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> "Why should the state be mandating this? Isn't it better to use state power to prevent employers from being able to coerce employees into working" Remember w
by jodrellblank 4y ago
> "Why should the state be mandating this? Isn't it better to use state power to prevent employers from being able to coerce employees into working"
Remember when Arkansas rolled back some child labour laws? Hopefully you do, it was last week[1]. The reason why not "just do something good for workers instead" is because companies want cheaper employees with fewer options to leave, not better protections for workers.
> "Why is it Sunday? Why not Saturday?"
Great, well done, you've bikeshedded it from "mandatory day off" to "no mandatory day off" because you can't see a difference between them. Religion bad, Atheism good, therefore roll back labour protections?
[1] https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/08/politics/sarah-huckabee-sanders-arkansas-child-labor/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/08/politics/sarah-huckabee-s...
- bentley 4y ago> Religion bad, Atheism good In the United States, blue laws have historically been used to oppress religious minorities like Jews and Sabbatarian Christians.
- blululu 4y agoNo. Those laws were made to curtail drunkenness and the numerous social woes that come with it. Same reason we passed total prohibition. Those religious minorities were negligible in the times and places where they passed blue laws and the only groups that were negatively associated with alcohol were Christian.
- bentley 4y agoHuh? I described a side effect of these laws—not theoretical, but an actual side effect that happened. You counter by saying… that that wasn’t the intent of the law? Sure, I agree with you: blue laws in the United States were not (usually) put in place with the intent of oppressing seventh‐day Sabbatarians, a relatively insignificant group. But oppression of Sabbatarians is in fact what they led to.
- dgb23 4y agoWorker protections are fought for and maintained by unions.
- brewdad 4y agoSunday blue laws were NEVER about labor protections.
- alexander-wilms 4y ago[flagged]
- dgacmu 4y agoThe post I was replying to specifically indicated "Sunday". I didn't say religion bad. I said that Sunday was chosen because of it's alignment with many Christian religions, and this is true: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_law https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_law There are many other religions that do _not_ have Sunday as a day of rest; other abrahamic religions choose Friday (Islam) or Saturday (Judaism, 7th day Adventist). Non-abrahamic religions and atheists feature further diversity. Consider: > California twice passed Sunday closing laws, in 1858 and in 1861. The first was found unconstitutional just five months after it was enacted. It was used to convict and imprison a Jewish clothing merchant who closed his business on Saturday, and opened it on Sunday. ( https://historycollection.com/the-random-history-of-blue-laws-in-the-united-states/19/ https://historycollection.com/the-random-history-of-blue-law... ) One could simply mandate that businesses offer employees one or more consistent day of rest instead of having the state pick religious winners and losers.
- account42 4y agoI'm not really a fan of stores being closed on Sundays here but there is an argument for not just having a consistent day of rest but also a common day of rest between family members/friends. Really though, we should all have at least three days of rest per week - then not having enough overlap would be unlikely.