The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes have long been a source of inspiration and innovation for area Tribes. Attempts to adopt their business model haven't always been successful, but I do hope that the latest CSKT action will catch on with the rest of the Montana Tribes. America has always put upon its citizens, sovreign or otherwise, that it needs to be a ridiculously productive creature more willing to give up personal time in the pursuit of a paycheck. That's one of the many factors that ended with America being the world's worst polluter.
With gas prices rising (and we know that the supply is dwindling), something intelligent has to be done, and soon. While changing the work week won't end the crisis, it will salve the after-effects to the various tribes of Montana who find themselves in a tight situation at the pump.
from the Missoulian: [1]
The tribes this week began a 10-hour-day, four-day workweek for most tribal programs in an effort to reduce energy costs.
The CSKT council authorized the switch for a 60-day trial period through Sept. 12, at which point the effects on tribal members and programs, and potential savings, will be reviewed.
"It's not brand new," said CSKT spokesman Rob McDonald, noting that S&K Electronics, Mission Valley Power and the tribes' Department of Natural Resources had already made the switch - and Salish Kootenai College goes to a four-day workweek during the summer months.
"We'll see how our people feel about it after 60 days," he went on. "But just in cooling savings, you're looking at a 20-percent reduction potentially."
Links:
[1] http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/07/15/news/local/news02.txt