Spanish Clock System (which apparently shows the same time as Berlin and Rome at all times of the year).
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You can, if able to, read all about it on www.horariosenespana.es - but the only part in English is one of my contributions (as Plumtree) to the "Foro" (Forum) at the bottom right of the first web pages - currently at page 4, - the title is in Spanish concerning "Extranjeros" or foreigners views of the Spanish Clocks.
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I am objecting most strongly (in pseudo-Spanish) to the abolition of the Siesta because it will mean that Dr. Enrique Herrera´s fears ^ ^, published by SiE of Malaga, concerning the proliferation of Skin Cancer and Melanomas will become insignificant and piffling in contrast to what will happen to the workers made to work outside in the Sun! Undoubtedly, those results will ruin the reputation for Spain as a place to go sunbathing!
^ ^ See letter below.
Additionally, as I have previously explained, employees and preschool children "suffer" much pangs of hunger by the afternoon "High Tea" (merienda) time - because they are made to have lunch 2 hours earlier than schoolchildren and adults who start lunch at the "traditional" time of 2 to 2:30 pm on the Spanish Clockwork. Obesity is being encouraged by the apparent lack of knowledge of the authorities concerning the meaning of 12:00 o´clock on the clockwork, both in day and night - which has been meaningless in Spain for the last 100 years (In Summer 12:30 lunch is at a realtime of 10:30am on the East Coast of Spain - by Law!).
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(PREVIOUS) Letter to Don Ignacio Buqueras y Bach, Presidente de la Comisión Nacional para la Racionalización de los Horarios Españoles; 29 / X / 2008 - The National Independent Commission for Normalising Work Time - plus the Independent Foundation in Madrid.
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Esteemed Sr. Buqueras,
It was most welcome to watch your participation this morning, 29 October, 2008, on the Telecinco channel discussion on the topic of the rationalisation of current Spanish Working Schedules.
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I have corresponded with the "Comision Nacional" several times, mainly in 2006, dealing principally with my observations on the necessity for “rationalisation” of “Time Factors” in one way or another – which I believe is a fundamental necessity in Spain (and probably in France too, where Western France has just the same time conditions as Spain – although day length is slightly less in Winter there and slightly more in Summer!).
My observations lead me to believe that a number of factors are involved with the influence of the real time of day on both the leisure activities and the working schedules of two major sectors of life here, that is for both residents and holiday visitors in Spain.
I was particularly pleased to see that you are very active on demonstrating that the situations portrayed in the rtve News program on rtve 1 on Sunday evening, 26th October, are not as appropriate to the Quality of Life in Spain as that transmission appeared to convey! The current situation requires some adjustment – and I believe, quite urgently.
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I have found a severe problem right at the foundation of the manner in which the time of day has been regulated throughout the East-West extent of Spain since, in the greatest degree, 1918. (Prior to that, around 1911, when France refused to adopt Greenwich Mean Time as the Time Standard as adopted by a World International Conference, the French Government adopted GMT +1 as its basis for the year – it became desirable for Spain to adopt the same standard as France – primarily then for the safety requirements of the then primary form of travel – the international railway connections).
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I have iterated a number of times, since corresponding with the Comision Nacional, to the authorities and to the Director of the Royal Institute and the Marines Observatory, San Fernando, that the response of the Spanish Public to both extra impositions of one hour later over the realtime day, one in around 1912 – and the next, extra imposition in Summer, exactly in April 1918, caused major repercussions on the daily life cycles of the public - which differed appreciably between "Market. Shops and Trading" as one area and the minor area then of "Commerce, Business and Industry" – the like of which appears to be not appreciated in the 21st Century by experts on the subject!
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Essentially, as I tried to convey in my submission to the Comision Nacional in January, 2006, the first addition of one hour around 1912 to the real daily cycle for each year of the Sun was as much disregarded on the clockwork by the public - as was the second addition to that already imposed daily cycle during the Summers of 1918 and those years following - almost continuously for about 16 years.
The final imposition of the “double summertime” resulting from the French plan took place in 1949, according to the published records on the official website of the Royal Institute and Marines Observatory. It was double summertime because the basic time on the clockwork in Spain since 1912 was one of a single summertime addition of one hour to the real time daily cycle -at all times, irrespective of an addition or otherwise of the Summer additional hour !
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There are a number of major, harmful factors which are incurred especially in the Summer and early Autumn, which are seriously increasing in effect in these times of (hopefully) development - certainly the effects have become almost disastrous since the resumption of the extra summertime addition of one hour to the basic daily (summertime) cycle in 1974 ! (I believe that the News program of Sunday, 26th October seriously overplayed the 1974 circumstance, to convey satisfaction by the public to an imposition which they could not visualise properly in terms of its effects on their Quality of Life).
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One major factor incurred, which I know from your personal appearance on TV 1 News around I believe December 22, 2005, and also from a similar report the following week by another member of the Comision, was well recognised by the Comision, and can be summarised as simply that the time of sunrise over the whole of Spain in the period just mentioned, is artificially very late in the morning on the clockwork (corresponding to an artificially very late, true midnight time on the clockwork) – so that schoolchildren (your emphasis) and workers (following week) – and, I maintain, early morning commuters on the highways, are prone to somnolescence !
The work starting time is absurdly early in the realtime day in Spain – and is even earlier in effect in the West of Spain. The recommendation by advisers to the Comision that 08:30 was a good time to start work just showed that their knowledge was impaired by a lack of such relevant information as above in the Education System in Spain.
(An additional point made by those advisers concerned the apparent “lateness” of the publics´ activities on the clockwork – which again is a complete illusion, since the clockwork itself runs two to 2 ½ hours later than the realtime day in the Summer and Autumn period !). (The evening meal is quite early in the "realtime evening").
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Another major factor concerns the Quality of Life and service received by tourist visitors (and foreign residents) in Spain. Because of isolation from Spanish news they are unaware of the cause of problems incurred by the lateness of the realtime day. Accordingly, the current news is that the occupation figures of accommodation of visitors is now falling in Spain – but has been increased in other areas of the Mediterranean – where, I stress, the realtime daily cycle is NOT the same as in France and Spain, being effectively reduced by one hour in lateness at all time of the year. (The fact that the clockwork reads identically over much of Europe does not mean that the indicated time is the same in realtime terms over the extent of the region). Additionally, most of the North African Coast (e.g. Tunisia and Morocco) is additionally attractive because the reduction on the clockwork is effectively two hours in Summer and one hour in Winter – there is no special addition to the clockwork hours at any time of the year!
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The above factor which is of most concern to Spain (- especially to Dr Enrique Herrera ^^ , Dermatologist of Malaga Hospital – who now proclaims in the newspaper “SUR in English” that all persons should be forbidden to sunbathe on the beaches between 12noon and 4 pm(sic) - perhaps just to highlight the problem of the incidence of skin cancer and melanomas which appears to be out of control) is that sunbathing visitors do not appreciate the lateness of the peak power of the Sun in the realtime day – which appears at about 2:15pm in mid-Spain, and not about one o´clock as expected!). Dr Herrara´s reporting that Malaga is seriously high on the list of hazardous sunbathing areas in Europe is enough to cause a serious downturn in the concentration of visitors to Spain – resulting in a preference to go elsewhere!
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Regards.
[ 12:00 ] [ Friday 5 December 2008 ]