My job has been in a sort of stale area for a week or two where there just isn't anything to do while we wait for the next big event to start up. Management has been keeping us busy with remedial tasks that don't really need to be done and are scarce already.
The problem I'm having is that I'm a fairly fast-paced worker and like to get things done, and don't really care about the fact that there'll be nothing to do later. However, my co-workers like to intentionally slow down their work in order to make these remedial tasks last longer so they can continue getting paid. I can understand slowing down a little and "taking it easy" but they are literally doing one or two things at a time and then taking a break in between. Tasks that should only take a couple hours are taking them entire 8-hour shifts, and it's really bugging me just sitting around waiting for them to catch up all the time.
Everyone hates being the snitch, and everyone hates being sent home without pay. So everyone especially hates being the snitch that gets everyone sent home without pay, but even so, it still bothers me. I hate the fact that telling my boss would get us sent home, but she's the one that complained about a $78 box of materials that got misused and wasted and, well, paying us to do nothing is wasting a lot more than $78.
What's the best way to approach your boss to indicate that there just isn't enough work to sustain us and that everyone is working much, much slower than they ought to be working in order to compensate? How do you encourage co-workers to continue working at a normal pace, even if it causes them a little loss of pay? Should I even encourage them to work normally or just not worry about it and sit there?