World Cup Soccer and the German Worker

Not to be outdone by the Netherlands and its insurance companies offering employee disability plans for World Cup Soccer absences, Reuters is reporting that the head of a major union in Germany, the country that is hosting the World Cup, is arguing that employers should give employees some time off to catch the 3:00 p.m. kick-offs of World Cup soccer games.

According to the story:

[T]he chief of one of Germany's most powerful unions argued that workers should be given the chance to see at least part of the games.

"Employers should be flexible about working hours in order that their workforces can follow the matches," Frank Bsirske, head of the public services union Verdi, told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper in an article on the paper's Web site.

Companies such as Adidas, which are sponsoring the World Cup in Germany, have agreed to allow their employees to watch the matches at their desks, the paper said. Others, like Postbank, are organizing parties for some of the matches.

Given that Germany is the host nation and one of the most soccer-obsessed country, it is not like any work is going to get done anyway when matches are being played.

Why not just throw some parties and write off the time as the price of doing business in Germany once every four years?

PS