{"id":139950,"date":"2010-01-05T08:13:21","date_gmt":"2010-01-05T13:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.skyscrapercity.com\/showthread.php?t=1038513"},"modified":"2010-01-05T08:13:21","modified_gmt":"2010-01-05T13:13:21","slug":"gabon-under-new-regime-trims-fat-out-of-lunch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/139950","title":{"rendered":"Gabon, under new regime, trims fat out of lunch"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nGabon, under new regime, trims fat out of lunch<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
Quote:<\/div>\n\n\n
\n
\n

Reuters<\/p>\n

\nBy Linel Kwatsi Linel Kwatsi \u0096 Mon Jan 4, 1:47 pm ET<\/p>\n

LIBREVILLE (Reuters) \u0096 Gabonese workers reluctantly gave up their traditional two-hour lunch breaks <\/u>as of Monday under a government plan<\/font> to increase productivity and help diversify the central African country’s oil-driven economy.
\n<\/b>
\n"A 30-minute lunch break is too short," civil servant Maurice Koumba, 30,<\/b> grumbled on the first day of the new regime instituted by President Ali Ben Bongo, who won the election to succeed his long-ruling late father.<\/p>\n

With 2010 output growth projected at a mere 2.6 percent, compared to the 10 percent annual growth the government is targeting, Bongo, whose election pledge was to promote an "Emerging Gabon," has set his sights on trimming a heavily bloated civil service<\/font> and encouraging enterprise to diversify.
\n<\/b>
\nUnder the new government ruling, the working day starts at 7:30 a.m. local time and ends at 3:30 p.m., an early finish to compensate for the loss of the generous two-hour lunch break<\/font> common to francophone African countries, when shops and businesses routinely close.<\/b><\/p>\n

"A break of 30 minutes will be taken, according to the appropriate rhythm of work, between 1130 and 1330," the directive said.<\/p>\n

Previously<\/u>, work started later in the morning, and, after returning from lunch, employees would leave at around 6 p.m.<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

Private companies and government agencies must conform to the timetable, but some professions say they should be exempt.<\/p>\n

"It’s difficult for lawyers to stop working in the afternoon if they have a court hearing," barrister Jean R\u00e9my Bantsantsa said.<\/b><\/p>\n

A meeting between officials and business leaders will be held on Monday to discuss how the ruling, which was made public in late December, will be applied in practice.<\/p>\n

Bongo is in a race against time to come up with new sources of revenue for Gabon, one of the few sub-Saharan countries to have successfully launched a Eurobond.<\/p>\n

Initial steps to root out corruption, cap the salaries of the chiefs of state corporations and slim the size of a civil service have won plaudits.<\/b><\/p>\n

While the impact of the new ruling on productivity is unclear, some welcomed the earlier end to the working day.<\/p>\n

"It’s a good decision," said Yves Pambo, 32, another civil servant. "It will allow us to spend time with our families, to visit our parents, and to launch small businesses."<\/b><\/p>\n

(Writing by Daniel Magnowski; Editing by Michael Roddy)<\/p>\n

\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

LOOOOLLLL:lol::lol::lol:<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gabon, under new regime, trims fat out of lunch Quote: Reuters By Linel Kwatsi Linel Kwatsi \u0096 Mon Jan 4, 1:47 pm ET LIBREVILLE (Reuters) \u0096 Gabonese workers reluctantly gave up their traditional two-hour lunch breaks as of Monday under a government plan to increase productivity and help diversify the central African country’s oil-driven economy. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1232,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-139950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1232"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139950\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}