Where to Invade Next Page #2

for one month of work?

Yes.

Why?

Your regular pay

is to pay the monthly bills.

What money do you have left over

to go on vacation?

That's the way

the Italians see it.

What good's a vacation

if you can't afford to go on it?

If you don't use

all those days,

the following year, you still have

the vacation of the previous year.

- Wait a minute.

- So you don't lose that.

- No, no, that's not true.

- It's true.

No, that's not true.

Tell him, tell him

how many days you have.

- 80 days.

- You have 80 days in the bank?

In the holiday bank.

He would like

to do more, of course.

Of course.

But how do companies

make any money

if they pay all this

to their employees?

I approached the owner

of a multimillion-dollar

clothing manufacturer,

the Lardini Company,

who makes men's fashions

for brands like Dolce & Gabbana,

Burberry, and Versace.

Do you mind

paying your employees

for all this time off?

And stress causes a lot of sickness.

So, do you get sick very often?

No.

Italians have one of the highest

life expectancies in the world.

They live four years longer

than the average American.

Yes, it's lunchtime at Lardini.

But they're not getting in their cars

to drive to the vending machine

or the takeout window.

They're going home,

like they do every day,

for a nice, relaxing two-hour lunch.

Do you come home

every day for lunch?

I continued my invasion of Italy

by going to the Ducati

motorcycle company.

Agreeing to meet with me

for a possible surrender

was the C.E.O. of Ducati,

Claudio Domenicali.

There is the very end

of the assembly line.

You call this an assembly line?

The line is hardly moving.

- It's moving very, very slow.

- Very slow.

The C.E.O. explained to me

that his workers

have numerous weeks

of paid vacation,

including other benefits,

as well as a strong union.

He saw no problem

with any of this.

We really feel that we are

being rewarded by this,

because the people

are very committed.

There is no clash

between the profit of the company

and the well-being of the people.

"There is no clash

between the profit of the company

and the well-being of the people."

Yes.

He explained that by paying

a good wage with good benefits,

the company still made

a healthy profit.

Here we go again.

You know what that means.

It's lunchtime, I-talian style.

Grown men eating vegetables

and smiling?

What kind of factory was this?

All the fine benefits

these workers have--

vacation, a wonderful lunch--

how did this come about?

Is it still a struggle?

It's the system

that's part of the welfare, no?

- Yeah, the social welfare.

- Yeah, of course--

Welfare's a bad word

in the United States...

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